News Articles

Here's a good commentary from Northern Colorado. The author does a good job summarizing how the dynamics of economic development have shifted and why innovation and regional collaboration iare so critically important.

In the face of growing global competition, the only sustainable advantage for U.S. regions will be continuous innovation, according to research conducted by the Council on Competitiveness.

Innovation is the process by which individuals, companies, regions and even entire countries remake themselves in the face of changing markets.

It is the driver of productivity growth and, ultimately, of a rising standard of living.

For more than a decade, reputable organizations have studied how regions become more innovative, thus poised to be globally competitive. They share the belief that an economy is no longer defined by the political boundaries of a city, county or state.

This regional concept promotes partnerships among key community players, including K-12 districts, community colleges, universities, lifelong learning centers, regional primary employers, work force centers and economic development organizations.

Read more.

As we move toward a network-based economy, stories play an important role in building prosperity. Stories convey meaning. They shape our perceptions, our mental maps.

Most branding efforts in economic development are driven by marketing techniques that have little connection with these deeper stories.

Here's two examples of regions that are changing their stories.

• In Western Virginia, the recruitment of two high tech firms has started to change how young people are viewing their future prospects. As one high schooler noted: "Now, there’s going to be a lot more jobs for college-educated people. I guess you could say we feel like more opportunities will follow since these came here." Read more.
• In Southeastern Michigan, a region battered by manufacturing shutdowns, the regional EDPros are shifting the story to the new investment that is flowing into the region. Read more.

There are other places in which civic leaders are actively shifting the story. My favorite is Youngstown, where a group of young professionals -- led by a young mayor and Congressman -- are embracing the notion of a shrinking city. View a couple of the blogs that are shifting the conversation here and here.

A couple of years ago, the Vermont legislature established the Commission on the Future of Economic Development. From the looks of it, the Commission bogged down in bureaucratic slag. After 18 months, there's not much to show. Here's an excerpt fromteh web site, e-mail correspondence from one member to all: 

...18 months into the process - there is nothing in the "reports and information" section of the web site except the CFED's report to the legislature. 

So why wait? I have offered "information, studies and links" that should be of "interest and direct relevance to the public and to stakeholders." Why is my input (and others like me) somehow less valuable than "regional stakeholders"? And who exactly are these regional stakeholders? I am a Vermonter; aren't we all "stakeholders"?

I'm not sure any government-inspired commission will help us to define the future of economic development. That will come from communities and regions learning to move legacy, vertical programs into horizontal, networked initiatives. In sum, we will learn by doing. 

Visit the Commission web site here. 

Casper, Wyoming has a new strategy.

The strategy focuses on the strength to the regional economy and highlights the importance of manufacturing.  Business Facility Planning Consultants prepared the report for $49,000. 

You can read more about the summary here. I have not found it posted on the web. 

For the past couple weeks, I've been busy working on a number of projects related to the WIRED initiative from the Department of Labor.

I've let my posting to EDPro slip a bit.  Each day I still spend little time reviewing new articles on the Internet.  I capture these articles in a database.  From this database I then select the articles I will post to EDPro. Leave ratio of articles to posts is about 10 to one.

I am a couple of weeks behind in posting from the database.  Over the next week or two I'll be trying to catch up, but I still have a busy travel schedule ahead, and I'm not sure how fast I can run.

Rest assured, though, that I will continue to make active posts from the database.

In the meantime, also check out Wired Nation , our new effort to connect to the 39 Wired regions across the country in a new collaborative network.

The Economic Development Administration and Western Carolina University have teamed to produce a useful web site: Know Your Region.

There are a range of helpful materials on the site. Here's an example: a short presentation on defining a region.

Western Carolina has also developed a curriculum on regionalism. I'm currently reviewing it to see how we can integrate the material into different WIRED initiatives  and the advanced strategic planning courses at OU/EDI. 

Civic leaders in Detroit and southeastern Michigan are gaining momentum in transforming their economy. Last week, leaders of the New Economy Initiative announced that John Austin would be heading up their effort.

Austin has written extensively about the opportunities emerging in the Great Lakes. Here's his report from Brookings: The Vital Center. 

In this context, here is an interesting article comparing Detroit to Pittsburgh. Read more. 

A new web site has launched that will provide information on "green vendors and service providers in 354 cities, green networking opportunities, and job listings at 'eco-conscious companies.'"

My guess is that sustainability will emerge as another important dimension along which "quality places" will be evaluated. As economic development morphs into a "war for talent", more and more EDPros will need to focus on sustainability to build what we once called "quality of life". 

Equally important, these strategies can potentially strengthen local and regional economies by accelerating the velocity of "local dollars" circulating in an economy. In China, you will hear some economists refer to the "circle economy". Strengthening local linkages in a way that promotes the reuse of resources can be an important local strategy. 

You can read more about  the site here. 

You can visit the site here. 

[B]ecause "biotechnology" sounds better than "dietary supplement," most everyone has ignored basic due diligence.

People are raising questions in Leon County, FL. Read more. 

The governor of Kansas has put together the Kansas Innovation Consortium, a group of high level business executives designed to promote key clusters in the state. From the state press release. 

Executive Order 08-02 brings together key industry clusters within the Kansas economy. These industries, animal, plant, and life sciences, health, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, and energy, show exciting possibilities for future economic growth. The Kansas Innovation Consortium will work to attract new investments in research and development within these industries as well as ensure a prepared workforce.

You can read more here . 

Indiana has launched a series of pilot projects to deploy Hometown Competitiveness (HTC), a useful strategy model for rural communities. Developed in Nebraska, HTC focuses civic leaders on key "pillars" that will form the foundation of their future competitiveness.

Here's an article that illustrates how one county in Indiana, White County, is beginning to deploy the model. Read more.

You can learn more about Hometown Competitiveness from their web site. Check out the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) site, Energizing Entrepreneurs and the Heartland Center's publications.

The Tennessee Techonology Development Corp. launched its new technology strategy last week. You can read more about it here.

I was only able to locate  press release. The key elements of the strategy include creating:

• A research board to strengthen the science base
• An entrepreneurship network
• A capital formation board
• A stakeholders relations board

You can download the press release here.  The folks at TTDC might want to focus some effort on upgrading their web  presence and learning something about search engine optimization. I had a tough time tracking these folks down.