The Inland Empire has the Potential to Become a High-Tech Player

At one point, if you thought high-tech, you thought Silicon Valley. If you were seriously interested in working for a high-tech firm in the west, San Jose was where you had to live and Stanford University was where you sent your college application. However, over recent years, several new high-tech regions have emerged throughout the United States. These regions are noteworthy not only because they are quickly surpassing Silicon Valley as modern examples of technical success, but because their development models differ quite drastically from the cramped, overly dense, rather expensive one that the Santa Clara Valley has provided for us for the past twenty years.

These new regions are discussed by Joel Kotkin, an author and fellow at the Pepperdine Institute for Public Policy, in a Los Angeles Times article entitled "The New Technopolis" (June 25, 2000). These new "technopolises" include areas as far-reaching and diverse as Dallas-Fort Worth, to greater Washington D.C., to the largest technopolis of them all, Southern California. Kotkin argues that rather than the extreme density that has always been associated with the Silicon Valley, what you typically find in the new technopolises are multipolar regions, dispersed over a greater area, and much more diverse.

In contrast to Silicon Valley, Southern California's high-tech development does not stem from a single, large technological hub, but rather a scattering of smaller ones. The largest of these, of course, is Irvine, which is home to approximately 2,000 high-tech firms. However, smaller hubs include Pasadena, the South Bay, and the Burbank-Glendale area. These hubs have become saturated by corporations specializing in media, telecommunications, and biomedical technology, and the flow of high-tech firms to the area doesn't show any sign of slowing. In fact, several areas not previously thought of as high-tech are already making strides in that direction. The Inland Empire is one of them, and currently shows a great potential for high-tech related growth.

Already known for its vast transportation and warehousing capabilities, it may be these very resources that are ultimately responsible for the area becoming an information age player. Ontario International Airport, the Union-Pacific-Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroads, UPS, Federal Express, Roadway Package Express, Consolidated Freight, and Watkins Motor Freight all are centrally located, or have stops or hubs within the Inland Empire. With plenty of available land, the region has seen many companies construct warehouses within it. In fact, last year nearly 14 million square feet of warehouse space was built, with plans for another 10 million to be developed and built already underway. These two key ingredients, along with the reasonably priced housing to be found in the area and a steadily growing labor force, have resulted in unprecedented growth for the Inland Empire.

Although the Inland Empire is not yet a region that springs to mind when one thinks of high technology, more and more high-tech and biotech companies seem to be making the Inland Empire their home. These include Mindrum Precision Inc., LifePoint Inc., Watson Pharmaceutical, Optivus Technology Inc., Magnecorp, and Inacom, among others. The seed for becoming a high-tech region has already been planted, and it has the potential and ability for phenomenal growth.

To begin with, many of the four-year universities in the Inland Empire are research institutions. Their eager faculty and student body are definitely capable of supporting the research needs of high-tech firms. We must also begin looking to draw graduating students toward local high-tech companies. Bridging this gap between our colleges and our local high-tech firms is a necessary step to becoming a high-tech region. Of all our universities, UCR in particular has made great strides in this area.

Ontario International Airport is also crucial to our high-tech development. According to the experts, high-tech companies rely heavily on air travel. However, if ONT is going to be a draw, we must see an increase in the number of business and international flights. Recent announcements by Air Canada, which will provide international flights to and from Toronto, as well as Delta, Southwest, and new JetBlue, who have increased their number of East Coast flights, indicate a step in the right direction.

Finally, perhaps the deciding factor for whether or not the Inland Empire fulfills its high-tech potential may be an international one. As the Inland Empire increases its number of high-tech firms, our growing reputation, along with our broad warehousing network should prove increasingly difficult to resist to foreign companies looking to set up an American hub. To further accomplish this goal, we must also look towards increasing distribution to include the international market. Currently, UPS is competing with other carriers for rights to fly directly into China. If UPS should prove successful, it will make 10 flights a week into China, six of which will depart from ONT. These landing rights are crucial to our economy and should provide added incentive to local companies that are considering expanding into the foreign market. After all, China has a population of 1.2 billion people. The benefits to furthering trade with the country are fairly obvious.

Although we are currently nowhere near the big league as far as high-tech regions are concerned, we do have potential. If the local government, universities, and Ontario International Airport all take the correct steps, and if we can continue to draw international corporations to our region, we stand a pretty good chance of seeing that potential through. With Silicon Valley losing its draw, appeal, and dominance in the high-tech marketplace, and Southern California already a major high-tech region, the stage is set for smaller high-tech hubs to spring up all throughout Southern California. The part that the Inland Empire plays could be a crucial one.