IF NECESSITY is the mother of invention, then the birthrate for new ideas should be exploding in Rhode Island. With a fiscal crisis on our hands, the time is ripe for fresh thinking. We need to innovate, to turn crisis into opportunity.

So, what has caused our present problem?

Over the last several years, our state budgets have been supported by one-time-fixes — non-recurring revenue. While this was done with good intentions, we can no longer deal in short-term solutions. State revenue is growing at 1 percent, while expenditures are growing at 6 percent. A $150 million structural deficit this fiscal year will triple in 2009.

Our revenue dilemma is exacerbated by larger problems. Housing-market fears have led to plummeting sales-tax revenues, as families stop taking equity out of their homes to buy appliances, food and other things. Disposable income has also decreased, in large part because of high energy costs.

There can be no solution to Rhode Island’s fiscal problems without economic growth. We need to focus on building our economic infrastructure, drawing business into the state, and creating high-quality jobs in the Ocean State.

Playing to our strengths would be a good start.

How can we grow jobs if we don’t develop our seaports and expand our airport? How can we take advantage of our biotech strengths without a water-use policy that addresses them? How can we grow a 30-by-40 mile state if we think about economic development in a 15-by-20 mile mindset?

Add to those self-imposed limitations three other critical deficits — lack of a predictable tax policy, lack of initiative on “green-collar” jobs and lack of a nationally competitive school system — and you have a recipe for sluggish job growth.

We need major change in the way we do business — the way we support business — in Rhode Island.

One important step will be to redesign the mission of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC), to make it a more effective conduit for the policies and investments that promote job growth. The State of New York’s EDC, for example, not only connects companies directly with opportunities and communities but also targets the specific sectors and regions that it wants to grow.

In Rhode Island, it seems as if we still don’t know what we stand for economically. Is it hospitality and tourism? Biotechnology? Manufacturing? Financial services? We have made some gains in these areas, but we have been unable to define a core economic strategy for any of them.

We need to match our incentive programs with our natural strengths. Strengthening our high-tech manufacturing sector means ensuring thriving ports and an educated workforce. Strengthening our biotechnology sector means a user-friendly water policy and intensive collaboration with universities across the state. Bringing more national and international businesses to Rhode Island means improving and expanding our airport.

New York’s EDC creates “EZ Communities” — areas where targeted incentives are tied directly to growth opportunities. With so much undeveloped space in Rhode Island, it’s time to start thinking about the benefits of targeted economic development. The Quonset Development Corporation, as one example, must change and refocus its strategy to maximize its potential.

Pursuing targeted growth strategies also means taking an active role in bringing business into the state. Promoting Rhode Island’s quality of place is important, but there is no substitute for directly appealing to the needs of companies and communities. The Slater Fund, a publicly backed venture-capital firm that has helped 90 start-up ventures in the last decade, is one model of how sector-focused economic policy can spur job growth and innovation.

Beyond our economic and financial infrastructure, there are other important ways to improve the business climate.

First, we must ensure a predictable tax policy. Because we face a structural deficit, companies looking at Rhode Island will worry that the tax policy they start off with will change a few years down the line. This is a major disincentive. Businesses seek to minimize risk, and in that sense, even a high but clear and stable tax burden is preferable to a constantly shifting one.

We can also get Rhode Island involved in the growing green economy. Particularly with wind power, Rhode Island has both the natural resources and the existing economic base to become a wind-powered generator of electricity and a wind-power-technology producer. When Portsmouth Abbey installed its new wind tower in 2006, the parts came from Italy, Denmark and South Dakota. What if, as the world turns to increasingly competitive renewable-energy sources, it turned to the Ocean State?

Finally, and crucially, job growth in Rhode Island depends on a qualified and educated workforce. Businesses look at public schools, and at the education level of the state work force, when they are deciding whether to invest. Both of those areas need substantial investment and restructuring. Creating job growth will mean developing and retaining human capital in Rhode Island. It will also mean an intensive interface between higher education and business in our state, to make sure that graduates are ready for employment and to keep the channels of innovation humming.

Inspiring innovation and growth will be our most elusive, and our most rewarding challenge. It is by its nature a shared enterprise.

We need a new economic strategy. I am proposing a bipartisan group made up of the business community, tax experts and other leaders to tackle the big solutions that job growth demands. With so many potential avenues for growth — high-tech manufacturing, our fledgling green economy, the nexuses of technology and design and health care and biotechnology, to name a few — our biggest mistake would be to sit on our hands.

If we are to tackle the problems we face, we must do so together. Let’s roll up our sleeves, clear the air and get down to business.

State Rep. Steven M. Costantino (D.-Dist. 8, Providence) is chairman of the Rhode Island House Finance Committee.