A panel of officials, including coal businessman Joe Craft and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, told the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees they want the state’s top universities to ready a workforce to attract emerging industry – including data centers and artificial intelligence companies.
The message came during a trustees meeting on the University of Louisville’s campus Friday, and the panel also included U of L President Gerry Bradley and One Louisville Chief Executive Trevor Pawl.
“The conditions for growth are ripe here in Kentucky,” Pawl said. “We're seeing a modernization of our airport here in Louisville. We're seeing $2 billion in downtown development that is only getting more exciting as tools come online.
"People want to be in places with other people. They want a vibrant downtown. They want a downtown that's the most active residential part of the city, and I think that's what we're building here," he continued.
Craft came prepped with a list of industries he hopes to help bring to the commonwealth, especially to the eastern parts of the state. Those include military defense contracts and space-related fields.
“We're trying to think of ways that, with those companies, that we can get them to share with us where they're having research needs, so that they can say to us, ‘Well, you help us in these areas,’” Craft said.
He expressed particular interest in AI-related projects cropping up in and around Kentucky.
Craft said he hopes such development helps create a blueprint to bring back the lost population that has left Eastern Kentucky. However, there are infrastructure needs, like housing, that might make that challenging.
“When you go back to East Kentucky, you think that infrastructure is there, and it is there for a lot of industrial use, but people lost much hope they didn't maintain their homes,” Craft said. “To attract the talent that will come to Eastern Kentucky and want to live there and bring their employees there, we’ve got to improve the quality of life opportunities that used to be there.”
Eastern Kentucky’s population has declined sharply in recent years along with the collapse of the coal industry. According to the latest outlook from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. coal production is expected to continue its nosedive, projected to drop 8% this year and another 6% in 2027.
When asked what needs to come first in Eastern Kentucky to improve the workforce, people or jobs, Craft said companies need more transparency about what regions interest them. The future of the workforce is not just about creating jobs, but locating industry in places with good infrastructure, Craft argued.
Greenberg said he hopes more companies will leverage the research and students coming out of Kentucky’s university system, in turn boosting the economy.
“Let's sort of force the corporate world's hands, because there is such a glut of talent coming out of U of L and UK that this is the obvious place,” Greenberg said. “It's not a stretch decision. It's not just because we're providing funding, but it's because the brains and the people are here, that it’s the best decision for these companies to invest and create jobs here.”
