Wednesday, January 29, 2003
One element of a cluster -based development strategy is to build specialized infrastructure. In Akron, this means building a pilot plant for small scale polymer production. In Montgomery County, Maryland, it means a science and technology research park geared to biotech. Akron's Pilot Plant is more focused and smaller scale. Montgomery County's project is much larger and more speculative.
Building specialized infrastructure is a tricky business. The difficulty is figuring out if there is a sufficiently strong market demand to support the infrastructure (including capital and operating costs). That question turns on whether the anchors to your cluster are competitive and dynamic. Read more about what EDPros are doing with polymers in Akron and biotech in Montgomery County.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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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.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
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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.
Building specialized infrastructure for clusters
