Members of the Alabama Innovation Commission shared the next steps to growing the state’s innovation economy with Alabama economic developers.

The newly formed Alabama Innovation Corporation will initiate some of those next steps, but others should be undertaken by communities throughout the state, members of a panel at the Economic Development Association of Alabama (EDAA) 2022 Winter Conference said recently.

The panel consisted of Alabama Finance Director Bill Poole, Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed and Alabama State Rep. Jeremy Gray, with Zeke Smith, executive vice president of External Affairs at Alabama Power, moderating. All four panelists served on the Alabama Innovation Commission, which presented its report on the innovation economy to Gov. Kay Ivey in October.

That report was created in conjunction with the Hoover Institution, whose director is Birmingham native Condoleezza Rice. In December, the commission presented its recommendations and announced the board of directors of the Alabama Innovation Corporation.

Alabama Innovation Commission members discuss what’s next for state’s innovation economy from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

While those were major milestones for the commission, the panel at EDAA said the work is just getting started to create a robust innovation economy in the state.

“I think it’s one of the more consequential efforts that we’ve undertaken in recent years in Alabama and I think the continued success that I hope leads to tangible and meaningful outcomes I think will define this effort and will lead us going forward,” said Poole, who served as chairman of the Innovation Commission. “It is a time of opportunity for Alabama, in my judgment, and I think the report of the commission provides a roadmap.”

Gray said communities should be looking at themselves through an innovation lens to take an inventory of those things that would appeal to entrepreneurs, technology companies and employees, and identifying what makes their place unique.

“Just telling those stories and being able to leverage what we’re doing with the corporation and the commission really helps us,” he said. “That will really bring us together as one Alabama.”

What do those entrepreneurs and tech employees want?

Reed said it boils down to three things: a good business opportunity, a community they can engage with and be involved in, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Reed said the state has an abundance of all of those things but has to do a better job of communicating it.

“We’ve done a really good job of marketing to folks in other places: Come to Alabama’s Gulf Coast, spend a week with your family, spend a lot of money and have a great vacation. And we’ve got a ton of folks from all over America that do just that. We’ve had some great success there,” Reed said. “But we need to be looking for other ways to brand ourselves as the entrepreneur’s dream place: This is a spot you want to come and start your business.”

Both Reed and Poole serve on the board of directors of the Alabama Innovation Corporation.

Poole said he expects one of the first major initiatives of the corporation will focus on marketing and branding.

“I’m hopeful that we push out a very robust and very aggressive national marketing plan – not just visit, not just buy our products, but live in Alabama, invest in Alabama, play in Alabama in our outdoor activities and areas,” Poole said. “So, I think the marketing effort is going to be critical and can yield enormous results for our state in every aspect.”

That marketing includes informing and preparing ourselves.

“What we all learned is there are all of these fantastic things going on around Alabama that sometimes we didn’t even know about, that we learned about,” Poole said. “First and foremost, we’ve got to do a better job of marketing and telling our story inside of Alabama so that our citizens know our capabilities, our opportunities and what’s going on. Because oftentimes I don’t think we do a good enough job of giving ourselves the credit across our state for the great things that happen.”

Gray and Reed said rural communities have to know they can participate in the innovation economy and efforts like broadband expansion will aid them in those efforts.

“We want Alabama to grow everywhere. We just can’t grow along the interstates,” Reed said. “If Alabama is going to be all we want her to be, we’re going to have to grow in rural areas as well as in urban areas.”

Talent retention, university partnerships and community mentorships are other ways rural and underserved areas can be prepared.

There are other things the state must do as part of the preparation, Poole said.

“We cannot recruit and retain talent if we don’t have infrastructure, education and health care,” he said. “If we have them, we need to improve them, then the objectives of this corporation going forward in this effort as well as all of the other efforts across the spectrum of economic development will be successful in Alabama.”

Alabama’s economic developers are on board, according to Jim Searcy, executive director of EDAA.

“As that progresses – and I told the actual audience that was here – I said you’re going to look back and say ‘I was there when this transformational program was introduced,’” he said.