Going global: New group aims to diversify local economy

Allow us to provide an abbreviated history of recent efforts to diversify and expand Nevada’s economy beyond tourism, conventions and construction:

Talk and study. Talk and study. Gimmick. Ad buy. Talk and study some more.

Southern Nevada has had some recent success in luring new technology companies and medicine, with the opening of the Switch data center and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. The Downtown Project, led by Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh, has committed $350 million to revitalization, small business and tech start-ups.

Companies are moving and expanding here to escape hostile business climates, benefit from our economic recovery and seize on our potential — not in numbers great enough to replace all the jobs lost in the Great Recession, but enough to demonstrate progress. However, the task of luring new industry to Las Vegas — not just select companies, but image-transforming levels of regional, national and international commerce — has a long way to go.

Which brings us to the latest strategic plan for economic diversification and development. The Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance has released the study on its website, lvgea.org, for public comment. The plan then will be submitted to the state to seek about $1.5 million in funding, with a private capital campaign rolling out in early fall.

The strategic plan’s goals sound familiar: improve the business climate; support and retain local entrepreneurs; develop local, regional, national and global partnerships; and improve the valley’s education system. So how is this round of talking and studying different from the others before? For starters, it’s a much broader conversation than any before it.

“People are getting together who hadn’t done so before,” said Glenn Christenson, the alliance chairman of the board. “Businesses are on board. All local governments have passed resolutions in support of the alliance. It’s a much more collaborative process in asking how we reposition Southern Nevada to have a 21st-century economy.”

Las Vegas has a lot going for it. It’s largely immune from the threat of natural disaster. It has a convenient international airport with direct flights everywhere. It’s a half-day’s drive from other regional metropolitan areas. It has vast tracts of undeveloped land. And, contrary to broad characterizations, it has some excellent schools.

The creation of the alliance as a replacement for the Nevada Development Authority, along with the consolidation of business recruitment under the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, represents a step forward for the state. Alliance President and CEO Tom Skancke says the alliance needs to form partnerships with other cities to pitch the advantages of the Intermountain West region. Most of all, Las Vegas has to think big and be unafraid to sell itself to companies of all kinds.

“You have to ask,” Mr. Skancke said last week. “You have to let them know you’re open for business. You can’t catch any fish if you don’t go fishing.”

Economic diversification will be a decades-long process. Here’s hoping the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance gets us there.