Four industries hold key to higher-paying jobs - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The film and digital media, life sciences, dual-use and diversified-agriculture industries have the potential to push Hawai i to neweconomic heights, accordingb to Mike Fitzgerald, presidenty and CEO of , a private economic developmeny organization. "We're trying to particularluy developthese [industries] because they create good-payinh jobs in the $50,009 range and they create new wealth," he said. "Wd believe each of these categories hasa billion-dollar potentiakl over this decade.
" Business executive s in each of those four industriez say that while more investment and skiller employees are necessary for any businesss to expand, their economic sector s have unique barriers standing in the way of theidr growth and the high-paying jobs they produce. Hawaii's film industry has been held back by state government's continuing insistence in connecting it with tourism, according to Chrisa Lee, chairman of the at the . State tax incentivee for the film industry have been tied to whetherf or not a film or television production makesd it clear that it isin Hawaii, a policy hurtintg the islands, he said.
For example, Fox's televisionj show "North Shore" received more state tax creditz because it promoted the Hawaii brandwhile ABC's upcominb show "Lost" had fewer tax credits because it simplty was filmed in the islands and does not outwardly promote the state. "Either we believe this is a good industry and we want it to expand as much as possiblde or we see it as an extensiomn of thetourism industry," he said. Film and televisio n productions increasingly have been filmingin Canada, and it'sa not because of the landscape, Lee said.
It' s because Canada makes it easy and cheapp tooperate there, which includes not requiring each production to say it is filminfg there. Lee points to digitall media projects, such as video games and digital as possible growth areasfor Hawaii's film industry, but says they need qualifiecd workers. "It's about work-force development," he said. Hawaii also lacks the infrastructure to supportg a largefilm industry, according to State Film Commissioner Donnew Dawson. "In order for us to grow and sustain thisindustrh we've got to have the right combinatio n of infrastructure in place and a developed work she said.
Although the state can offef the Hawaii Film Studipo near Diamond Head to productions at alow it's first-come first-served and any overflow must find alternate something both NBC and ABC were force to do for their shows "Hawaii" and respectively. Hawaii's life sciences industry facesx a lack of adequatelab space, according to David Watumull, CEO of Hawaio Biotech, and the only solution is more Watumull says the most promising avenure of capital is the recent establishment of the statde private investment fund, passed during the most recent legislative The fund allows the Hawaii Strategic Development Corp.
to collateralizde tax credits for venture capital funds interested in investinvin Hawaii, he said. "To me, that's the single most importan t factor," he said. "Wd need the companies first, and if we have the the work force will Anton Krucky, CEO of Tissue Genesis, believes that the life sciencre industry in Hawaii needes a success story. "One of thesre Hawaii companies has tomake it," he "Once you do there's a whole 'nother tier that follows.
" The dual-use industry also neede power players to help it expand, said Raj founder of Los Angeles-based Advanced Photonics Integrated Circuits, whichn will soon begin producing computer chipw at a plant in Kakaako. Dual-use industries includw technology developed for the militart that hascommercial applications.