Rep. Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing, and Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee, have worked for about eight months to put together the “Kansas Economic Growth Act,” which they presented to the Kansas Legislature last week, and they are excited about their plan.

“It gives people a big idea to work on,” Wilk told the Journal-World hours before the plan’s unveiling. “People want a big idea.”

That’s not an understatement. Jordan and Wilk scoured the nation to get ideas for the plan that they think will secure Kansas’ economic future and its place as a leader in the field of biosciences.

The plan has two parts that represent a masterful blending of urban and rural interests in Kansas. While the plan acknowledges that much of the bioscience research and development activities will occur at state universities and larger population centers, it also links those developments with entrepreneurship across the rural parts of the state.

Recognizing that job creation is essential to the future of rural Kansas, the Kansas Entrepreneurship Initiative seeks to nurture the good ideas of people across the state. The Wilk-Jordan plan calls for the creation of a Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship to act as a resource center to foster ventures in the state. It will partner with the Kansas Community Entrepreneurship Fund which will provide seed money for qualified entrepreneurs. The funding will be supplied by investment “angels” who will receive a 50 percent income tax credit for their contributions to the fund. Tax breaks also are proposed for people willing to purchase and restore vacant downtown buildings in rural and low-income communities.

The Kansas Bioscience Initiative focuses on linking and building on the large number of bioscience ventures that already exist in the state. The legislators identified more than 160 bioscience companies in Kansas employing 11,000 to 13,000 people, not just in large cities but in many small cities. Although many states are competing to expand their biosciences industry, Wilk and Jordan point out Kansas is one of the few states strong in several bioscience areas — human, animal, plant and industrial/environmental.

Because of its resources and research in both agriculture and human biotechnology, Kansas is particularly well-positioned in the new area of “farm-a-ceuticals” which seeks to develop plant-based pharmaceuticals. Other agriculture-based ventures, such as the development of soy-based polyurethane products also hold promise for the state’s struggling farm sector.

The name of the game in bioscience is critical mass. Linking the state’s existing resources as well as showing the state’s commitment to build on those resources is what will attract investment by new companies. One of those companies could be the Stowers Institute, which has one facility in Kansas City, Mo. and plans to build another. Wilk and Jordan say they hope their initiative will make Kansas and Kansas City more attractive to Stowers, but they emphasize that the plan will not be a failure if Stowers chooses to locate elsewhere.

Wilk says the economic growth act also makes “an unprecedented commitment to commercialization,” linking research and development to businesses and jobs across the state. It’s a $500 million plan that will use the tax revenue generated by the new ventures to help perpetuate itself. The legislators forecast the plan will produce 23,000 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs along with $1 billion in research funding.

Their footnoted report on the Economic Growth Act shows that Wilk and Jordan have done their homework. The plan they have put on the table is bold, but it’s not pie in the sky. In their conclusions, the legislators quote Peter F. Drucker: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

This plan looks like a good step toward creating a brighter economic future for the state.