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The drumbeat against big boxes gets louder
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Christian Gibbons in Littleton, CO passes along this article to his e-mail list. For those of you who do not know, Christian is the thought leader behind the concept of economic gardening, an entrepreneurial approach to economic development, pioneered in Littleton. Learn more. Subscribe to Christian's e-mail list from this page. The sentiments against Wal-Mart -- and other big box retailers -- are growing in certain towns and cities. The strategy of choice are ordinances that restrict these big boxes. Read more. PBS has aired a good two part series on Wal-Mart. You can read about it here. posted by Ed Morrison | Coping with the loss of call centers Some call centers are moving overseas. At least that's thec ase with the centers operated by Sykes Enterprise. Here's how two towns are dealing with the impact of outsourcing. Read more. At the same time, migrating call centers to lower cost locations has its risks, especially when it comes to providing technical support. Read more posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, August 22, 2004 Here are the articles that can keep you smart about the economy. Greenspan killed economic growth Leading indicators drop in July Leading Indicators, Jobless Claims Fall U.S. Poverty Likely Rose in 2003, Income Gap Wider Rising health premiums factor into sickly job growth Analysts debate who creates jobs Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 23 posted by Ed Morrison | Fairfax opens offices in Israel, India Saturday, August 21, 2004 Fairfax County Economic Development Authority has opened offices in Israel and India. They are interested in gaining access to technology companies interested in expanding into the U.S. Read more. Fairfax County claims that it is the first county to open an office in India. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | New program to help Pittsburgh manufacturers Innovation Works, a state-funded program to accelerate innovation in Southwest Pennsylvania, is launching a new program to assist manufacturers. The initaitve provides financial assistance to manufacturers to improve their production process. Learn more. The board has been reviewing Innovation Works' mission following complaints that the group has not been effective. Innovation Works is a publicly funded non-profit that invests in early stage technology companies to help the economic development of southwestern Pennsylvania, and it is one of four Ben Franklin Technology Centers across the state. Innovation Works says it invested more than $18 million in 57 companies that created more than 400 local jobs and attracted more than $180 million in follow-on financing between January 2000 and December 2003. But the board has been reviewing Innovation Works' mission following complaints that the group has not been effective. posted by Ed Morrison | Expansion of Indiana's broadband infrastructure Here's an update on Indiana's broadband deployment. The interesting aspect of this article is where it appeared. Newspapers in North Dakota, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Texas picked up the story. The issue of broadband access has clearly emerged as a major economic development issue for rural areas. posted by Ed Morrison | Heartburn over biotech ratings Some civic leaders in Maryland are continuing to have difficulty adjusting to the fact that North Carolina has overtaken the state in major biotech ratings. For years, Maryland ranked third, behind California and Massachusetts. Now it's fourth. The best advice comes from Paul Mauritz, director of technology strategy and business development for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development: "If you spend all your time trying to manage your position in rankings you tend to lose sight of the ball." Read more. Take the example of the Rockville Economic Development Corporation. They are moving ahead with a bioinformatics incubator. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | TVA certifies two mega sites for auto manufacturing Last March, TVA launched a program to certify large industrial sites for auto manufacturing. The idea is to save time and money for auto site selectors. The megasite certification program focuses on sites with a minimum of 700 acres of contiguous developable land and key infrastructure capabilities. McCallum Sweeney Consulting developed the certification criteria. This week, TVA announced certification of two sites, one in Kentucky and one in Mississippi. Read more. A third site near Chattanooga is close to certification. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Traverse City's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship Traverse City, MI is launching Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship. The institute combines the innovative mixture of creative and business resources in the Traverse City area. This idea could serve as a useful model, not just in smaller cities. It is similar to creative incubators now operating in the U.K. and New Zealand. Traverse City received $100,000 from Michigan's Cool Cities initiative to get the institute off the ground. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Minnesota's rural summit Last week, Minnesota's Rural Summit took place in Hibbing, in the Iron Range near Duluth. The governor spoke and promoted the idea of innovation as a key to rural economic development strategy. Read more. Prior to the summit, the governor's JOBZ plan -- a type of enterprise zone for rural Minnesota -- received mixed reviews. