Business Week reported "high school will never be the same" when it looked at San Diego’s innovative High Tech High, and for good reason.

The school has become one of the key elements of the region’s "Partnership for the New Economy," a strategy focused on building a knowledge-based economy from within the community. The initiative is gaining recognition as a national model because of its multi-dimensional impact, starting with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation’s leadership in envisioning the holistic benefits of forming a local alliance of business, government and education to nurture economic growth and meaningful employment opportunity. Retaining the area’s industry base with an expanded pool of skilled workers from the community is a mission-critical part of the plan to meet the future needs of the life sciences, space and defense, electronics, communications and software companies that define the regional economy.

"Human infrastructure is key (to economic growth) in addition to physical infrastructure," observed San Diego Regional EDC’s Jane Signaigo-Cox. "Physical infrastructure is important but the gap is sometimes you need to fill the workplace pipeline."

The approach is paying off for students, employers and the community, which confronted growing unemployment, escalating costs of living, military downsizing, and other economic shifts by looking at growth and development from an internal perspective and by introducing programs designed to meet short- and long-term workforce needs of local businesses. "Collaboration was needed," stressed Duane Roth, Chairman & CEO of San Diego-based Alliance Pharmaceutical Corporation.

Roth provided an overview of the Partnership - an alliance involving more than 300 people. CEO’s work with civic, education and elected leaders to devise approaches "with innovative outcomes." The outcomes benefit students receiving workforce skill training, area companies in need of qualified workers, the local economy, tax base and quality of life.

It’s a business-driven initiative, Roth added. "Area corporations contributed funds to drive the initiative. These are corporations with a stake in the area’s and their future growth." Key needs of business were recognized as key needs of the communities, and one key step taken in the formation of the Partnership was identifying the key needs not only of local business and industry but of the entire community:
• Access to capital
• Quality of life factors (transportation, traffic, cost of housing)
• Technology Entrepreneurs and Management (TEAM)
• Excellence

As listed, one guideline shaping the strategy was the promotion of San Diego’s established base of entrepreneurialism that has long fed the region’s life sciences and technology industry mix. The alliance decided to play to this inherent strength. "We can grow thousands of these small businesses and know how to do that," stated Roth, who also serves as the chairman of San Diego-based BIOCOM, an industry group representing the area’s life sciences companies.

Today, 43 companies and organizations make up the Partnership for the New Economy, and the mobilization of local leaders has impacted over 5,000 students – many of whom are at-risk. Through High Tech High, one of the Partnership’s flagship programs, at-risk kids learn from a math- and sciences-based curriculum, receiving the workforce skill training local companies need from their employees to compete in the future. More than 150 business leaders have contributed time and knowledge in 150 classrooms, teaching students on key points including relationship management skills. Plus, the effort has also resulted in the opening of the Rady School of Management to address shorter-term needs. Classes start this fall following a $30-million start-up grant from a local business leader, Ernest Rady, combined with $10 million in contributions from area companies.

Roth reported that 100% of recent graduates will attend college. As noteworthy is San Diego’s recent rating as the top biotech center in the U.S.

Another success indicator is the fact that other High Tech highs have been started elsewhere in California, as well as in Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon. Roth spoke of the importance of sustaining the model and its success: "The importance of innovation to the California economy cannot be overstated. We’re never going to have $50,000 homes in San Diego again."

EDITOR’S NOTE: Companies will place more emphasis on access to knowledge workers as envisioned by the Corporate Real Estate 2010 focus on "The Strategic Role of Place." Communities have the opportunity to help meet the future business needs of prospective employers through practices that extend beyond the recruitment of new business and industry, and that could incorporate internal development strategies such as the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation’s "Partnership for the New Economy." Corporate Real Estate 2010 is an industry-leading research and leadership development effort developed by CoreNet Global.

– Richard Kadzis