Technology park could be option for city

Technology parks translate into well-paying technology jobs. While Springfield residents won't be asked to vote on funding a city technology park in the foreseeable future, it does present a legitimate option for economic development.

Bill Borgmeyer is the coordinator of the Office of Productivity in the Missouri Department of Economic Development. He said technology parks include technology-intensive companies and companies involved in the life sciences, which are an ongoing emphasis of the department.

"You can get into many different areas when you talk about life sciences, ranging all the way from testing types of activities to instrumentation, making the very highly scientific instruments, and going into medicine, pharmaceuticals, animal health sciences," he said.

Borgmeyer said technology parks have the potential to attract higher-paying, knowledge-based employers with jobs that differ from those that a general industrial park supports.

"From the information technology aspect, the advanced manufacturing components that go into sophisticated manufacturing operations, like robotics ... certainly, those command higher wages, because you're talking about a higher level of educational attainment and more job skills," he added.

Bringing more well-paying jobs to the Springfield area is something of key interest to Allen Kunkel, manager of regional development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Kunkel said the chamber is establishing a task force to look at work force issues

While he expects the task force to have ideas about technology-related issues, he doesn't know if discussions will be directly related to the creation of a technology park.

"There are ongoing efforts to create better-paying job opportunities for existing employees in the region, and (to look at) how we keep the college graduates here by creating higher-paying, more technology-related jobs," Kunkel said.

He added that he is aware that technology parks are being developed in different areas of the country, creating better jobs for their local economies.

"These parks ... all have identified a targeted market or need. As a community, the business, community and education leaders must determine if this is a viable project for the Springfield area," Kunkel said.

In the meantime, he said, although Springfield's Partnership Industrial Park West is primarily geared toward the manufacturing industry, it could be home to technology-related companies.

"If a company wants to come in that's a higher-paying, technology-based company ... there may be available space to attract that type of company, so whether or not the city wants to build a technology park specifically is yet to be discussed," he said.

Borgmeyer said Missouri already has some good examples of technology-intensive areas, although they don't have a specific name and aren't designated as technology parks.

"I think the corridor along Interstate 44 from Joplin and Springfield to St. Louis, and Interstate 70 from St. Louis to Kansas City, as (those areas ) relate to the life sciences area, that has been identified as a cluster where we have a substantial base already in the state," Borgmeyer said.

"We have research efforts in the state and we see the base or the support elements to help this particular industry grow all the time," he added.

Borgmeyer said there is a research park being developed at Ft. Leonard Wood that will be a technology-based development focused primarily on environmental science and information technology. He added that there's also a research park in St. Charles County that, although not designated as a technology park, conducts research and explores new technology options.