innovate arkansas

Gary Campbell was recently named to the state's Task Force for the 21st Century, an outgrowth of Accelerate Arkansas, an organization dedicated to raising the state's per capita income  to at least the national average by 2020.

The 15-member statewide task force will study economic development issues in Arkansas and make recommendations for review, consideration and implementation.

Campbell, a 40-year veteran of the computer and IT industries, has a consulting business and is a Fort Smith city director.

One of the primary goals of the task force will be to look at ways Arkansas laws can be updated to make the state more competitive and attractive to outside businesses.

A big part of that is making sure the state has an educated work force. Right now, there are 6,000 openings for skilled positions that can't be filled, so focusing on job training is vital, Campbell said.

Another of the task force's duties is to examine ways to update the state's employment laws and regulations to fit with the business realities of the 21st century. "What we're trying to do is to create and influence our children's jobs, which will be different than our father's jobs," Campbell said.

Part of creating new jobs involves removing constitutional hurdles that prevent the state government from taking equity positions in startup businesses, he said. That law was enacted many decades ago and isn't applicable to today's business environment, he said.

The state of Georgia invests $30 million to $40 million a year to help small businesses get rolling and takes an equity position in those businesses, functioning similarly to a venture capital fund.

"We've got a high percentage of successful people in Arkansas," he said. "We've got an entrepreneurial spirit and we need to feed it."