Consultant Richard Seline, who is studying the state’s business climate, calls for greater collaboration between companies and research institutions in Providence. He spoke Tuesday night at the annual meeting of The Providence Foundation.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Investment capital is not a problem, nor a shortage of expertise or bright ideas.

But if business leaders fail to promote Providence, no marketing campaign will succeed in building the city’s economy, according to Richard Seline, a consultant who is leading a major study of the local business climate.

Seline, the chief executive officer of New Economy Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, has been interviewing entrepreneurs, business and political leaders and executives at universities and hospitals as part of a study commissioned in November by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

That research is not complete. The firm, for example, is still preparing a survey of college students to learn why so many leave Rhode Island after graduating, a so-called brain drain that robs local companies of some promising potential employees.

But speaking at the annual meeting of The Providence Foundation, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Tuesday night, Seline said Providence has the resources to strengthen high-wage industries such as information technology and biotechnology. It may not, however, have the confidence to promote those sectors nationally and internationally, he said.

“Am I the only person who believes this is Providence’s time?” said Seline, a former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce. “I go home, and if you don’t believe what I’m seeing, then it has just been a waste of time.”

Echoing a popular theme of the state Economic Development Corporation, Seline also called for greater collaborations between companies and research institutions in Providence.

Johnson & Wales University, for example, could partner with private industry to produce healthier food products, Seline said. Instead, there is little communication between Rhode Island companies and researchers, slowing new company creation and job growth, he said.

“It’s not the ingredients, it’s the recipe. That’s the challenge in Providence,” Seline said at the annual meeting, attended by Governor Carcieri, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as a bevy of business leaders who sit on the foundation’s board. “The scientific and technological capacities exist in this region.

“It’s not all in Boston,” Seline said. “There are places in the United State that would beg to have these assets.”

Seline, a founder of New Economy Strategies, said several U.S. cities have demonstrated the value of partnerships. In Philadelphia, he said, an association of chemical companies has helped maintain that region’s dominance in the industry. And in San Diego, the University of California, San Diego, has expanded through joint projects with other research institutions, reducing, in part, that city’s dependence on the defense industry.

In Rhode Island, Seline said, the Providence Geeks have provided a model for professional networking. The new association of technology entrepreneurs hosts monthly gatherings where, Seline said, members trust one another to give advice and not steal ideas.

“They’re the next generation of leadership that needs to be monitored and revered,” Seline said. “They love it here. They can live anywhere in the world.”

The results of the New Economy Strategies study are expected in March. Although the Chamber of Commerce is picking up the $132,500 tab, it has emphasized the participation of a variety of groups, including The Providence Foundation.

In an interview before he addressed the foundation, Carcieri also endorsed the effort. He said Providence needs to take advantage of its universities and relatively low office rental rates to attract new businesses. “We’re home to so much higher ed,” he said. “The question is, how do you harness it?”

In his speech to foundation members, Carcieri warned that efforts to grow the Providence economy could be undermined if lawmakers raise taxes to close the projected $450-million deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1. “The capital city needs to flourish,” he said, “if the state is to be seen as moving.”

Cicilline also embraced the chamber project, saying the city’s hospitals and universities have for too long been viewed as a drain on the economy, relying on municipal services while avoiding property taxes.

“We have always recognized the spinoff value” of companies formed to sell products based on research at a university or hospital, said the mayor, who met with Seline earlier on Tuesday. “This is really a historic effort,” Cicilline said, “as we transition from a jewelry and manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy.”