LITTLE ROCK — Businessmen, academics, government officials and interested members of the public are convening this morning at several university locations as part of a first-of-its-kind economic event that is expected to help shape policy and future economic development programs.
Today's Arkansas Economic Breakfast Series - a proposed biannual event - features data from academic researchers from Fayetteville, Jonesboro and Little Rock who will cobble together a statewide economic picture.
Break-out sessions specific to issues facing Fayetteville, Fort Smith Jonesboro, Little Rock, Magnolia, Monticello and Pine Bluff are to follow.
The group will post its findings at www.arkeconbreakfast.com.
And real-time video connections will make presentations accessible to the estimated hundreds that have paid $20 to attend the two-hour event starting at 7 a.m.
"While the first meeting will be very general, as time goes on'' future meetings will focus on specific economic issues, said Jim Youngquist, the executive director of the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
Architects of the venture say the gathering has potential to produce draft policies and programs that could further economic development in the state.
Youngquist added that the economic advisory group at UALR provided the impetus for the coordinating event.
"They threw out a challenge" to spur more interaction among academic institutions on the topic of economic development, he said.
"Often times universities and other organizations don't do a good job of doingthat."
Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Development Research at the Walton College of Business in Fayetteville, said months and months of planning discussion has helped shape the data to be used.
An estimated 500 people will access economic statistics that normally get presented to fewer than 100 folks at a time, Deck said.
Steve Williams, dean of the school of business at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith, said the presentation is expected to put local players on the same page.
"We'll have access to information" that will help people realize that some of the issues they face in their regions are not as vastly different as their own, he said.
Williams said it made sense that the state's universities will play a role in guiding broader conversations about economic development.
"When things hit here inFort Smith last year," he said referring to a string of layoff announcements, "people had questions."
And "people immediately came to the university" looking for answers, Williams said.
Gov. Mike Beebe presents opening remarks at this morning's breakfast featuring Deck; Alan McVey, director of the Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro; and Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster for the Institute for Economic Advancement in Little Rock.
The event is being sponsored by Arkansas Business and coordinated by the Institute for Economic Advancement at UALR. Other academic partners include: the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Walton College in Fayetteville, the College of Business at UA Fort Smith, the Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University, the Economic Research Center at the UA at Pine Bluff, the UA at Monticello and Southern Arkansas University.
Business, Pages 25, 26 on 09/30/2009