The president of the Nevada Development Authority quickly surveyed the crowd gathered in the UNLV Foundation's meeting room, noting the presence of university leaders, developers, gaming executives, bankers and business owners.

"I love it," he said, "love it."

Hollingsworth then scrambled back to his table, returning to the series of projects that made up last week's Las Vegas Creative Economy Forum. The event revolved around the creative class theory popularized by economist Richard Florida. That theory pushes the idea that economic growth is driven by creative people who set up shop in diverse and tolerant areas.

Lou Musante, an executive with the strategic planning company Catalyix Inc. who led the forum, said that fostering a region that is attractive to the creative class would take a partnership between the academic, government and business communities.

"The regions that really move the ball forward in this creative economy are the ones that collaborate," he told the crowd. "They come together for more than just dinner."

UNLV President Carol Harter said the teamwork and the goal spelled out in the creative class definition of economic development will be necessary in order to implement plans for Midtown UNLV. Pitched by Harter and developer Michael Saltman, Midtown UNLV is a plan to revitalize and redevelop the university neighborhood along Maryland Parkway, and Harmon and Tropicana avenues.

Harter said redeveloping the neighborhood could create a draw of creative minds looking to live close to a university setting and become a cultural gathering place. She said similar "creative neighborhoods" have been a focal point of economic development in places like Seattle and Madison, Wis.

"We have to expand the talent pool and the creative class," Harter said. "We (at the university) are citizens of Las Vegas. We want to play a larger role in defining this city."

Is there any real value in attracting the "creative class"? Musante said there is.

He pointed to his company's research that indicates that the creative sector -- which includes professionals and managers, and workers in the research and development, education, and arts and culture sectors -- will see job growth of 20 percent over the next 10 years.

That's better than the 14 percent job growth expected in the service sector over the same period and the 10 percent predicted for the working sector, which includes manufacturing and construction.

Musante also said that research indicates that while 46.1 percent of the population works in the service sector, they make only 31.1 percent of the wages. The working sector accounts for 23.3 percent of the population and 19.9 percent of the wages. At the same time, the creative sector includes 30.3 percent of the working population and 48.9 percent of the wages.

In Las Vegas, Musante said, the creative sector accounts for 17.2 percent of the workforce and 31.9 percent of the wages.

"The creative sector of the economy accounts for one of three payroll dollars, and we (in Las Vegas) don't have a plan on how to cultivate this over the next 10 years" Musante said.

Thom Reilly, Clark County manager, agreed that addressing economic development with a more planned and collaborative approach makes sense.

"There's so much competition in the Southwest, nationally and, more importantly, internationally, that a targeted approach, a planned approach, top economic development is much better than this traditional smokestack chasing approach," he said.

Musante also pointed out that economic development officials need to look at the overall makeup of companies they attract. He pointed out that a 100-person software company probably has a majority of service sector or working sector jobs and only 30 or so software designers. Similarly, he pointed out that there are technology workers in many industries, such as hospitals, banks and insurance companies.

"It's not only about where somebody works but what they do," he said. "Today the true asset is people. ... It's ideas and talent that truly make the economy work."

Don Snyder, the recently retired president of Boyd Gaming Corp. and chairman of UNLV's recently launched $500 million capital campaign, pointed to several recent developments as fueling the development of the creative sector, including the Nevada Cancer Institute, the long-talked-about academic medical center and the downtown performing arts center.

"This is about reinventing ourselves," he said.

The first phase of the creative sector development effort was a roundtable discussion in April, followed by last week's forum that attracted about 70 key local leaders. The next step, Musante said, will be a "Creative Economic Summit." A date has not yet been set. That event would be designed to attract as many as 500 stakeholders in the local economy.

Kevin Rademacher covers utilities and finance for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4069 or by e-mail at kevinr@lasvegassun.com.