West Lousville's strategy Thursday, October 03, 2002 Michael Porter, the Harvard Business School professors who is the chief promoter of clusters, has long argued that cluster analysis can porvide insights on how to rebuild our inner cities. He first put forth his case in a Harvard Business Review article. Porter is no ordinary academic. He invests in his ideas. The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City is replacing the traditional focus on urban blight and community deficiencies with a more constructive focus on market opportunities. ICIC has sparked new thinking about the business potential of inner cities. It's approach is opeing the door to creating jobs and wealth for inner-city residents. Learn more about ICIC. Go ICIC has, in turn, triggered focus on the Inner City 100. Each year ICIC and Inc magazine team up to create the Inner City 100 -- a list of the fastest growing companies in America's inner cities. West Louisville is one of a number of areas following the ICIC cluster strategy to rebuild their local economy. The West Louisville strategy project is implementing a plan for job and business growth based on key clusters: automotive, transportation and logistics, medical devices and health services. Download the report. Go the West Louisville Economic Alliance spearheads the strategy. Here's a new idea. To build understanding among local residents on the dynamics of economic development, the folks in West Louisville have come up with Champions for West Louisville Development. Twice a week from September through December, about 65 people are taking part in meetings with local economic developers. After completing the program, the participants will become part of the West Louisville Economic Alliance. This approach is a thoughtful way to build a balanced, knowledgeable group of volunteer residents -- not just a bunch of hot heads. One of the biggest problems in economic development is balancing the demands of an open process with control. You need an open process, but you also need to be able to direct it to clear objectives. (This problem often comes up when new public/private partnerships form as non-profit corporations. Should they have members? If so who qualifies?) The West Louisville solution strikes a good balance. Set up an economic development boot camp. Those that make it through are both informed and motivated to stay engaged. Learn more. Go posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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