Commentary: Philly in race for high-tech future

By John Fry

and Rob Wonderling

The economist Paul Romer gave us the wonderful line "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste."

In Philadelphia, we understand the value of a crisis better than most. Our collective response to the fiscal crisis of the early '90s not only rescued the city, it started Philadelphia on the road to becoming a leader in America's urban renaissance. Even with the stubborn problems of economic inequality and a struggling public school system, we've had an incredible ride over the last 25 years.

Now Philadelphia is facing another crisis. This one is a crisis of opportunity rather than survival, but it's a crisis nonetheless. One that demands that we respond with a speed, scale, and cohesion beyond anything we've managed in the past.

This crisis of opportunity revolves around a new race to the top among the world's biggest metro areas. First prize is a coveted spot on the first-tier of the 21st-century economy, and it's a race that demands Philadelphia's full attention.

The winners will be cities that leverage the power of emerging technologies - some information technology based and some not - to drive economic growth and social progress. These are transformative new technologies like smart fabrics, automation and robotics, genetics, health informatics, personalized medicine, and others. Winning cities will make strategic choices about which technologies they are best positioned to lead in as hubs for innovation and centers for investment.

The Brookings Institution estimates there are 100 metro areas in the world with the size and capacity for running this race. With room for approximately 25 at the top, the rest will have to settle for second-tier status.

Philadelphia clearly has the assets to earn a top-tier spot. We have a strong lineup of large and small companies, our incomparable eds-and-meds sector, a significant pharmaceutical presence, and a growing high-tech sector, energized by an active start-up community.

What's missing is a sense of urgency, complicated by a degree of complacency. Competing cities might not have Philadelphia's intellectual and cultural assets or our track record, but they do have a greater sense of urgency. You see it in the shared focus of their public and private sectors.

The goal of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia is to take the lead in developing a competitive agenda for the region based on two values: innovation and inclusion.

Innovation clearly means building on the research and development leadership that's a core strength of our universities. We also need innovation in commercializing our high-tech breakthroughs and sharing market intelligence about which transformative technologies will work best for Philadelphia over the next 20 years.

Inclusion, of course, means inclusion of the thousands of families who still haven't benefited from Philadelphia's renaissance. These are the people who live the day-to-day reality behind the city's 26 percent poverty rate. Any agenda for the future has to include low-income Philadelphians and give their children an education that will let them fill the high-tech jobs we create.

How do we make opportunities for inclusion? It goes right back to the basics - what's often called the education pipeline.

That includes so much more than just improving Philadelphia's schools, although that's essential. It's also building community supports like high-quality child care and pre-K programs and lively after-school and summer programs, including, importantly, jobs for teens.

It means creating opportunities for ongoing education for adults, from basic education to career-building certificates and job-specific training. It also means access to affordable and decent housing, safe streets, accessible parks and playgrounds. In short, strong, viable, healthy neighborhoods.

This challenge reaches into all aspects of civic and government life. And business and institutional leaders must play a major role in rallying behind these efforts, supporting access to needed resources, and, through our own civic engagement efforts, bringing about positive change in our communities.

Delivering on societal goals like these requires another form of inclusion: a cohesive and continuous partnership that brings together business, City Hall, higher education and health care, the public schools, and foundations and the wider nonprofit community.

These sectors should be more than concerned neighbors who occasionally help each other. They must be working partners who see improving the public schools and funding high-tech start-ups as part of the same competitive agenda. That agenda includes an assault on the bureaucratic hurdles that complicate doing business and reforming the antigrowth structure of city taxes.

It's a full agenda, but one well worth the effort. Because this is definitely a crisis that's too good to waste.

John Fry is president of Drexel University and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. jaf@drexel.edu

Rob Wonderling is the chamber's president and CEO. rwonderling@chamberPHL.com