Bytemarks

This past week the Hawaii Science and Technology Council launched their new eJournal, The Wave Hawaii (not to be confused with The Wave Waikiki, Jack Law’s now defunct hip night spot). Lisa Gibson, Executive Director for HiSciTech writes:

“Welcome to the first edition of The Wave, a new e-journal launched by the Hawaii Science & Technology Council.    As people working in science, research and high technology businesses, we think the time is ripe for serious discussion of our island economy, its prospects, and the waves of opportunity breaking on our shores.  As champions of an innovation economy, we decided it was time to speak up.”

Newsletter, eJournal, online Magazine, call it what you want, but I would agree that it is high time for some serious writing/dialog about Hawaii’s tech sector and efforts to establish a tech economy. I enjoy Jay Fidell’s critical posts in his Honolulu Advertiser ThinkTech blog and the sanguine tech coverage in Lincoln Jacobe’s Pacific News Bytes but we can always use more perspectives and exposure. This inaugural issue of The Wave has an article by Tony Clapes revisiting his Blue Wave Millennium: A Future for Hawaii, expose. It nicely recaps how well (or not) we’ve done over the past 25 years in establishing a tech economy. Rory Flynn writes about Leaving Home as an Economic Indicator. I’ve observed Hawaii to be known for importing all is fuel and food, keeping all its trash and exporting all its intelligent young brain trust. It’s not surprising we are in the shape we are in. There is also an interesting reprint of an article by William Bonvillian about the Innovation State and government’s role in creating an environment for innovation. This brings to mind our State government’s Innovation Initiative. It’s a nice looking website but I have not heard of anything that has come out of that effort. Where is Marc Benioff, Jay Shidler or Ron Higgins? Not running in my circles to be sure. Since it’s formation in 2007 the mission of the Council is “To be Developed.”

I like what Clapes points out in his article,

“Despite the efforts of DBEDT and island economic development boards, there is not much steering of the economy going on at the leadership level.  As a result, the State continues to spin in the lazy circles of the boom and bust cycle.”

There is an obvious pattern. Whenever there is a disaster that affects tourism our leadership (public and private) lauds the need to create a tech sector to balance out the economy. It’s happened with Hurricane Iniki, 9/11 and now the Great Recession. When that passes, tech initiatives are forgotten and we go back to the old ways of servicing our number one industry. Will 2010 be different? I certainly hope so. I was tweeting with Kaiser Kuo who was recently here for [Re]Think Hawaii and TEDxHonolulu. In his closing remarks at TEDxHonolulu he said Hawaii was too laid back for a tech sector to form. He felt Hawaii lacked the energy, drive and intensity. I don’t totally agree with him, I would add lack of leadership. But that is going to all change come 2010… Agree or disagree.