Rindy Swafford, Reporter

Technology will be the primary driver for the Ruston economy with a continued push from the Louisiana Tech Enterprise Center, Dave N. Norris Jr., the center’s director, said.

“It’s not so much where most things are headed naturally; it’s where we’re pushing things,” Norris, also an assistant professor of economics, said. “The university has taken a lead roll in the development of companies in technology sectors in the region.”

To do this, he said the Enterprise Center has a technology business incubator and a technology business development center, and the center does networking to help early stage technology companies get established and grow.

The center includes space, technical business development assistance and networking, as well as research and development capabilities with the university, he said.

He said this endeavor to turn technology into the new businesses that can create new jobs and new opportunities for people in this area will take some time.

“Tech has always done good research in technology and science; now the business part of it is being focused on,” Norris said. “The university is focused on technology transfer — taking research and turning it into commercial products. That’s really the function of the Enterprise Center.”

He said plans to build a research park would aid commercial research and development entities or private companies that do research and development, such as a pharmacy, as a significant part of the company. He said these types of businesses would attract physicists and mathematicians to the area.

“That’s a different path for our economy,” Norris said. “Lincoln Parish has very much been an economy driven by the wood industry, oil in south Louisiana or pulp and paper, but those are probably not the main drivers of our economy in the future.”

Ruston Mayor Dan Hollingsworth said he thought that, with some improvements, the city was on course to meeting the needs of the technological economy, though he said he didn’t want to forget about aiding the industries, such as forestry.

“What’s going on at Tech is a prime example with nanotechnology, the Institute for Micromanufacturing and the research park,” Hollingsworth said. “These are the cornerstones for technological industries and companies. I think that our area has a once in-a-lifetime chance if we prepare to take advantage for it.”

He said the schools must be improved to produce students who can handle a high-tech school and a high-tech future, and the people who work in those fields must be provided
with a community that is comfortable to live in.

“It’s going to be a joint effort with everyone understanding that we must make a real commitment to education and improving all facets of our community,” Hollingsworth said.

Jody Backus, a member of the Lincoln Parish Police Jury, said with the Cyber Command in Bossier City and other technologies growing in the area, these types of businesses will be very important to north Louisiana.

“It is important to stay open-minded when it comes to business,” Backus said. “The expansion of technology businesses into Ruston will feed the non-tech businesses in the area.

“You know, growth spurs growth.”