​by James DeChene
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The Dog Days of Summer are upon us. The last two weeks have been filled with national party convention drama, heat waves making for great vacation/beach weather (see you next week, Lewes), and mixed in are polls for the City of Wilmington mayoral and Congressional races, with results showing that many people are not yet focused on local elections. Faster than some sunburns will fade, Fall and the September primaries will be here, and, as the State Chamber has mentioned (repeatedly), there are hot button issues on the horizon next year. Many of them have been outlined in the recent Delaware Business Roundtable’s Growth Agenda (available for your beach reading pleasure), and can help serve as an election guide for the business community to choose who is best served to help guide Delaware into the future. For now, we hope you enjoy your summer, that your AC is working, and that you’ll spend some time reading up on your specific candidates up for election.

By Robert Perkins
Executive Director, Delaware Business Roundtable

PerkinsDelaware must fundamentally change its approach to economic development and nurture a growing entrepreneurship base in the face of intense competition for jobs, investment and talent, according to a framework commissioned by the Delaware Business Roundtable released on Wednesday.

The Delaware Growth Agenda provides the private sector’s strategic framework for pursuing a new long-term approach to economic development in the state, including public policy recommendations centered on three strategic goals to be implemented over the next five years.

“The vision of the Delaware Growth Agenda is that our state will focus its efforts on becoming a global magnet for leading-edge technologies, talent and investment,” said Mark Turner, chairman of the Delaware Business Roundtable and president and CEO of WSFS Financial Corporation. “This framework puts forth clear-eyed, achievable strategic goals and strategies that can accelerate Delaware’s economic engine – but only if the public and private sectors work together to make that vision a reality.”

The non-partisan, forward-looking framework is based on interviews and guidance from more than 100 Delawareans, including representatives from economic development organizations, higher education institutions, businesses, government, labor and non-profit organizations. The framework envisions an even stronger and more robust partnership between the public and private sectors to guide future success.

The framework recommends:

Building an entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. This includes bolstering federal, state and private investment in higher education, and emphasizing the healthcare, science and technology fields, engineering and entrepreneurship programs. The framework calls for the creation of an “Innovation District” as a destination for entrepreneurs and startups, as well as for marketing Delaware to regional and national angel investors and risk capital networks.

Pursuing a new approach to economic development. The framework calls for establishing a public-private economic development organization, crafting a new comprehensive statewide economic development strategic plan, and a marketing campaign that pursues new investment and jobs in key industries – including financial services, business services, education and knowledge creation, manufacturing, and distribution.

Enhancing Delaware’s business climate. The Growth Agenda says the state must ensure Delaware’s infrastructure meets the needs of a 21st century economy, including updating the Coastal Zone Act to provide greater flexibility in redeveloping brownfield sites. The framework also calls for improving the state’s public education system, taking a leadership role in facilitating more efficient development and permitting processes, and creating a Futures Council of Delaware.

The full recommendations under each of the goals and strategies can be found in the framework, which was developed collaboratively by TIP Strategies and the Delaware Business Roundtable. TIP Strategies is an economic development strategy firm that has worked with states and communities across the country.

In addition to presenting a strategic vision and goals, TIP Strategies also examined Delaware’s economic health over time compared to other states in the region.

Among the findings of the framework:

• Many of the traditional economic pillars of the state – including cars and chemicals – are no longer significant job generators.
• Manufacturing accounted for about 20 percent of the state’s non-farm employment in 1990. By last year, it was just 10 percent of all jobs.
• The state lost more jobs in manufacturing and corporate headquarters than any other sector between 2010 and 2014 – while health care and professional services sectors experienced robust job growth.
• Delaware is home to a growing base on which to build a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem – and higher education must become the long-term driving force behind that ecosystem.
• Delaware’s labor force participation rate between 2010 and 2015 showed the fastest percentage increase among the 50 states.
• In a number of areas, such as private sector earnings growth and gross state product per capita, Delaware’s economic performance is trending negatively when compared to other states.

We are facing real challenges, but the Growth Agenda encourages a reset of economic development in Delaware over the next five years. First and foremost, things cannot continue as they have because Delaware’s existing companies – nor the industry sectors themselves – can be counted on to serve as engines of future growth. We must take a new approach, and the public and private sectors must work together to get it done.

The Roundtable’s intention is for the Delaware Growth Agenda to spark a much-needed discussion of how to expand economic opportunity and jobs throughout the state during the 2016 election cycle that will result in concrete action thereafter. It comes on the heels of the Roundtable’s 2015 study of state finances, which clearly articulated the structural budget challenge facing the state as it wrestles with unsustainable revenue sources and spending patterns and strongly recommended that Delaware focus on expanding economic growth as one part of the solution.

