North Dakota Tech Expo 2003
Minot, North Dakota
The Honorable John Hoeven
Governor of the State of North Dakota
February 13, 2003
Thank you, Curt. It's a pleasure to be here today. Thank you to the North Dakota Tech Expo Committee for all of your hard work, volunteer hours and dedication to technology advances. A successful tech expo is the result of your efforts.
The North Dakota Tech Expo is important because we need to continue our efforts to raise awareness about what technology can do to grow and build new businesses - and opportunities - for all North Dakotans.
We are continuing to build our future in North Dakota on six pillars: education, economic development, agriculture, energy, quality of life and technology.
Today we are focusing on technology. That is why last month, in our State of the State address, we introduced an initiative called Smart Growth.
Smart Growth is a $100 million plan that combines education, career development - and new technology - with economic development to create better-paying jobs and a more dynamic economy for North Dakota.
I would like to talk with you a little bit about two of our technology initiatives under the Smart Growth plan: First, we propose spending $7.8 million to expand STAGEnet, our statewide high-speed voice, video, and data network. Second, we propose bonding a $30 million to build ConnectND, a first-in-the-nation computer software project that combines Higher Education and state government into one, seamless information system.
Our statewide, high-speed data network, STAGEnet has made enormous progress, which is why we are pushing to keep our momentum in this legislative session.
To date, 192 communities and 202 North Dakota schools are connected to STAGEnet. In fact, today's sessions, and also our keynote speaker, Howard Charney, will talk about and demonstrate some of the things that are possible now that our statewide network is in place. Our hard work and STAGEnet's benefits have been recognized, both within our state and nationally:
A survey by the UND Social Science Research Institute last June showed North Dakota to be one of the best-connected states in the nation. And over the past year, we have won awards and been nationally recognized for our state's outstanding connectivity. One example is Education Week Magazine, who rated us in the top three states using technology in the classroom, and first in the use of the internet by teachers for classroom instruction.
Throughout North Dakota, because of our technology initiatives, we are seeing the economic landscape change for our state and our communities.
A good example is Direct Response Technologies, which recently expanded its operation to Beulah. Founded in 1994, this Pennsylvania-based company has grown into one of the country's first-class, full-service direct marketing firms. Direct Response expects to have 33 people working in Beulah by the end of this year, and 100 by the end of next year. Salaried employees earn between $25,000 and $45,000 a year, and hourly employees earn between $10 and $12 an hour. The point here is that this could not have happened just a few years ago.
What made it possible is a Smart Growth approach -- bringing new technology and economic development together to create good-paying jobs and careers. Our technology infrastructure is also bringing efficiency to state education and state government.
Last May, we launched another Smart Growth technology program, ConnectND. ConnectND is our comprehensive financial, human, and student resource management system. It will integrate North Dakota's universities and government into a seamless administrative network.
One of the most exciting features of ConnectND is that it will enable students, faculty, and administrators to access information and services in real time over the Internet. Students will be able to apply for college and track their admission, register for classes, view grades, and obtain transcripts. Faculty can maintain online syllabi, maintain grade books, access class lists, and assist students individually and as a class in academic programs. ConnectND will enable North Dakota to take a major step forward in online education.
There are also benefits to citizens through state government. We can combine and consolidate information, manage costs associated with public resources, reduce paperwork, and give people instant access to services and important information.
In short, ConnectND will improve services, provide better management tools, improve accountability, and find efficiencies that will save taxpayer dollars, and extend our business reach far beyond our state's borders.
Last fall, we launched a pilot project at two state campuses, Valley City and Mayville. By October, the campus portal was live, and both recruiting and admissions were live through the system. ConnectND also has the capacity to serve K-12 schools and city and county governments in the future.
This project is a first for North Dakota. More importantly, it is a first for the nation, and North Dakota is leading. STAGEnet and ConnectND are about pulling all the pieces and players together to create new opportunities and enhanced services for our citizens.
Smart Growth, too, is about pulling all players together - from both the public and private sector - to Build Our Future in North Dakota. It is also about pulling all the pieces together - technology, education, and economic development - to create opportunities and better-paying jobs for all North Dakota citizens, no matter where in our great state they live. It's a well-worn analogy, but it is nevertheless true.
During and after the Second World War, the nation built highways to move goods. We extended telephone and electric lines to the far reaches of the nation so that our country would have the tools it needed to fuel the greatest peacetime prosperity and economic expansion in history. It created opportunities for millions and millions of Americans, and the highest standard of living in the world.
Building our technology infrastructure - a critical part of Smart Growth - is the exact same concept. This time, however, the product we are moving is information - and we are moving it not over highways, but over T1 lines and fiber optic cable.
In North Dakota, we are laying the groundwork for a similar expansion in our economy. We are building not roads, but information highways, because we know that information may well prove to be the most valuable commodity of the 21st Century.
Using these new technologies and working together, we will build a bright future for North Dakota.
I'd like to close by reading the North Dakota Technology Week Proclamation:
WHEREAS, technology can eliminate the distance barrier for North Dakota, enabling us to do business worldwide. Technology links people and businesses, schools and government, in ways never before seen, creating vital new opportunities for all people; and
WHEREAS, technology continues to alter the form, nature and future course of the American economy, creating entirely new and innovative products and services, altering the way firms meet technology, and launching an information highway that is leading to a global marketplace; and
WHEREAS, in North Dakota, we are building a communications infrastructure to close the digital divide and streamline government and administrative functions to increase bandwidth for classrooms and communities; andWHEREAS, the legendary work ethic and productivity of our people gives North Dakota a competitive advantage. Combined with our technology advances, North Dakota is in a strong position to compete in the global economy; and
WHEREAS, information technology and the information superhighway are moving at an ever-increasing pace with new concepts, applications and productivity tools being continually introduced and end-users requiring continual education to keep abreast of the changes; and
NOW, THEREFORE, as the Governor of the State of North Dakota, I do hereby proclaim February 9-15, 2003, TECHNOLOGY WEEK in the State of North Dakota.
Thank you, and best wishes for a great exposition.
