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Charting a Clear Path to Diversify Hawaii’s Economy PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, January 18, 2009
As chair of the Senate’s Economic Development and Technology Committee, I’m eager to evaluate the state’s progress in growing emerging industries and workforce development this session.  We’re also reviewing tech incentives and credits carefully to assure that they produce solid returns on public investments. In spite of Hawaii’s current budget woes, it’s encouraging to see that our actions to diversify Hawaii’s economy (2000-2008) are producing results.
Recently, the Hawaii Science and Tech Council reported that Hawaii’s private tech sector contributed about $3 billion to the state’s economy in 2007 – which is roughly 5% of the state’s total $61 billion economy. Hawaii’s private tech sector grew 3.3% annually between 2002-2007, outpacing the state’s overall 2.5% economic growth for the same period.

This sector is projected to grow at a rate that is 46% faster than the rest of the economy, with wages in the sector higher than the state average for each of 10 commercial market segments.  The 10 segments reflect the multidisciplinary nature of many technologies and convergence of market opportunities.

Information on this report can be found at www.HISciTech.org.