The report says Rhode Island’s “major new focus” should be “the emerging blue economy” -- meaning any economic activity linked to the ocean, such as offshore wind projects, tourism, marine industries, and the University of Rhode Island oceanography program.

That’s one of the main conclusions in the state’s new long-term economic development plan, which the state Economic Development Planning Council approved on Wednesday.

PROVIDENCE -- After years of feeling blue about its economy, Rhode Island can bounce back in part by bolstering its “blue economy.”

“You are the Ocean State,” Bruce J. Katz, the report’s main author, told the Globe on Wednesday. “We recommend you treat that less as a brand and more as a platform for innovative growth.”


The report, titled “Rhode Island Innovates 2.0,” updates a 2016 report that Katz, now cofounder of New Localism Advisors, wrote when he was with the Brookings Institution.

Katz said offshore wind and other parts of the “blue economy” have grown since the first report came out, helping set Rhode Island apart. “In economic development, you want to follow the Dolly Parton principle - ‘Find out who you are and do it on purpose,’ ” he said.

The main takeaway from the new report is that Rhode Island’s economy is “on the mend,” Katz said. The report notes Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is at “historic lows and on par with the national average.” (The state unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in December.)

“You are in year four of a 10-year turnaround,” Katz said. “When the first report was done in 2016, you were really in the depths -- hit harder than just about any other state in the country.”

The state was doing poorly in “advanced industries,” including those that do a lot of research and development and employ workers with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills, he said.


But the existing base of advanced industries has grown since then. Advanced industry areas identified in the first report grew by 5 percent more than the Rhode Island economy as a whole between 2013 and 2017, the report said.

“That is maybe the most important metric in report,” Katz said. “And what is very promising is the policies that the legislature enacted and that the administration implemented have clearly contributed to this turnaround.”

But Rhode Island still has 10 times as many jobs in “non-advanced” industries than in “advanced” industries, and that’s a challenge for the state economy because the gross domestic product per worker is dropping in “non-advanced” industries while it’s shooting up in “advanced” industries, the report said.

During a Commerce Corporation meeting on Monday night, Governor Gina M. Raimondo summarized Katz’s report, saying, “Basically, his analysis is: Listen, you’ve made a lot of progress the past few years. But still a relatively small portion of our economy is what I would call ‘advanced’ -- high wage, high skill.”

So, Raimondo said, the state will need to do more to increase the education and skill level of the average Rhode Islander.

“The biggest challenge is to keep this going,” Katz said. “Economic turnarounds don’t happen in three or four years. It takes a longer period of time, so one of [the] major recommendations is to double down on what you are doing.”

For example, he said the Real Jobs RI program is helping workers learn skills and find jobs in an economy that is being rapidly reshaped by technology. “You are actually helping companies adjust faster -- whether it’s to artificial intelligence or machine learning or robotics,” he said.


But the report cited a variety of challenges facing the Rhode Island economy.

For example, it said, “Competition with neighboring states is undermined by unreliable public school quality and a lack of adequate housing options for workers, particularly those with families.”

Also, the vacancy rate for industrial space is just 2 percent, making expansion tough, the report said. And, it said, “Pronounced income, health, and wealth disparities across municipalities are limiting the economic potential of certain communities.”

Like other parts of the country, state demographics are changing, and the state “is on a path toward being majority minority,” the report said. “Intentional inclusion in schools and skills initiatives, as well as minority entrepreneurship efforts, will be critical.”

The report recommends Rhode Island adopt a “minority business accelerator” like Cincinnati’s “to take full advantage of the state’s changing demographics.” Working with the Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, and other universities, the accelerator could create a “minority entrepreneurship curriculum,” it said.

The report said a minority business accelerator would cost $1.5 million to $2.5 million.

Economic Development Planning Council member John C. Simmons said the report’s 17 recommendations would cost about $50 million in total over four or five years. He said they all seem like good ideas but he wanted to focus on how to prioritize those proposals.


The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation hired New Localism Advisors, City Facilitators, and Qvartz to analyze the state economy and propose a strategic plan. The new report cost $468,600 -- including $178,600 from the Commerce Corporation, $150,000 from the state Department of Labor and Training, $100,000 from the Heron Foundation, and $40,000 from the state Division of Statewide Planning.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.