Future Economy Council Meeting #3 (5/21/2009)

I will go over this meeting chronologically, but I will let you in on the fact that this was another excellent meeting. This meeting got opened up and people just went with it on some new levels of innovative dialogue.

Welcome - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce President Danny Hearn started out the meeting by announcing that Rick Smyre has been named Chairman of the Gaston County Future Economy Council. Danny mentioned that several parallel processes have been taking place since the last time we met. Four new members joined the team including Mark Fleming, Congressman Patrick McHenry's Office; Andrea Surratt, Assistant City Manager, City of Hickory; Shane Pitman, Information Security Specialists; and Chuck Adair (Consultant). The Unifour Foundation grant will be decided upon during the first week in June.

Future's Communi-Versity: Speaker Joshua Cooper Ramo - Rick Smyre had the floor next and he spoke about the book that Danny has already sent us an e-mail about. The book is The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It . (Rick did not mention this, but the author was the man who translated events and was a guest commentator during the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony on NBC). Joshua Cooper Ramo used to be an associate editor for Time Magazine. He lives in China and connects businesses to U.S. concerns. Ramo says, "We are in Revolutionary Times and We need Revolutionary Thinking." "We are living in a time when the ideas, the institutions, and the leaders are more attuned to an age that is 200 years ago." We are in a time of Civilization Change. Command and Control Management is no longer effective.

We need new skills. We need a new approach and a different Philosophical framework. We have to be able to identify weak signals. We are moving back to a new age of enlightenment. Rick believes that Catawba County's FEC is comprehensively setting up the initial conditions effectively. One concept that Rick mentioned was the idea of looking at our community and organizations and building in resiliency. We have to develop capacities in our thinking, skills, and leadership to be able to adapt quickly in an exponentially changing world.

Future Economy Council Website/ Hickory Hound Blog - Danny retook the floor and talked about our hopeful addition of an FEC website. He handed the floor over to myself to discuss the idea and a conversation that I had with Rick on Tuesday afternoon. The idea is to develop a subgroup that will in the end create a website focusing on the Creative Molecular Economy (CME). The steps to getting to the development of the website are 1) We need to obtain knowledge (concepts and methods of CME) about what we are doing. 2) We need to design the website after we have nailed down the concepts and have a connection of multiple websites to create a web based on that. 3) Basically, we need to identify individuals and small groups of intelligent knowledgeable people and I believe everyone in the FEC has something to offer.

He gave me a list of sites to check out that might be of interest. This will be like playing chess. We are going to have to think about multiple moves at one time. We can't afford to limit ourselves by thinking "This is the right move." If we all get together and go at this from a different angle, then when someone gets ahead of the game we can follow them. But, as in a horse race, when someone else takes the lead then we can slide on over and follow them. We need to go with whatever is the winning situation in this and that is how we are going to get ahead.

We are going to reference the minutes of our meetings, all of the references to books and websites, and interactivity of communication. This will essentially be the beginning of the communi-versity, where we don't have to have a physical building. We have the web and the virtual world to take care of, and obtain, knowledge from at any time.

Rick retook the floor and went over the meaning of the Creative Molecular Economy that he had spoken of at our last FEC meeting. He added that products being made in the future (some have already begun) and the processes in which they are made will be based upon biology. Our community's participation in this transformation will help us be at the cutting edge. The website will allow us to see what is emerging and Hickory is focusing on the idea of preparing for the CME. The website will create an access point that will 1) Bring attention to Hickory and help market our brand and 2) It will help build global connections to help access resources and other people.

I had to ask a question of Rick. "What is the syntax of the word "Molecular" in the term Creative Molecular Economy? We all know the definition of Molecular, but in this syntax are we talking about the processors and nanobiotics or are we talking about People?" There was a small discussion and in the end Rick said that it was both. Rick says that our education focuses on outcomes and content that think in either/or terms, but we need to think in and/both terms.

Houston Harris asked if "either/or" questions didn't give us the ability to prioritize? Rick said sometimes like in a city council situation you have to do this. He said however that many times these questions are formed wrong or put in the wrong context. Either/Or is necessary when you have to take control, but if you are trying to build new capacities it is the worst approach.

Future Citizen Teams: City and County Public Libraries: Mary Sizemore was given the floor and Danny encouraged her to address a library series being set up by herself, Karen Foss, Kim Whitmore, and Chuck Adair. There will be a feature learner group or book club that will meet once a month and come back for discussion. Hopefully this will grow. Mary addressed how this will be promoted by the Chamber and by the library. She hopes this will start this summer. Dates will be nailed down soon. Chuck Adair said he would like to have people on the FEC or their organizations participate in the series. He would like to see the transitional experience be a little more focused. Rick stated that Biological principle says that you can't have growth, evolution, or innovation without diversity.

