REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY SANDY K. BARUAH ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - EXCELLENCE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AWARDS PRESENTATION TO FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND MACHINE COGNITION - PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2007

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Introduced by Pam Dana

Thank you, Dr. Dana, for that kind introduction, and for the opportunity to join you here today.

Dr. Dana, my colleagues at the Commerce Department and I greatly value the long and productive partnership that we have had with the great State of Florida thanks in a large part to your leadership in your former post in Governor Bush’s office. From hurricane recovery efforts to innovative investments to advance Florida’s economic development, we’ve done a lot of good work together, and I am pleased that our partnership is continuing in your new role here at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

I’m pleased to be joined by Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp. I appreciate the commitment of both Governor Christ and Lieutenant Governor Kottkamp to creating jobs and economic opportunity here in Florida, and I thank you for your leadership.

What we all know here today is that the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is a national leader in the advancement of cutting edge science. After today, what the entire country will know is that the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is also a leader in advancing the art and science of economic development, because today I am proud to announce that the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is the winner of the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration “Excellence in Economic Development Award” for 2007.

Each year, EDA bestows the “Excellence in Economic Development Award” on the best and brightest examples of economic development strategy and results. Award winners are selected by a distinguished and independent panel of economic development leaders, noted academics and government officials from across America. Believe me; the competition for these awards is intense as the bar for creative and innovative economic development initiatives gets raised every year.

As the 21st Century takes shape, it is clear that we are truly living in a global economy, or as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman says – the world is…flat. In the new flat global marketplace, competition is not just from the firm down the road; our competition comes from any person in any corner of the globe with a good education, a good idea, and a good Internet connection.

In the 21st century, the only possible sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to innovate. It’s not location. It’s not even the cost of doing business. Factors such as these will continually shift in a dynamic worldwide economy. But if a nation can maintain its edge in innovation, it will grow and prosper.

That’s why the development and application of advanced technologies are critical to America’s success. Of course, it is not an easy endeavor to successfully commercialize technologies that lead to economic and societal benefits. This takes the ability to get new applications beyond the imagination stage by building successful linkages between universities, research labs, government and industry.

Technology-led economic development is about creating these linkages though innovative solutions and strategies, and that’s what the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is doing right here in Pensacola.

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is a habitat for innovation – which has reenergized Pensacola’s downtown, spurring new development, providing new jobs both directly and indirectly, and making major contributions to the regional economy.

A key focus of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition strategy has been strong private sector engagement. Such partnerships with the private sector are critical to successful economic development. While governments at all levels can be important players in economic development, let’s not forget that it is the private sector that is the most important element of any successful economic development strategy. Unless the private sector is ready, willing and able to invest in a community – economic growth simply will not occur regardless how much government spends.

This is a strategy from which other parts of the country can learn, and part of our job as the Federal agency charged with advancing economic development is to share successful strategies with economic development practitioners across the nation.

For this reason, we have shared the IHMC story with the rest of the nation through EDA’s magazine, Economic Development America, which featured an extensive profile of your strategy in our Summer issue.

Through this effort, thousands of economic development practitioners across the nation are learning of the success achieved here in Pensacola, and of the award I have the honor of presenting today.

As we celebrate the success of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola and the surrounding economic region, it is important to understand what’s happening at the national level. After all, it is difficult for a region to grow without a strong national economy, and our national economy can’t be strong without growing regional economies. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

Looking at the national economic context, we have good reason to be optimistic. Thanks to the hard work and innovation of American workers and businesses, our national economy is strong. 166,000 jobs were created in October, marking the 50th consecutive month of job growth, making this the longest, most robust record of job growth in our nation’s history – ever.

The national unemployment level remains at a low 4.7%, an impressive figure considering that back when I was in school, my economics professors told me that the level of full employment was about 5%.

The economy has created about 2 million jobs over the past year. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s over 8.3 million new American jobs since August 2003, more jobs than all the other major industrialized countries – combined.

The American economy grew at 3.9% in the third quarter of 2007, providing for nearly 6 straight years of uninterrupted economic growth, showing that ours is a very resilient, diversified, and flexible economy.

One of the key reasons for America’s economic strength is the growth in U.S. exports.

U.S. exports have increased by 11% over 2006, and for the first time in memory, the rate of growth of our exports is greater than our growth in imports. This has led to a narrowing of our trade deficit.

This is important, because the jobs associated with exports have higher wages than other jobs, which helps drive our national prosperity.

That’s why it is important to open worldwide markets to U.S. goods and services. A key tool to accomplish this is Free Trade Agreements – FTAs. FTAs help our companies, farmers, manufacturers and workers sell American goods and services to new markets around the world.

When President Bush took office, we had Free Trade Agreements with just 3 countries – Israel, Canada and Mexico. Today, we have free trade agreements with 14 countries with 4 more under consideration.

The critical role exports play in our economy highlights the importance of the Free Trade Agreements the President is pursuing with Columbia, Panama, Peru and South Korea. I am happy to report that the U.S. House of Representatives approved the free trade agreement with Peru last week and the Senate is expected to approve the deal before the end of the year.

These FTAs will provide U.S. companies, farmers, manufacturers and workers access to over 126 million consumers in emerging markets across the globe – representing a combined GDP of over $1 trillion. Taken together, these FTAs would represent the U.S.’s 6th largest trading partner.

This is important, particularly to Florida. Florida is a leader in exports with a 57% increase in exports since 2002. Florida businesses are doing business in 222 countries.

The truly leading-edge, innovative, breakthrough devices being developed here at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition will not only add to America’s leadership in the global marketplace – but will help fundamentally improve the lives of people across the globe.

Dr. Ford, I am in awe of what you and your team are accomplishing.

Thank all of you for being here today at this important ceremony. And now, the moment we’ve been waiting for, the presentation of the award.

Lieutenant Governor Kottkamp will now join me in presenting the 2007 EDA Excellence in Economic Development Award for Technology-led Economic Development to the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

It is now my distinct pleasure to present on behalf of President George W. Bush the 2007 EDA Excellence in Economic Development Award for Technology-led Economic Development to the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

Accepting award is IHMC CEO Ken Ford and IHMC Board Member James J. Reeves

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