
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994                   TAG: 9410030016
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: G8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF DEBELL
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SPOKANE LEADERS WERE FORCED TO WORK TOGETHER

The agriculture, mining and timber industries of the Northwest United States went into a slump in the mid-1970s, dealing a sustained economic blow to the Spokane area of inland Washington.

By 1987, it was apparent that the problem wasn't going to solve itself. Meanwhile, the so-called "global economy" was fast taking shape and communities everywhere were moving to position themselves favorably.

About 200 Spokane-area business and community leaders went to a retreat to figure out what to do. One result was a plan to focus the resources of higher education - along with those of business and industry - on the problem of making the region economically competitive.

The enterprise is located at the Spokane Higher Education Park, a 48-acre park beside the Spokane River. It is being developed by the Joint Center for Higher Education, which coordinates public baccalaureate and graduate degree programs in the Spokane area and oversees activities of the new Spokane Intercollegiate Research Technology Institute.

Created in 1989 by the Washington State Legislature, SIRTI is a consortium of Washington State, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga universities; Whitman College; and Spokane's two community colleges. They offer academic programs in computer science, international relations, engineering, technology and international business development.

In addition, the schools' research facilities are brought to bear on product development and commercialization in cooperation with three corporate "partners": Miles Laboratories Inc., Westinghouse Hanford Co. and Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory.

In other words, SIRTI is the link between higher education and Spokane-area business and industry. Its executive director, Hugh Sullivan, said there are few, if any, organizations like it in the country.

Located directly across the Spokane River from Gonzaga University, SIRTI's new headquarters building is the cornerstone of the higher education park. Constructed at a cost of $12 million in public funds, it has four stories of classrooms, labs and office space.

The institute will focus its programs on manufacturing, biomedical and environmental technologies and has established research centers in each of the three fields.

If everything works as planned, the upshot will be a healthy and diverse economy, a skilled work force, a flow of commercially viable new products and technologies - everything, in other words, to make Spokane a player in the global economy and an attractive place for industries looking to relocate or expand.

"The idea was to fashion a more efficient delivery system," Sullivan said. "It's been a matter of getting all the institutions working together."

by CNB