A Nerve Center for New Businesses

We are headed into winter and with so many storm clouds already around us, its hard not to feel gloomy. Where are all the cranes that once littered the skyline? There are 76,000 fewer construction jobs in Washington than there were in 2007. Construction activity is back to where it was in 1997. More than 300,000 Washington state residents are without jobs, and many may never again find full-time employment. Many banks have folded and many more are sure to close their doors in the coming year.

With government revenues shrinking, state services are being cut sharply. Our universitiesfacing a 30 percent decrease min state fundingare boosting the size of classes and accepting more out-of-state students because they pay higher tuition.

Welcome to the economic reset. Many industries (including publishing) face a daunting landscape. Maybe thats why much of corporate America is sitting on its $2 trillion in cash assets and refusing to hire new workers or invest in new factories. Everyones preparing for Armageddon.

But hold on there. Are things really that bad? I dont think so. The worlds gross domestic product this year, excluding the United States, is expected to grow to $47 trillion, up an astounding 7.4 percent from 2009.

For our state, which is more export-oriented than any other in the country, thats big news. Last year, in spite of the Great Recession, we exported products worth $52 billion, including airplanes, food and computer equipment. This year should be even better as manufacturing regions across our state, from Vancouver to Everett, the Tri-Cities and Spokane, experience stronger demand for their products.

Equally important, a global transformation is occurring in many businesses and we in Washington, in almost every instance, are at one of the nerve centers. We have strong clusters of companies in rapidly growing sectors such as cloud computing, e-commerce, mobile communications, social media, video games and biotech. Type cloud in Indeed.coms database of job listings and youll get 835 separate job listings in the Seattle area. Spokane, and the region around it, is emerging as a focal point for smart electrical grid technology with companies like Itron taking the lead.

We at Seattle Business recognize the need to adapt to change. We have beefed up our website and added a Facebook page, a Twitter handle and a digital edition. We will soon come out with an app for Apples iPad. We also recognize that the more time our readers spend online, the more they want to meet others face to face. In addition to our 100 Best Companies to Work For, Top Innovators, and Leaders in Health Care awards and events, we have added programs centered on manufacturing, sustainability and family business. In each case, we tapped experts in our community to judge the competitions. And in each case, we reached out to new readers with the goal of building stronger communities.

Leslie D. Helm, Editor