John Bardo: Region must collaborate, innovate

In recent months, urban data analyst James Chung and Wichita attorney-economist Robert Litan have painted sobering pictures of the state of Wichita’s economy. Our second largest export after aircraft, according to Chung, is educated talent, and Litan notes that on its current trajectory, our city is on track to become another Detroit.

A report released by the Brookings Institution at the end of January puts Chung’s and Litan’s pictures into a national frame. And what it shows is not pretty.

The Brookings report, the “Metro Monitor,” is available online. What it shows about Wichita is that since the end of the Great Recession, we have failed to perform.

“Metro Monitor” compares the economies of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. on three indexes: economic growth, prosperity and economic inclusion. It then ranks each city according to how it compares with others on these indexes.

So how did Wichita stack up? With regard to economic growth, Wichita ranked a dismal 98th out of 100. On the other indexes, Wichita was far below the national average.

According to Brookings, real economic growth is associated with two key factors. Those metropolitan areas that had transitioned their economies to advanced technologies and/or were associated with energy production had rapidly growing economies; others did not.

Brookings’ analysis is consistent with what others have been saying about Wichita, and it is clear that we need to act.

Many in our community are beginning to act. Among the most important of the efforts is the Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth (BREG), which is identifying factors that inhibit expansion and moving to eliminate them. It also is the reason that business and government have come together to form the Greater Wichita Partnership under Jeff Fluhr’s leadership and why Wichita State University is so focused on linking education, research and technology transfer to the needs of the region. The Innovation Campus also is specifically being developed to promote economic diversification, especially in areas of advanced technologies.

Within our region, very high economic growth is being experienced in metropolitan areas in Texas and Oklahoma. Kansas City, like Wichita, is below that national median in economic performance. That is why WSU is working to strengthen relationships with metropolitan areas to the south.

A high-quality workforce is the most critical item if a region is to grow its economy. That is why WSU is so focused on increasing experiential education and why WSU and the Wichita Area Technical College are considering a union. These institutions can form a continuum of education that shapes the labor force to a rapidly changing global economy.

Together, we can create a bright future for our children and our community, but we need to take greater action now. We simply cannot wait and expect positive future outcomes. Businesses, city and county governments, and the region’s educational institutions must collaborate and innovate. The time is now.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "John Bardo: Region must collaborate, innovate."