Big Ideas of 2009

It’s getting to be that time of year when people start doing annual recaps; this year, folks get to have even more fun with decade recaps as well. My very favorite of these – the New York Times Magazines’ Year in Ideas issues – is going to come out soon, and I can hardly contain my glee. We here at the Prosperity Blog have also had a good year of ideas, generating all sorts of practical proposals for improving our region’s business climate and competitiveness. But, of course, we have also had lots of impractical, sky’s-the-limit ideas that we hope someone is going to take and run with and make all our dreams come true. So, for all you good-idea-awaiting folks out there, here’s a summary of some of our “Big Ideas of 2009″, presented in Top Ten format:

We Got a Bunch of Stimulus Money…So What?

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what to do with the information that we’re collecting on Recovery Act awards to industry cluster related activities. It’s certainly nice to know in general, but I’ve always said that we have to make sure that these dollars aren’t just a one-time windfall, but actually contribute to the long-term success of our regional economic development strategy. So I’ve started to think about the Recovery Act funds in three groups:

Boeing and Smart Grid

You’ll notice that our list of Recovery Act funded projects in the region doesn’t include Boeing’s recent $8 million for smart grid. Simple reason: the funds technically go to Boeing operations in St. Louis and California, since it’s Boeing’s defense side that is make the shift to energy technology.

Smart Enough About Smart Grid?

I’m at my in-laws’ for Thanksgiving and my father-in-law is trying to understand the difference between “burning” and “ripping” a CD. It just makes me think about how funny it is that some scientist or engineer comes up with a term that’s a mix of an accurate description, and an inside joke and all of the sudden it’s in the common parlance. Everyone’s talking “smart grid” these days, which is totally inside baseball for the electric utility/clean energy set.

And it’s not actually just the grid itself that we’re trying make smart; it’s everything from electricity generation and storage to transmission to metering and usage. You need “smart meters” and “smart appliances” and the rest to help consumers have the information they need to make energy use management a two way street…or, to reappropriate a related phrase (since reliable broadband matters too), we’re trying to create the Electricity Superhighway. What’s really been fascinating to watch, though, is how the Puget Sound and Washington state are really taking big strides to lead the country in developing a smart grid for the Pacific Northwest.

Science: Not Just for Nerds

OK, maybe that’s not the best slogan for a new STEM initiative marketing campaign. I’ll leave that up to the experts. But a marketing campaign is exactly what the Obama Administration is talking about with its new Educate to Innovate campaign. And it’s exactly what the Prosperity Partnership has been talking about as well:

Happy Anniversary, Recovery Act!

They grow up so fast…it seems like only yesterday that Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In fact, it was not yesterday, but rather February 13, 2009. (The President signed it four days later.) Which makes today the nine month anniversary!

Even after all this time, there are actually a number of major opportunities still open. On this happy day, here are a few to keep an eye on (or apply for!):

And Then You Can Make a Movie About Building Planes!

If you haven’t been watching closely, you’ve missed the national trend of turning large industrial spaces into movie studios. This isn’t a new idea by any stretch, but unfortunately there’s a lot more industrial space these days, like abandoned automobile manufacturing facilities in Michigan. But it hits a little closer to home when you see that LA is making movie studios out of old Boeing Commercial Airline buildings.

What Will Alan Mulally Say at the Prosperity Partnership Luncheon?

So, like I mentioned, Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally is going to be the keynote speaker at the Prosperity Partnership Fall Luncheon on November 13 (register now before it gets sold out!). And what’s even cooler is that he doesn’t do speeches, so it’s going to be town hall format; whatever people want him to talk about, he’ll just be riffing, like a mix between Phil Donahue and Drew Carey on Who’s Line Is It Anyway (ok, maybe not exactly like that). So, given that it’s open season, what is he going to talk about?

Green Housing, Not to Be Confused with Clean Housing

You know, cause even if you use clean energy for residential power, calling it a clean house makes people feel like they have to vacuum more often, which uses extra energy, making it less clean. The irony!

Anyway, I was making a presentation this morning on clean energy in the ARRA, and I made the point that a lot of the money for energy is not just in Department of Energy grant, but in places like Department of Housing. Ta-da! And some pretty high tech stuff, too.

Of course, again, the real wins come when all of those solar panels and biofuels are provided and installed by local companies. Another reason why we need to keep coordinated on who gets what stimulus money and what products and services our growing clean tech companies are commercializing.

Here Comes Carbon Capture (and Mole People?)

Here’s the thing about carbon capture, which is about to go live in West Virginia. I’m slightly concerned that the mole people who live deep underground are going to get pissed off, and come to the surface world to do battle with us. Either that, or some other unintended consequences, like polluted drinking water or earthquakes:

Asked whether the injections of carbon dioxide could increase the frequency or magnitude of the small earthquakes that are common in the area, an E.P.A. official said it seemed unlikely.

Ah, “unlikely.”  Everyone’s favorite palliative. 

SEED Withers in the Ground

Or some such gardening allegory. Anyway, most of you probably saw that the Port of Bremerton pulled the plug on the Kitsap SEED Project, the long-discussed, never quite off the ground dream of a clean technology incubator. The project was actually at one point pretty high on the regional agenda, and the Economic Development District here at the PSRC recommended them for U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) funding, which they got but never used.

What’s the Difference Between a Propeller and a Wind Turbine?

They’re both fan-shaped things that push wind to create energy, just one uses it to generate propulsion, the other makes electricity. Only one can be used to get the bad guy during a fight with Indiana Jones, though.

So, of course it makes sense that former aerospace manufacturers are turning to wind turbines as a way to put their capacity to work. There’s actually two stories in between the lines here, though:

Have You Driven a Ford Lately?

I still can’t get over how cool it is that Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mullaly is going to be the keynote speaker at the Prosperity Partnership Fall Luncheon on November 13.  But it’s not just the fact that he used to work in the region and now he’s in the Time 100. It’s that he can talk about a major national economic shift that has the potential to be huge in the central Puget Sound in two ways:

Acronyms in Your Rearview Mirror May Be More Awkward Than They Seem

It’s a little known fact that the US Congress loves acronyms. Or maybe it’s a well known fact, what with ARRA, TARP, etc. When I was working on the hill, we were dealing with the CHIMP Act (Chimpanzee Health Improvement Maintenance and Protection), which set up a retirement system for lab primates.

More Cars Sold in China Than U.S.

Here’s a stat that snuck up on me. 

“For the first quarter of the year, 2.7 million cars were sold in China – besting U.S. sales of 2.2 million for the first time to become the world’s largest car market.”

There are many ways to look at this, two of which are:   a) good God, there goes our efforts on climate change; b) maybe China can pull us out of the recession. 

The CNN article tells us there are 100 Chinese automakers hoping to take advantage of the growing market, not to mention the multinational companies and government-owned entities like GM and Chrysler. A growing Chinese market would help with over capacity of cars out in the world. But, it would be even better if those cars were environmentally friendly. The Chinese are pushing for electric cars and Warren Buffet’s favorite car company is going electric.

But, most of the electricity in China is generated by coal. In other words, it’s a mixed up, muddled up, crazy world we live in. On the other hand, our region’s clean tech sector may stand to benefit.  Like I say, there’s a lot of ways to look at this.