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | "Incentives will never make a bad site good" Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Here's a good article that provides some insights into the site selection process. Clark Gillespy, an executive at Fluor, spoke to civic leaders in Knoxville this week. He outlined the process Fluor follows with its clients in the site selection process. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Toyota makes a major R&D commitment to Michigan Michigan got some good news this week. Toyota announced plans to expand its research and development activities in the state. Toyota's investment could translate into several thousand jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. Learn more. Governor Granholm hopes to attract more high-tech automotive operations to Michigan to help offset a steady erosion in manufacturing jobs. She recently announced a six point plan to keep auto industry jobs in the state. posted by Ed Morrison | Celebrating Rural Georgia The Celebrating Rural Georgia conference took place this week. It's part of a broader effort to explore new appraoches to economic development in rural counties. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Maine makes progress on building an innovation economy Maine is making progress in building its innvoation economy, but it has a long way to go. Maine spends 0.88 percent of its gross state product -- the value at retail price of goods and services produced by a state -- on research and development; New England spends 3.6 percent, while the country spends 2.68 percent. There's a deeper concern: what is the right mix of innovation investments for the state? To help answer this key question, the state has recently created the Office of Innovation to coordinate efforts across the government. Read more. You can download a copy of the state's most recent indicators report from this page. posted by Ed Morrison | Nebraska's 2 year colleges promote their impact Tuesday, August 17, 2004 A new in Nebraska report underscores the importance of investing in community colleges. 90% of Nebraska's community college graduates stay in the state. What's more, the study authors conclude that Nebraska makes $17.73 on every dollar it invests in community colleges. Read more posted by Ed Morrison | Corvallis hopes to establish nano hub Oregon has put together an innovative partnership to compete in the nanotech race. Not a major research center, the state has formed a collaboration among its universities. Corvallis hopes to use the partnership to leverage itself into a significant hub for nanotech business development. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | New Cowboys' stadium announced A 75,000 seat football stadium will be built in Arlington, TX. The public sector will pay half of the $650 million faciltiy. Public officals are already pumping the economic impact: $238 million annually. (With 8 regular season football games and 75,000 seats, that works out to an economic impact of $397 per seat. Throw in an exhibition game, and the number drops to $352...It still looks high to me, unless we start making some wild assumptions about multipliers.) Read more. Why not Dallas? The mayor wasn't willing to pay for hapf the stadium. "We couldn't agree. They made it very clear that they were going to find a town that would pay for a significant amount of the stadium. I made it clear that we weren't willing to pay for half their stadium." Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Mayo-university partnership slowed by state legislature Often it appears that state legislatures are the obstacle to economic development, not the promoters. Here's a good case in point: a proposed parternship between the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota has been delayed by the state legislature's inaction. Mayo has already put up its money. The state is slow to meet its commitments. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, August 15, 2004 The political season is heating up, and so the economy is moving center stage. Here's the latest. Job Growth Needed to Unlock Wallets Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 16 Thanks to oil, economy faces headwinds in political season U. Mich.: Consumer confidence down in August Trade deficit sets new high as wholesale prices edge up July retail sales rebound smaller than expected Poll finds voters take a dim view of Bush handling of economy Bush walking thin line with economy talk Analysts see Fed pushing ahead with September hike posted by Ed Morrison | Plans announced for Arkansas steel mill Yesterday, news slipped out that a $700 million steel mill is being planned for Arkansas. The mill would employ 450 people. A former top executive with Nucor will head the new company. Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, will provide some of the financing. