Campus Watch logo. Graphic by Andy Mooney, Salisbury Post.

By Hugh Fisher

Kannapolis Citizen

Change was the order of the day at Monday morning's forum on biotechnology and jobs, "The Business of Transformation," sponsored by the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce and held at the former Cabarrus Bank and Trust building in downtown Kannapolis.

Political and business leaders met to hear a discussion of how the North Carolina Research Campus heralds a change in the state's job market.

Dignitaries gathered to celebrate the progress that had been made just one year since David Murdock announced the construction of a multi-billion-dollar biotechnology research park in Kannapolis.

"The North Carolina Research Campus is built on partnerships at all levels of government," said Mayor Bob Misenheimer.

"These partnerships are crucial to our success."

The focus of Monday's meeting was the way that those partnerships have already begun to change the state's economy, even before the first research lab has opened its doors.

"I'm not sure that we could have imagined a year ago at this time ... what the landscape would look like at this time," said John Cox, president and CEO of the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce.

He spoke of how biotechnology and information-based science and technology jobs were already beginning to replace the state's traditional economic pillars of tobacco and textiles.

In addition to Cox, the panel of speakers included Lynne Scott Safrit, president of Castle & Cooke North Carolina and one of the leaders of the research campus project; U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes (NC-8); Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina; and Dr. David A. Sampson, deputy secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department.

All spoke of how the research campus project has already begun to affect growth in the region.

Safrit discussed progress at the research campus site, which is moving along on schedule.

"We've spent this year cleaning up" the former Pillowtex site, Safrit said. "I'm happy to say that we have almost cleared that textile manufacturing space."

Safrit said the local changes were a part of the transition taking place all over the region.

"Today North Carolina is in a state of transition," Safrit said. "We're moving from unskilled jobs to technical jobs."

According to Safrit, North Carolina remains the third-largest state in the nation in numbers of biotechnology jobs.

"The North Carolina Research Campus will offer new and exciting opportunities for those who lost their jobs," Safrit said.

Hayes praised the work of local leaders who had kept the community strong after Pillowtex's closing brought about the largest job loss in North Carolina history.

"We always thought those jobs would be here," Hayes said.

And he paid homage to the people of past generations who built the community around those mills, the postwar generation that has been called "the greatest generation" by historians.

"When you think of the people we all of us know, when you think of all that they have done for me and for you ... we have a greatest generation here that's prepared us for the next generation, which can and will be better than the one before," Hayes said.

Erskine Bowles praised the support of educational leaders for the research campus project.

"I've been in Kannapolis over and over since I was a boy and dozens of times over the past few years," Bowles said. He expressed sorrow for local residents who lost their jobs as a result of what he called "the backhand of this global economy."

"The economy we face for the future is a knowledge-based economy," Bowles said.

He mentioned the high rates of math and English competency among children in China and India — and expressed fear for the future of the United States if schoolchildren here cannot become more competitive.

"For every 100 eighth-graders, less than 80 graduate from high school ... and only 18 graduate from college," Bowles said. "That was fine when I was growing up ... when we had lots and lots of low-skill and low-tech jobs here. Those are gone. They're not coming back."

All members of the panel praised the Research Campus project and the jobs and knowledge it will bring to the area.

Other issues related to growth in the region were also mentioned by the panelists.

Misenheimer reiterated the city's commitment to providing for infrastructure improvements related to the research campus.

"The Kannapolis City Council is committed, and along with our partners with the Cabarrus County Commission we plan to invest a significant amount of money in the infrastructure of the campus," Misenheimer said.

And the interbasin water transfer measures under discussion also drew comment.

Hayes called Biblical principles to mind as he spoke of the need to share resources around the region among all who would be affected by economic growth.

"As the growth occurs here, there will be growth in other areas," Hayes said. "All I would say is measure that flow of water ... then move it back and forth to serve the creator who made it and us for the best good that we can take from it."

Numerous representatives of North Carolina's universities were present, along with state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, city council members from Kannapolis, many local business owners and leaders, and representatives from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

Contact Hugh Fisher at 704-933-3450 or hfisher@salisburypost.com.