Locals who believe the economy isn’t performing the way they want it to might have at least two options.

In one, people could blame (choose one or more) the President, City Council, business leaders, or Boulder’s reputation for business climate and quirky characteristics.

In the other, business leaders could hold a Boulder Economic Summit and invite several hundred people to learn and discuss the issues – and that’s what happened Thursday in CU-Boulder’s University Memorial Center (UMC).

The Boulder Economic Council (BEC), with sponsorship assistance from CU and a host of other entities, put together a summit that delved into the nature of “Boulder’s Hybrid Economy,” which was also the title of the introductory segment.

Attendees were reminded that other factors, beyond the obvious activities of successful businesses, form Boulder’s economic climate.

Other components include education for the workforce or simply having enough people for the workforce. The public sector might need to foster a healthy relationship with the business community, while maintaining quality-of-life concerns such as affordable housing, existence of green space and proper infrastructure. Citizens could pitch in with “creative class” mentality or a spirit of entrepreneurialism.

And CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson let the crowd know that CU is more than an educational part of the hybrid economy. For the economic basics, CU-Boulder has about 29,000 students and 7,000 employees – but it also creates demand for private businesses to service students and staff, as well as new businesses based on successful CU research.

Dr. Richard Wobbekind, economist and Director of the Business Research Division (BRD) of CU’s Leeds School of Business, then spoke about aspects of the current state and local economy.

He joked about his reputation as “Rosy Rich,” or a person who might give more favorable forecasts than gloomier economists, but he said the state’s economy is at least “holding course” for the time being.

Wobbekind also said the City of Boulder might need to re-examine its municipal revenue stream if it hopes to provide its current level of services into the future. He served on a recent city Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) that analyzed trends and found that there could be significant gaps between anticipated revenues and costs of services for several reasons.

For example, he said the city’s population percentage of people aged 65 years or older is projected to grow, and older citizens typically don’t spend as much on taxable hard goods as the younger generations. He also said the older generation probably won’t decide that they want reduced city services.

But Wobbekind said the city and county have some major economic strengths, as did his partner, BRD Managing Director Gary Horvath.

Horvath said, for example, that the area has a high level of employment in the category of Professional, Scientific and Technical Services – with average wages of about $86,000 per year.

He also said some of the less-lucrative components of the economy still play large roles. For example, he said part-time service jobs can help students avoid having someone “foreclose on their textbooks,” while the “Arts, Entertainment and Recreation” segment has value beyond direct revenue.

“It allows us to enjoy Boulder County and it allows others to enjoy Boulder County,” said Horvath.

Brian Lewandowski, BRD Research Analysis, then outlined findings of a “CO-LABS” study of the economic impact of the federal labs. He said the labs had a net economic benefit to the state of about $1.1 billion in 2007, which is projected to grow to $1.25 billion in 2008 and $1.55 billion in 2009.

Lewandowski said the federal employees average about $90,000 per year in salaries and benefits, which eventually translates into tax revenues for cities and counties. He also said the labs provide intangible benefits to the community, such as volunteer-hours from employees, internships for students, spin-off companies and financial donations.

The Summit included several topical breakout sessions, including one on Bioscience and Information Technology.

Bob Conway, CEO of the Boulder-based Array BioPharma, spoke about some of the benefits and challenge of doing biotech business. For starters, he said drug research is expensive and time-consuming – some drugs might take 10 years or more to reach the market – and the rate of failure is high.

On the other hand, Array is working on anti-inflammatory drugs and treatments for cancer – conditions that will probably remain quite common in an aging population. Conway said Array is working on cancer drugs with milder side effects than certain drugs currently in use, and said the products could potentially generate billions of dollars in sales.

Ryan Martens, CTO of Boulder-based Rally Software, is used to naming software upgrades with a version number – but he spoke Thursday about upgrading sustainable business practices from version 1.0 to version 2.0.

Martens said that in the old paradigm, a business might simply “take” resources, “make” a product, and generate waste. But he said waste would need to be a resource in Version 2.0, and that many people say businesses must find ways to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid global catastrophe from global warming.

He also said Rally is growing at a double-digit percentage rate, which might mean it will need more housing and business space than what is currently available in Boulder. He said the company is looking at Interlocken Business Park in Broomfield, but none of his employees would be able to walk there and it lacks adequate bus service.

Martens suggested that Boulder might wish to consider allowing construction along the lines of Paris’ “La Defense” district – an area free of Paris’ height restrictions – to allow growing companies to stay in Boulder.

“Otherwise, we’re all going to move to Broomfield and make all the problems worse,” said Martens.

But Broomfield won’t be the first “Smart Grid City” in the nation. Xcel Energy recently selected Boulder to be the home of its first major grid renovation project, and Xcel and partners might invest up to $100 million to do the upgrade.

Representatives from Xcel and its Smart Grid partners attended the summit. Attendees watched a video of Colorado’s Gov. Bill Ritter congratulating Boulder and Xcel for implementing the new system that will allow users to access real-time information about demand on the electrical grid, among other features.

Boulder’s Mayor Shaun McGrath spoke after the Ritter video, and said Smart Grid could wind up as another example of Boulder taking bold action that other cities will eventually follow. He said Boulder’s taxing itself for Open Space might have seemed “crazy” to some in 1967, but today the city and county have more than 120,000 acres protected from development.

He also said the city recognized the dangers of climate change early. It adopted a resolution to shoot for Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas reduction standards in 2002, voters passed a carbon tax to fund Climate Action Plan programs in 2006, and McGrath said Xcel listed the commitment to environmental values as a reason to do Smart Grid in Boulder.

BEC Executive Director Frances Draper challenged attendees at the end of the summit to find ways to improve the city’s levels of economic, environmental and social sustainability.

And while Wobbekind said during a panel discussion that he believes Boulder hasn’t historically done enough on the economic sustainability front, he did say the Summit was a positive event.

“I haven’t seen anything like this in Boulder since I’ve been here, and I think it’s a fantastic start,” said Wobbekind.