Nov. 19--A blueprint for job creation and economic recovery in Southwest Washington and Clark County keyed to technology research, renewable energy, industrial land development and a regional approach to expansion was unveiled in Vancouver on Wednesday. But those in charge of moving the initiative forward say it may take years.

Population growth, which drove the region's economy in the past, is "fundamentally changed," Bart Phillips, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, told an audience of several hundred during a membership lunch at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.

"The recession is here in spades," Phillips said. "It's brutal for the nearly 30,000 people out of work. The economic driver going forward over the next five to seven years will not be a return to population growth, but instead it will be job growth."

Facing the worst downturn since the early 1980s when the development council was first organized, its staff set out this fall to identify economic and business trends in the region and recommend ways to advance economic recovery. To that end, council staff hosted 14 separate industry and business focus sessions that brought 85 people together in small discussion groups.

"We were looking for new opportunities to participate in moving the county forward," said Kelly McDonald, development council board chairman. "In the past we've left most of this work to the staff. We recognize that we need to be more engaged as an organization in what's going on. To that end we're going to use the talents on this board."

McDonald said the council expects to continue its basic job recruitment and lobbying efforts in the state Legislature on behalf of business and industry, but it also will focus on five additional initiatives. Those include a renewed emphasis on development of an innovation technology center and business park on the Washington State University Vancouver campus. The zone would nurture a larger cluster of tech employers here tied to semiconductor and other tech research and development.

First step

Two years ago, the university won funding to add an electrical engineering major in Vancouver and also strengthen it relationship with the Washington Technology Center in Seattle. Land on the north edge of the Salmon Creek WSUV campus was designated an innovation zone, seen as a first step toward developing a research-oriented business park.

The council also intends to push for a new approach to land-use management geared to job growth, rather than population growth.