Saturday, September 27, 2003
North Carolina has enacted legislation to encourage rural counties to coordinate their efforts to develop regional parks or "mini-hubs".
The idea behind the legislation is that cooperative regional parks will work best for smaller, more rural counties that may not have the resources to put together a large site to attract companies to the region. Mini-hubs are not typical industrial parks. They offer enhanced services to support a cluster.
The key to making this approach work is figuring out equitable formulas for splitting costs and revenues. Learn more.
Research Triangle Park is pioneering the mini-hub approach to spread development into surrounding rural counties. The Kerr-Tar Hub is the first mini-hub out of the blocks.
It is an outgrowth of a study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Office of Economic Development for the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. The study determined the feasibility of creating a series of "mini-hubs" to stimulate investment in rural areas of the 13-county Research Triangle Region.
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.
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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.