Florida's dog and pony show Saturday, August 16, 2003 Florida's leadership is undertaking a flawed process to come up with a strategic plan for the state. As I have suggested earlier, this deal smells like too much politics. The Secretary of State announced that she would be holding eight meetings across the state to come up with a statewide economic development strategy. Here's the reporter's description of the second meeting: "Politics wasn't far beneath the surface Friday. Speakers pointed out Republican legislators in the crowd of 200..." And then the head of Enterprise Florida chimes is with ""Florida's destiny is to be the state of the 21st Century." Gibberish. People don't want more words. They want action. They don't want slogans. They want realistic initiatives. The core problem in Florida is the same as states like Louisiana, Missouri and Kentucky. The state needs to improve the technology base at its universities by investing more aggressively in research, technology transfer and innovation networks. Dog and pony shows don't cut it. Read more. The learn more about the real challenges in Florida, read about the recent demise of University Park. State leaders would be far better of exploring why this initiative failed, how plans for Innovation Park can be supported effectively, and what can be done to improve the level of collaboration in the state. 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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