Friday, April 09, 2004
Building quality, connected places is one of the key components of a strategy for building competitive communities. Michigan has launched its Cool Cities initiative to underscore the point. Read more.
The genesis of this initiative is no surprise...Richard Florida's book on the Creative Class.
While Florida is right to emphasize the importance of a quality place, we will need more than bike trails, urban parks and fern bars to compete in today's global economy.
Brainpower is the core element of a competitive economy. Its the only resource that any community has on which to build an economic future. Every community faces the same challenge. We have too many kids dropping out of schools, too many kids graduating from high school with weak skills and no career plans, and too few kids heading off to some post-secondary education.
In another area, we need new ways to convert brainpower into wealth through innovation and entrepreneurship networks. Building these networks is not easy and takes time.
Here's a good commentary on these challenges from Mark Lang, former executive director of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Go.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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.
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.
Michigan's cool cities