The Delaware Business Roundtable plans to continue to promote sustainable economic expansion and growth in Delaware.

About the Delaware Business Roundtable
The Delaware Business Roundtable is a non-partisan, volunteer consortium of CEOs whose companies collectively employ over 75,000 people in Delaware. Since its inception in 1981, the Roundtable’s broad mission is to enhance the quality of life in Delaware by promoting commerce, job creation and select public policy issues. In recent years, the Roundtable has been a leading supporter of public education transformation and entrepreneurs in Delaware.

About TIP Strategies
TIP Strategies, Inc. (TIP) is a privately held economic development consulting firm, with offices in Austin and Seattle. Established in 1995, TIP is committed to providing quality solutions for public and private sector clients. TIP has completed more than 300 engagements across 38 states and 4 countries. The firm’s primary focus is strategic economic development planning. In addition, TIP has experience with entrepreneurship, target industry analysis, workforce, and redevelopment. The firm’s methods establish a clear vision for economic growth. Community leaders across the country have embraced the TIP model of Talent, Innovation, and Place to achieve successful and sustainable economies.

​Delaware State Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Richard Heffron released the following statement applauding the Delaware Business Roundtable releasing their Delaware Growth Agenda, which outlines steps Delaware should take to secure its economic future.

“Today’s release of the Delaware Business Roundtable’s Delaware Growth Agendareinforces what the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, and other business groups, have been saying—that in order for Delaware to have sustained and successful long-term economic growth there needs to be a commitment by elected leaders to make difficult decisions.”

“The industries that have long defined Delaware are changing, and Delaware must adapt and change to remain relevant to business on decisions to expand or relocate here. A renewed commitment to education and workforce development, developing an entrepreneurship climate, continuing a nimble approach to economic development and focusing on pro-business legislation and regulations all must be a part of a successful Delaware.”
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The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to promoting an economic climate that strengthens the competitiveness of Delaware businesses and benefits citizens of the state. Founded in 1837 as the Wilmington Board of Trade, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce has a long history as the largest, most influential business organization in the state. Learn more at www.dscc.com.

​by James DeChene

The 148th General Assembly closed out its session in the early hours of July 1st with its mandated legislation, notably the budget, bond bill and grants in aid, finalized.
There were a few notable pieces of legislation important to economic development this year that passed, namely:

• The Delaware Competes Act, which recalculates the way in which corporate income tax is calculated, bringing Delaware in line with other states using a single sales factor formula.
• The Delaware Commitment to Innovation Act, which expands the state’s R&D tax credit, and makes the credit refundable, acting as a draw for companies to keep or move their R&D facilities to Delaware.
• The Crowdfunding bill, which allows Delawareans to invest in startups similar to Kickstarter and other innovative venture capital funding mechanisms.There were also notable bills that would have been detrimental to the business community on which the State Chamber worked to stop including:

• Minimum Wage, a proposed increase over the next 4 years to $10.25 with built in increases for each year after.
• Project Labor Agreements/Craft Training, a bill that would mandate union backed Project Labor Agreements on all state funded construction projects known to add an average of 20-30% to construction projects was tabled. In its place was a bill to mandate apprenticeship training programs on all state funded projects which would freeze out smaller companies, even if the work they do is exemplary.

Budget
In order to provide the bulk of the shortfall funds required in bond and grants in aid specifically, budget writers were forced to raid funds, rely on inversions from unspent accounts and to restrict new program spending to cover, including using the $6 million Governor Markell set aside to help cover redistricting costs associated with the Wilmington Redistricting plan.  The main takeaway from the ending this year was that next year, especially the budget, will be difficult.
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Issues for Next Year:
Economic Development – Coastal Zone Modernization, this year the State Chamber raised awareness of the need to modernize the Coastal Zone Act, specifically for sites located north of the C&D Canal to make Delaware more competitive with surrounding states to create jobs here.  The issue gained no traction in the General Assembly this year, despite a broad coalition of businesses and business groups calling for action.  The State Chamber, along with other coalition members, will continue the process into next year with the hopes of legislation passing.
Budget and Tax Policy – The State Chamber’s Tax Committee is working this summer to help draft recommendations for the next governor to promote pro-growth policy for Delaware.  With DEFAC projecting low revenue growth for the next few years, the time is ripe to review how Delaware collects and spends taxpayer dollars.