A partnership between the state and private industry is needed in Arkansas to develop the talent required by employers in data analytics and computing, an 18-member commission formed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson reported Thursday.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on the Economic Competitiveness of Computing and Data Analytics in Arkansas said that up to $25.5 million in public and private funding sources will be required to staff the initiative and begin near-term efforts.
"Arkansas cannot afford to sit idly by as data analytics and computing transform the way businesses compete in the 21st Century," the commission said in its 24-page report to the Republican governor.
"Data analytics and computing is not merely about an emerging new industry of the future, but goes to the basic question whether Arkansas' existing industries will stay competitive and be able to generate the high-quality jobs needed to advance the state's per capita income and standard of living for Arkansans," the commission's report said.
The commission is co-chaired by Charles Morgan, chief executive officer of First Orion Corp. and former CEO of Acxiom, and Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The commission started meeting in late March.
The number of people employed in data analytics and computing in Arkansas is 22,000 with an average annual salary of $85,000, commission spokesman Brandi Hinkle said.
Hutchinson said he's committed to implementing the panel's recommendations.
"You either catch up or you lead," he said at a news conference in the governor's conference room at which he accepted the commission's report. "We want to lead in this area, and we're going to have to invest in this area."
Hutchinson, who is up for re-election next year for a second four-year term, said he views 2018 as the opportunity to gain public momentum and recognition of the importance of this initiative heading into the regular legislative session that starts in January 2019.
"I'll in the meantime be working on the budget side to make sure that we can allocate the funds that are necessary over time to implement the recommendations here, because I do see it as very important to the work and the growth that we want in Arkansas, our economic future as well as as very important for our young people to have all the opportunities here in this state that we expect them to have," he said.
Afterward, Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis clarified that the governor foresees seeking state funding for this initiative for the first time in the 2019 legislative session.
The public and private partnership would be called the Arkansas Partnership for Data Analytics and Computing under the commission's recommendation.
The panel's report called for the partnership to be governed as an independent, nonprofit organization by an industry-led board with representatives from state government and higher education. The board would be limited to nine to 11 members, the commission recommended.
"A base level of funding up to [$25.5] million over a five-year period from public and private sources will be required to staff the initiative and launch its near-term program efforts as a key technology-based economic development initiative of the state," the report states.
Hutchinson said that "it is a public-private partnership, and we fully expect our private sector partners to join in this effort."
The commission recommended a near-term plan of action to:
• Ramp up the Arkansas data analytics partnership. Funding for this could average $1.5 million a year over five years for supporting "a lean" staff.
• Create a data analytics investment fund. Funding for this could average $1.5 million a year over five years in capital expenses with public universities involving industry partners.
• Target workforce retraining, retention and attraction to ensure that Arkansas can meet existing and new employer demand for data analytics talent. Funding for this could average $1 million a year over five years to provide incentives for incumbent workers to undergo online retraining and recent graduates to take and hold jobs in Arkansas, with some money devoted to promoting Arkansas as a place to pursue a career in the field.
• Reinforce development of data analytics skills across Arkansas' universities and connecting students with businesses. An average of $1 million a year in state funding over five years could be used for a summer institute and internship program.
• Advance increased networking and executive education for Arkansas companies to better integrate data analytics into their businesses. Funding for this could average $100,000 a year over five years to focus on start-up and program development costs.
Meanwhile, Morgan said, First Orion Corp. plans to hire about 100 people next year. About 85 of them will be in Arkansas, and about 40 to 45 need to have computing and data analysis skills. The average salary will be about $85,000 a year, he said.
"When I look at the number of graduates that can do exactly what we need, it is a handful," he said.
"We need to have specific training that takes the computer-science graduates and the people with some computer-science skill and makes them job-ready without just dumping them into a company and saying, 'Try to figure it out,'" he said.
"Rather than going outside the state to try to hire or moving all those jobs to California and Austin, which we don't want either, we are actually going to create ... with us and higher-education institutions, specific programs for our company, but also work with the new school of data science at the University of Arkansas and what UCA and other schools are doing to actually to do a better job of preparing the young people for computer science."
Business on 12/22/2017