Technology is poised to play a key role in Kansas’ recovery from the economic downturn, say state and local leaders.

Kevin Carr, CEO of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., said his private/public partnership is working to stoke technology businesses across the state and region.

He said Kansas is poised to take advantage of several new initiatives, including information technology, alternative energy and recruiting to the state companies that have great ideas.

“Aviation has been a great anchor for the state for many, many years,” Carr said, but the state is also looking to growth in the bioscience and animal health sectors for new technology opportunities, he said.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback is running as a Republican for the governor of Kansas. In a recent stop in Lawrence, he said that technology will be critical to growing the state’s tax base and recovering from the economic downturn.

Kansas’ already strong aviation industry should position it to take advantage of potential private contracts from the federal government’s space exploration program, he said.

The next time NASA goes to the moon, Brownback said, it will likely use the private sector to help get to a low Earth orbit, instead of using a large rocket to go straight to the moon.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be a part of that,” he said.

KTEC works with startup companies and provides access to startup capital for new businesses, research funding to develop new technology at state universities and assistance in forming a business plan for newly formed companies in the sector.

Growth in technology typically means growth in high-paying jobs for Kansas, Carr said. Carr is looking ahead to new technologies, particularly an upgrade to smart-grid technology for the state’s electrical grid. New electrical technology will allow easier access to solar and wind power for consumers in the future, he said, making it important for the state to be looking to the future now.

As companies become more and more technologically advanced, so, too, do their data analysis needs, Carr said. KU’s Information and Telecommunication Technology Center today is researching new methods of displaying complex amounts of data in three dimensions so researchers and pharmaceutical companies can create accurate models.

Carr and KTEC work with state universities to try to spin off new companies when they can be created.

“We’re trying to capitalize on the things that can be applied to new products,” he said.

Jim Baxendale has a front-row seat to new innovations at KU. As director of technology transfer and intellectual property for both the Lawrence campus and KU Medical Center, he sees a number of patent requests resulting from the latest KU research.

He said he’s seeing quite a bit of activity these days on the drug development and delivery side of the campuses — a priority that matches KU’s desire to become a cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute.

There’s also a number of other new promising technologies at work at KU, he said. One involves applying nanotechnology to oil recovery, he said.

“It’s very difficult to get oil at a certain point out of certain rock formations,” Baxendale said.

KU research, combined with a partnership from the private sector, may soon make the process more efficient and less costly, he said.

The university is still looking to start a number of companies each year, Baxendale said, which will positively contribute to the state’s economic engine.

Both KU and KTEC look to a network of “angel” investors to fund promising startup companies in technology. Success can depend on the innovation itself, Baxendale said. KU has a number of research centers always looking for the next big development in a number of specific areas, Baxendale said.

Sometimes the big break is all in the timing — it’s important to not be too early or too late with a new innovation, he said.

Carr agreed, saying that while some technology companies don’t pan out, the potential benefits are huge for the economy. Successful companies would decrease the “brain drain” for the state as successful and talented people leave for better jobs elsewhere, he said.

KTEC is looking for the next Garmin, an Olathe-based company whose GPS devices have been large sellers, or a new Perceptive Software, a successful software company in Shawnee.

“If you look at where the tide is headed, it’s almost all around innovation,” Carr said.