RHODE ISLAND has not been fostering economic development and creating jobs at acceptable levels for well over a decade, and probably longer. Unfortunately, that is not newsworthy, as everyone in the state freely acknowledges that disappointing reality.

What is newsworthy, however, is that Rhode Island state leaders are trying to reverse that trend without old-school politics, attribution of blame or the burdens of low expectations and pessimism. Instead, Governor Carcieri, House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed made public a series of recommendations prepared by us, the Economic Development Corporation Review Panel, that are designed to take a new approach with respect to economic development. Only time will tell if they are successful at delivering true change, but this collaborative effort is certainly a good start.

A properly prioritized and coordinated economic-development strategy could have meaningful ramifications on a number of challenging issues: the state budget, education, quality of life, unemployment, workforce training and development, poverty, social services and so on. Conversely, it is difficult to imagine that the state can successfully solve so many of these problems without an effective and coordinated economic development strategy to develop a strong, vibrant and sustainable economy that can create more and better jobs.

To achieve long-term improvement in economic development, two problems must be solved. First, we need to improve our approach to economic development, from the top levels of government down to the daily operations of the EDC. Second, we must change the macro-economic environment in Rhode Island, which is composed of many factors, such as business climate, tax policy and education, to name a few. In the past, the interests of economic development and job creation have been secondary to other public policy considerations.

Meaningful improvement requires that public policy decisions, across a spectrum of interests and considerations, should be driven by the paramount need of supporting economic development and job creation. If we fail to create a positive, supportive environment for business then we will artificially limit the level of success we can attain in generating jobs and creating opportunity for our citizens.

While we acknowledged that addressing the business climate is essential long term, our recommendations were designed to create an effective and appropriate operational structure for stimulating economic development. These recommendations are not revolutionary, and have been discussed previously. For a variety of reasons, no one has succeeded at accomplishing the required changes. Because of the economic crisis we are in, and the stated desire by the governor and legislative leadership to move forward aggressively and collaboratively, we believe this time could be different.

Set forth below are a few of our recommendations and observations:

• The EDC needs an experienced, professional economic development executive as its director. We have been asked to serve as a committee to conduct a national search and have already started that process.

• The EDC must be governed by a strong, focused board designed to ensure accountability and drive performance. This involves the elimination of the Economic Policy Council and the reconstitution, legislatively, of the EDC board. Board members should be selected on the basis of their skill set, their passion for economic development and their willingness and ability to help drive change, not because they represent a particular constituency, group or geographic area.

• The state should support the creation of a public/private partnership, funded in part by the business community, to lead marketing and business attraction efforts.

• The EDC needs to focus on developing industries and areas where we have a natural or potential comparative advantage. Examples include the defense industry, marine trades, alternative energy development, research and development, financial services, and industries that benefit from our higher education and health-care institutions. The desire to create high-wage jobs must be fairly balanced with the need to create employment opportunities for all levels of Rhode Island’s population.

• The business community needs to become significantly more involved and invested.

• An Office of Economic Research and Policy Analysis should be created within the EDC, and led by a professional economist, to have a centralized mechanism for compiling, analyzing and communicating essential economic data and trends.

• The EDC could create many jobs immediately for existing small and minority-owned businesses by providing government-contracting expertise and helping small business obtain an increased share of federal government contracts. Utah has successfully outsourced this function and helped small businesses obtained over $250 million in government contracts, creating over 5,000 new jobs.

• Our educational institutions and hospitals, such as Lifespan, Brown University and URI, are economic engines. Their research-and-development activity is particularly valuable because it attracts talented people and high-wage jobs. We must position them to compete for additional research funding.

We are pleased to report that progress has already begun. Representatives of the governor and the legislative leadership are actively working now on legislation to restructure EDC governance and authorize a three-year term for the EDC director so that we have the best chance to attract and recruit a field of strong candidates.

If our recommendations are implemented, we believe the EDC, and Rhode Island, will be well-positioned organizationally and operationally to achieve success in economic development.

The ultimate level of success, however, will be driven by our collective ability to change the business climate and create an environment that is supportive of industrial investment. For Rhode Island to be perceived as a business friendly climate, we need to make the necessary changes and actually become business-friendly. Addressing the high levels of taxation, potentially through some of the tax-policy changes recommended earlier this year, is an important part.

If economic development truly becomes a top priority, then a state of our size, with its agility and ability to accomplish things quickly, should be able to make meaningful progress rapidly. Only then will Rhode Island have a significant opportunity for genuine economic development.

Marc Crisafulli, a lawyer, is a member of a panel studying the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, for which this is submitted. The other members are Al Verrecchia (chairman), Paul Choquette, Edward Cooney, Stephen Lane, George Nee, Sue Stenhouse, Walter Felag and Donna Walsh.