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GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER / CONSTANCE BROWN
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE REGION’S colleges, universities and hospitals took to the stage at the Greater Providence’s annual dinner Monday.
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PROVIDENCE – Encouraging and celebrating the “Knowledge Economy” was the theme Monday night at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s 142nd annual meeting, held at the R.I. Convention Center.
Chamber President Laurie White handed out a Knowledge Economy Award to Davol Inc., the C.R. Bard Inc. subsidiary that was founded 135 years ago as a manufacturer of rubber products. Davol has evolved into a medical products maker and is now the region’s largest employer in that industry.
White made the point that Davol invests nearly $30 million a year in research and development, and in 2009 the company introduced seven new products, six of which were related to the company’s core focus, hernia repair.
White and newly-elected Chamber Chairman William F. Hatfield, market president for Bank of America Corp., also asked leaders of the state’s hospitals and higher-education institutions to join them on the stage to acknowledge the impact the organizations have on Rhode Island’s economy.
A total of 23 institutions that employ more than 42,000 people combined were represented on stage. In the last year, White said, they have invested $376 million in capital projects and nearly $479 million in research, while attracting $171 million in federal research-and-development funding to the state.
“As we look forward toward Rhode Island’s economic recovery, health care and education are expected to lead the way with double-digit percentage increases in the next few years,” White said.
Hatfield outlined the Chamber’s 2010 agenda, which identifies “specific targets of opportunity in areas of health care, life sciences, technology, research and design, alternative energy and entrepreneurship.”
He also revealed that the Chamber’s Innovation Providence Implementation Council (IPIC) soon would be releasing $100,000 in additional funding for Rhode Island from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.
In addition, Hatfield said IPIC’s agenda for the coming year would work to convince companies to move to the Ocean State; increase R&D spending; expand existing collaborative programs across institutions and create new ones; and help the state train its work force for knowledge-based economic activity.
His final point was to reiterate that the Chamber plans to “comprehensively examine Rhode Island’s current tax system.”
White also honored outgoing Chamber Chairman Edward J. Cooney, vice president and treasurer of Nortek Inc., for his two-year term of service. She also welcomed Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline to the podium for brief speeches touting the dynamic nature of Rhode Island’s economy.
The keynote speaker for the dinner, which was attended by about 700 business community leaders, was Gail K. Boudreaux, president of UnitedHealthcare and executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, who discussed the national health-care reform debate, as well as programs that the insurer has created in Rhode Island to push down costs and improve outcomes.
Additional information is available at provchamber.com.
This is the most brain-dead comment I have ever heard from a business leader in Rhode Island. Ms. White is quoted above as saying:
"“As we look forward toward Rhode Island’s economic recovery, health care and education are expected to lead the way with double-digit percentage increases in the next few years,” White said."
Who, in God's name, is going to pay for these double-digit percentage increases????? We simply can't afford any more of this kind of thinking. Period, end of report!
When you put these 42,000 employees together with municipal and state employees, you get a staggering one in five employees either working for the government or the non-profits. A majority of these employees are members of bargaining units.
Does anybody have any ideas about how to get our business leaders to understand that this is not good news?
Richard Langseth
Richard, brain dead? Really? Do you have any idea how these things are funded and what they bring to the economy in terms of long term stable growth? Listen to me, of course you don't...hence your comment. Enough of the uniformed negative.
Steven: I spent years of my life trying to save large manufacturers in Rhode Island from oppressive Blue Cross premium increases (the health care component above). Obviously, I failed! They are all gone now with a couple of defense-related exceptions who put the health costs into their indirect cost burdens.
Regarding education, it literally consumes three quarters of my town's total budget - as it does with most other towns. In addition, many of us pay hundreds of thousands sending our kids to college. Health insurance premiums, uncovered health procedures, city taxes, and out of pocket education costs -- that's how health and education growth is funded, as far as I know.
Do you want to see double digit growth in these costs within your household, or those of your employees for years to come while our economy stagnates over the burden? I hope not!