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Tech transfer amendment in Arizona stalled Proponents of a constitutional amendment to easxe technology transfer in the state are having trouble getting momentum. Proposition 102 would lift the current ban on public universities holding a financial interest in commercial ventures. Some conservatives oppose the move. Ballot measures like this one are tough to pass. You can count on 20% hard core opposition. That means you have to get 51% from the remaining 80%, no easy task. Read more. From the looks of the unimpressive campaign web site proponents of the measure need some help. posted by Ed Morrison | Georgia opens agriculture innovation center The University of Georgia's Tifton campus will be the site of the state's third major innovation center. The Tifton center, located 200 miles south of Atlanta, will focus on agricultural innovation. Learn more. Georgia is doing a good job in engaging its smaller cities and rural areas in the economic transformations we must all face. Here's a good quote from the lead EDPro in the state, Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Craig Lesser: "I don't know where you can find more dedicated entrepreneurs than in agriculture. America was born on the farm.... The creativity, the sense of survivorship came from that agricultural work ethic." posted by Ed Morrison | Pittsburgh lands a development center Pittsburgh has scored with a new electro-optical development facility for Royal Philips Electronics, the large Dutch electronics company. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Bet you can't read all this Can Hampton Roads come together? The newspaper sure hopes so. The region needs to come together, but civic leadership has not been strong enough to pull together the region. Read more. It's a bit confusing for outsiders. Here's how Word IQ sorts it all out: Hampton Roads is the name for the metropolitan area in southeastern Virginia that surrounds the Hampton Roads channel. Locals subdivide the area into two regions. Most of the region's population lives in South Hampton Roads or, more often, the Southside (not to be confused with Southside Virginia, a separate region farther inland), made up of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. The northern portion of the area is typically called the Peninsula, after the Virginia Peninsula. The main cities on the Peninsula are Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg, and Poquoson. Got that? Now go back and read the editorial (which you probably skipped). Are you still with it? All this underscores a point: Outside a region, nobody much cares about all the little problems that keeps a region's civic leadership from working together. posted by Ed Morrison | Sematech's trial ballon In Austin, Sematech is floating a proposal for $100 million expansion, supported by $45 million in property tax abatements, according to this news report. posted by Ed Morrison | Duluth shifts strategy Richard Florida is a controversial figure in economic development. Some of his ideas are whacky, and he's not long on practical solutions. But he does deserve credit for shifting the debate from business recruitment to brainpower. Here's a good example from Duluth. posted by Ed Morrison | Struggling with Big Things Both Sacramento, CA and Arlington, TX are struggling with the Big Thing Theory of economic development. (The Big Thing Theory holds that you need Big Things to generate economic development. Nice idea, but it doesn't work.) Both cities are planning Big Things as a way to revive their economies. In Sacramento, it's a basketball arena for the Kings. In Arlington, they want a stadium for the Dallas Cowboys. Sacramento could probably survive a misguided decision to subsidize a sports arena. It's economy is anchored by government employment. In Arlington, the consequences will be more severe. The city's finances are facing a serious structural deficit. Deep subsidies for a sports stadium (especially a pro football stadium with so few event days) will not help. posted by Ed Morrison | NY extends broken Empire Zones There's good evidence that New York's Empire Zones don't work. But that did not stop the state legislature from extending them. And it also did not stop some misguided EDPros from claiming that these incentives create tens of thousands of jobs (despite the fact that they have no evidence to prove it). Read more. You can also download the most recent audits of the program from this page. posted by Ed Morrison | Jacksonville's incentive policy Friday, August 13, 2004 In part because it it is a public-led economic development organization, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission does an exemplary job communicating with the public. Here is an update on how the Commission will be changing its approach to economic development. In addition to new metrics, the Commission will be focusing on how to build small businesses in distressed areas. Learn more. The JEC has published two useful documents on incentives. The first is a brochure that explains incentives to the public. The second is a detailed incentive policy statement. Both are useful models. posted by Ed Morrison | Montgomery County, MD opens a second incubator Montgomery County, MD launched a second incubator last month, and it is already 70% full. The first incubator has graduated an average of over five new companies a year since its launch in 1999. Read more. The new incubator will become part of a network of 24 incubators inthe Greater Washington region. Download a directory. posted by Ed Morrison | Mississippi university presidents looking for larger role In some regions and states, the most innovative economic development leadership comes from college and university campuses. Entrepreneurial leaders are pioneering new relationships and connections. The presidents of Mississippi's public universities are stepping forward to claim a larger leadership role in economic development. As one offical noted, "The best opportunity we have is to work together and to share our resources and influence." Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | North Carolina wants to keep motorsports North Carolina is responding to the growth in motorsports in other states. Mindful that other states wiuld like to lure, the governor is trying to invest in the industry. But so far, financial commitments are relatively small. A $50 million planned ressearch and development complex will likely receive between $2 million and $4 million. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Still trying to find a location for Scripps in Florida Thursday, August 12, 2004 Two biotech park developers are bankrolling a PR campaign to put pressure on the Palm Beach County Commission. They want the Commission to select a site for the new Scripps research facility. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Michigan report tries to raise questions Authors of a new study of Michigan's economy are trying to trigger a conversation about the state's economic development strategy. The study argues that Michigan should shift its focus away from manufacturing jobs and toward "knowledge based" industries. As one of the authors notes, "Our purpose in doing this study is to start a conversation about whether Michigan needs a new economic-development agenda. That's not on anyone's radar screen now." Among the questions the report raises: Can Michigan, in any substantial way, affect the long-term trend of the loss of manufacturing employment? Should Michigan make the preservation of manufacturing jobs its economic priority? How can Michigan both attract and grow knowledge-based industries and prepare, retain, and attract young professionals? Read more. Download a copy of the report. From the looks of it, the report has successfully started to raise some issues. Here's another view. posted by Ed Morrison | Mississippi finds a Blueprint Mississippi's governor Barbour received a new Blueprint for the state's economic development earlier this week. You can learn more about the Blueprint from this page. You can also download the executive summary. posted by Ed Morrison | Toledo struggles to redefine its economic development efforts Wednesday, August 11, 2004 Toledo is struggling to reorganize its economic development efforts. The answers aren't simple, because the region's leadership has not come to a unified view of how the region should compete. Equally serious, trust levels among the leadership appear to be relatively low. The leadership appears to be relying too much on outside consultants. They are missing a fundamental insight: Regional economic development is a process, not an event. Reports and reorganizations will not provide answers in the absence of new civic habits of collaboration. Read more. These habits can start to form if the leadership puts aside organizational questions and focuses, instead, on how the region's strengths can be leveraged to compete. Structure follows strategy, not the other way around. Toledo makes an interesting contrast to Buffalo, where the regionalism debate appears to be far more productive. posted by Ed Morrison | Anatomy of a Deal: Hubbell Lighting Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Asheville, NC recently competed for a new headquarters for Hubbell Lighting. Asheville lost to Greenville, SC. Here are the details of Asheville's package. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Illinois expands tax incentive program Illinois is expanding its tax credit program to include smaller firms. The idea is to encourage "traded" businesses to expand in the state. (Traded firms are businesses that derive a majority of their revenue from outside the state.) Learn more. This legislation highlights one of the major problems with tax incentives: they tend to expand over time. In addition, tax incentives add complexity to the administration of the tax law. This Illinois statute provides an excellent example. To qualify for the credit, an Illinois business must prove that the expansion in Illinois would not have occurred without the credit. To do that, applicants are required to submit projected costs for the expansion in Illinois and a competing state. The analysis must include the costs of labor, utilities, taxes and the cost differential of another state's incentive programs. posted by Ed Morrison | Kerry wants to slow BRAC If elected, Senator Kerry says he will slow the the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, August 08, 2004 Here are the best articles from last week. Help Wanted: Economy adds more low-paying jobs Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 9 Oil puts a drag on the economy Silicon Valley's economic slump erodes traditional optimism Anemic job growth adds to economic worries Floyd Norris: What fuels malaise in job market? Online sales growing strong, seen over 300 billion dollars by 2010 Taking a spin in America's new jobs engine is pretty scary It's still the economy, stupid Jobs: July's Stunning Disappointment Bush's jobs deficit posted by Ed Morrison | The challenges of regional marketing Saturday, August 07, 2004 Regional marketing is the toughest area in which to coordinate regional economic development efforts. It all sounds happy and healthy on paper. "We need to collaborate to compete." But when it comes to prospects, they can only land in one place. Few regions have tax sharing arrangements in place to enable local communities to share in the benefits and costs of a big investment, no matter where it lands in a region. The Triad Region of North Carolina is under this kind of pressure right now. They are facing the real test of regional cooperation. Dell is likely to put a big facility in the Triad region, but it is not clear where it will land. Read more. Over the long term, regional marketing efforts generate pressures that can eventually pull these efforts apart. In the short term, the issue is trust and transparency (which must be balanced against the client's requests for confidentiality). All the partners in the alliance must