Philadelphia's innovation roadmap Saturday, May 24, 2003 Philadelphia is moving ahead with an innovation economy agenda. They call it a "Roadmap for Regional Growth". In 1991, the Hong Kong government published a report, Technology Roadmaps for Hong Kong, and it is a good metaphor for us to be using. As the Hong Kong report notes, the metaphor of a road map refers to the technology landscape with a network of roads leading to commercial opportunities. (I throw this stuff in so that you can impress your friends.) The consultants writing the Philadelphia roadmap are a little breathless at times, and they might be more persuasive if they could tone down their rhetoric. Here's an example: "If the region could focus attention on advancing just 25 of these firms to annualized sales of $100 million or more, imagine the economic impact on jobs, real estate, and expanding vendor-supplier chains!" Nevertheless, the report provides a very detailed analysis of the region's innovation economy. In this way, it presents a more valuable guide to cluster formation than most of Porter's work. Porter's core notion of a competitive diamond may offer insights at the level of a firm, but it does not provide much guidance for regional economies. This report's focus on an "innovation lifecycle" is a little clunky, but it does underline an important point: Building clusters is very complex, detailed work. You can download the summary here or the entire report here. (Both are big downloads, 2+ MB.) 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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