Future's Institute/ Tranformational Leadership Training Site - Dean Bill Mauney of Lenoir-Rhyne was given the floor next. He has gotten together with Dr. John Brzorad and they are looking to make the Reese Institute at L-R a nationally known Futures Institute. The Reese Institute focuses on conservation. That provides all sorts of opportunities. L-R students are open to new ideas. Part of the Grant we are seeking as the FEC will seek to teach Master Capacity Building. L-R would be a regional center in that effort.

Broadband Connectivity - Terry Bledsoe next took the floor and displayed a Power Point Presentation. He stated that in the 1990s that Catawba County was a leader in the Fiber-Optic industry before losing much of that industry. Many people think that we are ahead of the game as far as Broadband is concerned.

What is the definition of Broadband? The legal definition was 256kb/sec download and 128kb/sec upload until March 2008. Now it is defined in tiers. Catawba County is defined as tier-4 on the scale (rated by e-nc). Terry said most studies say that we need 100mb/sec to the home by 2012.

In Europe, several areas have networks that are 100mb/sec to 1 gb/sec or higher. Public/Private partnerships have built most of this. Wilson, NC is offering 100mb/sec to the home and 1gb/sec to business. This $30 million plan is expected to only take 5 to 10 years to pay back. They are meeting resistance from Embarq and Time-Warner.

In Europe, the models are public-private to build the network out, then the companies can buy space on the fiber network. This has fostered more competition, a la carte service, and a better network.

There was an excellent discussion (and back and forth) by the group about capping of downloading usage and control of the internet by the private entities that offer the service. Terry said he doesn't know that we are even to that point, in the discussion, but he believes we are getting to the point of saturation. That is the point of the discussion. He stated that he does not know of any plans for 100mb/sec broadband to the home in Catawba County.

Terry showed some slides that show the average U.S. connection is 5mb/sec. Countries that had their networks installed later have obtained newer equipment and thus have better broadband. The U.S. were the innovators of the technology, but we have fallen behind as new equipment has been developed. The U.S. is paying on average $55/month or $11/mb. Japan is paying about $35/month. Wilson is paying $35/month for 10mb connections. Catawba County is going to have to move forward on this issue. We need to evolve with the technology. There are 30 counties in North Carolina with better broadband than Catawba County.

Another Lively Discussion Ensued about the possibilities of bringing Accelerated Broadband to Hickory. It was entertaining and informative. I'll tell you one thing. you better get Pat Appleson a gig connection soon (that would be an appetizer) or we might just see his head explode. I love his passion for technology.

Rick Smyre stated that he thinks we are going to see, because of the complexity of all systems, a move to public-private cooperation (in business). The ideological approach of the past isn't going to work in a time of constant change, interconnection, and increased complexity.

Jay Adams said that he believes that the thing we need to aim at, is that there is going to be a lot of money thrown at solving problems like this. The project is going to have to be well formed and well thought out, it's going to have to look good on paper, it's going to have to be comprehensive. After the implementation, the maintenance is what local government and businesses have to cooperate to maintain. Hickory, because of size and layout, is in a much better position to implement these kinds of things than a major metro area.

Danny asked Terry to continue more of this discussion the next time that we meet. He would like us to look more into what Wilson is doing and maybe bring in an official from CommScope.

Shane Pitman had an excellent statement that Internet Service Providers need to look to more than consumers, when trying to recoup costs. Consumers are downloading from Netflix and Hulu and the ISPs should be recouping part of the costs (of increased broad band) from those companies as well.

Houston Harris stated that if we solve the broadband issue, and move up two tiers, that doesn't solve our problem. It is an asset that helps us get to a real solution. This is about the economy. At the end of the day, we must be careful not to just focus on this one issue.

IT Training/Funding and Dialogue with Public School Teachers - Dr. Judith Ray spoke to the issue of "No Child Left Behind." She believes that it has strangled education. She wonders how we can bring more relevant instruction at a time when the schools are losing personnel (because of budget cuts). It is going to create more stress on the part of teachers and less receptivity to changing their teaching approach, because they have to have formative assessments. We are assessing the ability to regurgitate knowledge rather than think.

There have been a lot of strides in terms of hardware. She believes we have to look at small pockets, being able to get an initiative going. If we can find an outside entity to come in and talk and help partner with teachers, she believes it is an overwhelming task, but it must be done. Assessing current knowledge does not teach kids how to think. She said Rick asked how this will be received. Judith stated these are new jobs and they aren't replacing anybody, it is grant money, it is additional help, and it reduces class sizes.

Michael Neely spoke about the technology angle and teaching kids how to think. He sensed the urgency in education. He said his business depends on highly skilled people. He needs people that are skilled at more than one thing -- thinking and problem solving. Danny invited Judith to bring her counterparts to meet the council so that we may dialogue with them.

Danny Hearn then wrapped up the meeting. I truly felt like I learned a lot in that 1hour and 42 minutes. I think we all did. (Pictures by Pat Appleson)