Articles

The boundaries of economic development are shifting.

The increasingly important role of young professionals in a regional economy represents a prime example. In the past, young professionals had almost no voice in a region's economic development strategy.

Now, however, young professionals are playing an increasingly important role in providing leadership as the economy shifts toward a new set of important economic drivers: networks, creativity, innovation.

Here is an example from Chattanooga. The nonprofit organization CreateHere is pushing out the frontiers of economic development in that city. Read more.

Later today, 25 economic development professionals around the country will be gathering at the Edward Lowe Foundation campus in Cassopolis, Michigan. We represent the first class in a new economic development training based on principles of Economic Gardening.

Chris Gibbons, in Littleton Colorado, designed  this approach to economic development starting over 10 years ago. Chris saw the importance of focusing on growing an economy from within. You can learn more about Economic Gardening here.

The three-day training program will introduce us to the tools and strategies that Chris and his team developed to support an entrepreneurial economy.

We've launched a new website to support the Economic Gardening community: EGEconomies.net

We will be  blogging over the weekend, so check and see what we are doing!

If you are interested in angel investing, here's a good article from Business Week on how angel investors are adjusting to the downturn in the economy. They're providing more funding to the deals that they are doing, syndicating their deals more widely, and making more follow-on investments.

Read more.

 in the same issue, there's a good article on how to establish the value of a startup company. Read more.

Typically, most EDPros do not have much of a background in early-stage financing. However, as economic development shift toward more focus on startups and high-growth second stage companies, EDPros will need to become more comfortable with the details of early-stage financing.

The head of Wisconsin's Technology Council offers some useful insights into how rural areas can shift their economic development strategies. Among his suggestions:

• Promote farmshoring (a concept developed by Virginia Tech. There's more background here, here and here);
• Encourage more collaboration among educational institutions on workforce development (always a good idea); and
  
• Improve broadband (another common sense strategy).
  

Missing from the list: Building stronger, networks to support entrepreneurs and fast growth "stage 2" companies...And stronger emphasis on education innovations in STEM education and project-based learning.(As we head into chronic skill shortages, companies will be looking for communities that innovate in education.)

I'd bag the tax incentives. They do not work all that well in most cases, and tax expenditures are extremely hard to measure for effectiveness.

Read more.

The University of Wisconsin -- Madison is launching a new urban research park. The facility will be located in an "edgy" part of town with connections to a fiber optic network.

This story highlights the growing role universities are playing in urban regenertion.The story also underscores the growing importnace of recent college graduates in building high growth companies. Two of the recent start-up businesses cited in the article have a total of thirty employees.

Read more.

EDPros in Montgomery County, MD are making new ties to India. Recently five Indian technology companies established a presence in the Rockville Innovation Center.

The companies are members of the Indian Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council. MD officals met Council representatives during a county delegation’s economic development mission to India in November, 2007.

Quick turnaround.

Read more.

Building global connections -- especially to fast growing economies -- helps U.S. regions grow. Follow this thought experiment. Assume we have two regions in the U.S. with identical economies, except for one factor. Compared to Region A, Region B has stronger business ties to dynamic economies like India, Brazil and China.

Which region is likely to be more prosperous over the long term?

Baltimore County has moved ahead with a focus on computer gaming as a growth industry.

This Sunday's newspaper carries three articles which provide you an overview of how this new cluster is starting to develop.

• In the ever-expanding video-game industry, Baltimore County is the place to be
• Gaming industry appears to be recession-proof
• Where being a nerd is cool
  

Purdue University has started a new fund to assist startup companies. The new fund will help technologies started at the University to spin out into commercial companies.

The University is targeting $1.5 million as the initial capitalization.

Read more.

Here's an interesting article on the impact of higher fuel prices on globalization.

Cheap oil, the lubricant of quick, inexpensive transportation links across the world, may not return anytime soon, upsetting the logic of diffuse global supply chains that treat geography as a footnote in the pursuit of lower wages...The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs.

Read more.

Oregon's governor is focusing on green jobs and sustainability. He sees green technology or clean technology as a useful organizing principle for the state's strategy.

Under this umbrella, the governor is including on a wide range of targets including green building, solar power, electric cars, and clean technology entrepreneurs. You can read more about his strategic thinking from this article.

Earlier this month, Governor Granholm of Michigan signed legislation to create Centers of Energy Excellence.

The purpose of these centers is to bring together the assets of the business, universities and government to accelerate the development of alternative energy businesses. You can learn more about this initiative from this article.

Here's a summary of the legislation.

Arizona Is starting a new fund of funds to invest in startups. An initial investment of $325,000 from the state is designed to provide seed money for the creation of the initiative. The Arizona Economic Resource Organization will manage the new initiative.

Here's a good article that summarizes the initiative. Read more.

AERO leads the reorganizationof economic development strategy in Arizona. You can learn more about AERO from its web site.