Knowledge-based collaborations from laboratories and research suites at UALR and UAMS are the keys to future prosperity for central Arkansas, innovation experts said at UALR’s Third Annual Conference on Regionalism, Where Innovation Thrives, Tuesday, Dec. 5.

“Regions that can grow and attract talented residents and support the development of highly innovative firms will support great prosperity,” said Chad Evans of the National Innovation Initiative. The organization is part of the Council on Competitiveness, led by the chair of the Intel Corp. and the president of Johns Hopkins University, that is pressing for a national agenda to advocate innovation in America.

Extraction of natural resources or low-cost labor no longer guarantees economic prosperity, Evans said.

“What is going to drive economic growth of a region is what we call innovation hotspots that center around universities, think tanks, hospitals, and research centers,” he said. Central Arkansas in on its way to being an innovation hotspot, with innovative collaborations going on between UALR, UAMS, the National Center for Toxicological Research, as well as knowledge-based corporations like Axciom. To make it thrive, Arkansans must raise expectations of students in grades K-12 by requireing more math and science instruction and stressing the importance of a college education.

Tom Walker, director of UALR’s Nanotechnology Center, said UALR has eight projects underway with significant commercial potential.

“When I came to Little Rock, I saw Austin 30 years ago,” he said. “There is a growing awareness of what is coming out of University.”