STOCK QUOTES     More market data...

State's tech leaders look ahead

By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology reporter

Microsoft's Jim Allchin worries about education.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

A group of business leaders and elected officials concerned about these issues gathered to brainstorm ways to help technology companies grow and stay competitive.

Ironically, the group included representatives of world-beating companies doing business in Washington, including Microsoft and Amazon.com. But the message was improvements are needed to ensure economic growth.

Keynote speaker John Stanton, chief executive of Western Wireless, challenged the group to take action but he's not holding his breath waiting for results.

He noted that businesses were saying the same thing 12 years ago when his company started: that their top legislative priorities were to improve the state business climate and education system.

"I have to confess that ... I'm somewhat concerned about the ability of the group that's represented in this room to really lead," Stanton said.

University research programs are strong and have helped create numerous companies, but money for undergraduate education has steadily declined over those 12 years, he said.

Stanton, a member of Gov.-elect Dino Rossi's transition team, said he's most concerned about the state's business climate, including its high minimum wage, regulatory structure and worker costs. He also blamed educators and business leaders for not doing better in persuading voters to support measures such as tax increases to help pay for transportation and education.

	John Stanton: "Lousy place to do business."

"Ultimately, as I complain about this being a lousy place to do business, business leaders — and all the business leaders in the room — have to take the blame," Stanton said. "We have to take the blame for not being more activist, for not being more aggressive and we have to take the blame for not selling our story to the voters."

Yesterday's "policy forum" was a sort of Northwest debut for TechNet, a Silicon Valley-based industry group that hosted the event along with the Technology Alliance, a state organization formed in 1996 by William H. Gates, father of the Microsoft chairman. TechNet had similar events earlier this fall in Texas, Massachusetts and California.

One motivation for the forums was angst about outsourcing and concerns that "some of these jobs are going to go offshore."

"How do we continue to create jobs in the future?" asked TechNet President Rick White, a former congressman from Bainbridge Island.

Yesterday's gathering was also a preview of the high profile the tech industry is expected to have in the Legislature and in Congress next year.

The industry's state priorities include improving higher-education spending and improving transportation. Last year, it persuaded the state to extend tax breaks on research and product development.

Among the federal issues are immigration limitations, Internet taxation and regulation of emerging businesses, such as Internet telephony.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said a particular focus next year will be the overhaul of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Murray told the group she'll help the tech industry fight "taxes that stifle innovation" and "excessive regulations" that impede its growth. She also said she is working to expand broadband access in the U.S. and opposes requirements that force public companies to report stock options as expenses.

The cloudy outlook presented yesterday contrasts with the industry's success in Washington. Last year, 44 percent of workers in the state were employed by technology-based companies, and their average income was more than $91,000, according to a study UW researchers prepared for the Technology Alliance.

The state's education system needs to produce more computer-science graduates, said Jim Allchin, head of Microsoft's platform group. He noted that Microsoft has to recruit outside the U.S., "looking for every individual we can get."

"It is the single core problem that will stop the industry from being able to reach its full potential," Allchin said.

Another concern is traffic congestion, said Allchin, who commutes from Seattle's Laurelhurst neighborhood to Redmond.

"People don't write code when they're sitting on the freeway," he said. "Actually, maybe I have in the past, but it's not a good thing."

Yesterday's session was in part a regrouping after failures of Referendum 51, a transportation-funding package, and Initiative 884, an education-tax proposal, said Tom Alberg, a Seattle venture capitalist and chairman of the Technology Alliance board.

Alberg said the state's tech industry has prospered but that it could grow even more if hindrances were addressed.

"On the one hand, we're encouraged because a lot of good things have been happening — the growth of companies," he said. "On the other hand, we see there's just a lot of problems."

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More business & technology headlines...