By PAULENE POPARAD

The delay in getting high-speed Internet access to Porter County’s new tourism visitor center in Porter’s Munson Place industrial park apparently wasn’t an isolated incident.

Even the most traditional company now operates using modern technology, according to Merrillville community development director Howard Fink.

The majority of Northwest Indiana industrial parks don’t have enough high-speed Internet capability, he said Wednesday, forcing growing businesses to leave or ones looking to locate here to go elsewhere. “It’s a critical, critical issue.”

Fink’s was the kind of input TechPoint was seeking at a Portage listening session hosted by its president, Jim Jay, and consultant Mark Shublak of Ice Miller legal counsel. About 20 persons attended the forum.

Founded in 2002, TechPoint is a non-profit corporation funded by the private sector, business and universities to represent Indiana’s technology community.

Jay and Shublak were soliciting ideas for TechPoint’s 2008 legislative agenda and reported on gains made during the recent 2007 General Assembly session.

Shublak said statewide technology initiatives promote high-tech, fast-growing business to bring higher-paying jobs to Hoosiers so they don’t have to leave the state. To lure good jobs, he stated, communities and community/business partnerships need to focus on creation of an environment to foster entrepreneurship, capital formation and a qualified workforce.

In the last legislative session a move failed to privatize the Hoosier Lottery, the proceeds from which would have been placed in a trust fund earmarked for higher education. Shublak said he anticipates the privatization proposal to be reintroduced in the next session.

Some have advocated higher pay for teachers, especially in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines that Shublak said are especially important at the middle school level. Jay said some innovartive school districts are turning traditional curriculum on its head with every student having a laptop.

Dawn Hamel of Valparaiso said teachers have to be educated before they can teach others. Some students know more about the programming inside a computer than their teacher. “It doesn’t help (students) to have a teacher less educated than they.”

Northwest Indiana Forum president Vince Galbiati said it’s too late to wait until college to inspire technology-minded students, especially when other places begin that focus at the elementary level. “If you want to create the next generation of industry here, it’s really workforce development.”

Ranjan Kini is a professor at Indiana University Northwest. He said tremendous change is taking place in the information technology field, but region connectivity is a problem. Broadband is not readily available to all students and even some school systems become clogged if too many students try to access their network at the some time.

Galbiati said the expense of securing connectivity can reduce a project’s commercial viability. Shublak said northwest Indiana has a prime opportunity to have digital data recovery warehouses and call centers if the proper network infrastructures are in place.

Jay said other tools are needed to grow Indiana’s workforce into a 21st century economy. Shublak described a number of recent measures taken by the General Assembly to provide incentives, capital, abatements, development grants and investment credits. Galbiati said personal property tax is a hurdle in Indiana so offsetting initiatives are needed to make its industry more globally competitive.

Chesterton’s economic development coordinator Dwayne Williams attended the TechPoint forum and commented, “I think the group itself is a great advantage for the state and northwest Indiana.” He also said Chesterton is being progressive to find economic development that matches high-quality jobs with the town’s high quality of life.

Posted 7/12/2007