Maine is working desperately to save jobs at its paper mills, even as global competition and a changing industry make investment here anything but a sure bet. Yet when it comes to building the true industries of tomorrow, the state is falling behind and slowing down.

The research and development bonds on the Nov. 4 ballot – questions 4, 5 and 7 – are a step in the right direction. Overall, the amount of public investment remains too low at what is a critical time for the state economy, but the projects put forth this year are a good example of how strategic, well-thought-out spending can help reshape Maine’s economy.

QUESTION 4

Case in point is Question 4, which would use $10 million in state-issued bonds to build a state-of-the-art biometric research laboratory, almost assuredly at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor.

The state bond would leverage $11 million in private investment to create a four-story, 16,000-square-foot laboratory that would house cutting-edge research into cancer and other diseases of aging, bringing 200 good-paying jobs – doctorate-level researchers, technicians and specialists, and other support staff.

On its own, that investment would be worthwhile. If a company looking to move to Maine made similar promises, state officials would be ecstatic.

Advertisement

This promise, however, comes from a world leader in scientific research, one that already has 1,300 employees and a $93 million payroll in Maine. In a state that is aging rapidly, Jackson Laboratory has hired 336 employees between the ages of 18 and 30 in the last five years. In a state where opportunities for people with advanced degrees run thin, Jackson Laboratory has 38 research teams comprising 250 Ph.D.s, M.D.s and D.V.M.s.

Those are exactly the kinds of next-generation jobs Maine should be attracting, and Question 4 is the kind of investment the state should be making.

QUESTION 5

The same could be said of Question 5, which would provide $3 million – matched by an additional $5.7 million in federal and private funds – to modernize and expand a lab specializing in tissue repair and regeneration, likely the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.

This lab, too, has a solid track record. It has grown from 10 employees to 65 in the last 14 years, and it has attracted $106 million in federal grant money, while doing groundbreaking research in tissue regeneration, helping to fight disease and the effects of aging.

Both labs already raise millions in private funds to support their research, but federal support for research grants is dwindling, and money for new facilities is all but nonexistent. Public funding is necessary to give these projects a jump start.

Advertisement

QUESTION 7

Similarly, exciting ideas percolating all along Maine’s coastline promise to boost Maine’s fishery economy, if it can get some much-needed help. Question 7, which would provide $7 million for the development of the marine economy, matched by at least $7 million in private funding, would provide that start.

The money would set up a competitive grant process to bring together fishermen and agricultural workers, processors, researchers and academics to develop new products and new markets for Maine’s fisheries.

That work is necessary to an industry that is changing rapidly, and that now accounts for 26,000 jobs in Maine and more than $500 million in annual economic activity. Some marine species are disappearing, others are taking their place, and climate change will surely bring continued disruption over the next century.

Projects funded through the bond could include creating processing capacity in Maine for the state’s extremely valuable elvers, which are now harvested and shipped to China and on to Japan, where they are raised to adulthood and sold in markets in Europe and North America.

It could mean building on the work being done at the Downeast Institute in Beals, which is trying to create a new market for surf clams. It could mean finding how to use the waste generated by lobster processing, or how to benefit from the growing populations of green crabs and dogfish now being found in the Gulf of Maine.

Advertisement

In any case, the funding from Question 7 would help create more value out of one of Maine’s chief industries.

FALLING BEHIND

Together, the bonds represent an area where Maine is simply not doing enough. According to the Maine Development Foundation, spending for research and development equaled just 1 percent of gross domestic product in 2011, well below the averages nationally (2.9 percent) and in New England (4.4).

Maine’s last research and development bond, $20 million for the Maine Technological Asset Fund, was vetoed by Gov. LePage in 2012. The fund, which issues grants for research, development and commercialization, has not received state money in four years, despite the recommendation of a 2006 bipartisan legislative committee that $250 million be set aside for the fund.

Maine has to invest more heavily in this area if the state wants to spur the kind of economic activity that will be for the next century what papermaking was for the last one. Questions 4, 5 and 7 are a good start.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.