feel that they have a fair look at all the prospects. Over the long term, the challenge comes in balancing the equities. Some portions of a region will benefit more than others. Effective regional marketing requires an ongoing effort to balance these fiscal pressures. For example, in Charleston, SC, Berkeley County is getting most of the prospects, Dorchester County has been getting a lot of the new residents (added costs), and Charleston County has been paying the most of the bill for the regional marketing efforts. These pressures erode the base of support for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. posted by Ed Morrison | More evidence on the Thing Theory Here's another article that suggests that the Thing Theory of economic development -- the notion that you build economic development with big investments in convention centers, stadiums, casinos -- doesn't work. The folks in Arlington, TX are considering a new stadium for the Cowboys, but they can't come up with a reason why their existing investment in the Rangers stadium made any economic sense. When asked what economic benefit the city received from the Rangers stadium, the mayor responded, "I can't really tell you." At least he's honest. Read more (Free registration required.) For more on why Big Things don't create economic prosperity, see this report from some researchers at Penn State. Here they conclude that building a Big Thing -- in this case a fiber optic telecommunicatiuons infrastructure -- was not enough to trigger an IT cluster in Humboldt County, CA. As the lead writer concludes, "People want a magic bullet, but creating a knowledge economy involves more than infrastructure. There has to be coordination among public policy, cultural attitudes and economic initiatives or efforts are fragmented." In other words...Collaboration and networks. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Local incentives? Just say, "No" Friday, August 06, 2004 Gerald Gordon, the top EDPro in Fairfax County, VA has written a good opinion article on why local tax incentives are a slippery slope. Read more. There's little evidence that tax incentives work at all. (Local taxes represent such a small portion of a company's cost structure, why should they?) Learn more. More important, local incentives undercut a community's ability to make longer term investments in schools, infrastructure and services. Add to that the problems of equity and risk assessment that Dr. Gordon raises, and you have a the set-up for a policy headache, as Wichita is discovering. Read more about Witchita. posted by Ed Morrison | Corporate sponsors: Business start-up classes We're all scrounging for money these days. Corporate sponsorships provide an option to consider. If you can come up with programming that delivers potential new accounts to corporate sponsors, you can define a mutual benefit. You get sponsorship money, and the sponsor gets an inexpensive marketing pipeline. You are delivering potential accounts to their doorstep. One way to make the sale: convert your sponsorship proposal into a "cost per lead". In most cases, direct programs provide clearer benefits than other types of marketing. Another strategy: Use corporate sponsorships to cover all your out-of-pocket costs. Don't go ahead until you get these sponsors lined up. That way, you'll never lose money on an event. In six communities in Maine, Key Bank is sponsoring an adult education training program for people interested in starting a business. It's a model for other communities to gain corporate sponsorship of an important initiative. (Contact information is in the story.) Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Battling an image problem Civic leaders in Baytown, TX are confronting a difficult challenge: Combatting an image that does not line up with reality. Read more. The challenge focuses on a major dimension of economic development that we rarely explore: framing (or, cognitions). How we think about a situation limits our range of actions. If we see manufacturing as a dying industry, for example, it's unlikely that we will see the opportunities that arise at the intersection of manufacturing and medical instrumentation. If we see our Main Street as dying, it is unlikely that we will see the value of heritage tourism. How we think determines how we feel, and how we feel drives our capacity to act. What is true for individuals, also holds for communities. The stories we tell each other about our community define the scope of our actions. Equaally important, our communities will move in the direction in which we have conversations. If our conversations focus on finding problems, we will find them. Chances are, we will move in a downward and endless cycle of linking problem to problem to problem. At the same time, if we have conversations about opportunities and collaboration, chances are we will find them. posted by Ed Morrison | Trying to establish Florida's "Research Coast" Trying to take advantage of The Scripps Research Institute's plans to open a campus in north Palm Beach County, the three counties of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River are marketing themselves as a future home for biotechnology companies and related businesses. There's one problem, though: not enough available sites. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Michigan's effort to keep auto jobs Thursday, August 05, 2004 Earlier this week, Governor Granholm announced a six point strategy to keep automotive jobs in Michigan. Read more. Manufacturers supported the governor's initiative. Read more. Today, the Detroit Chamber also praised the governor's remarks. The chamber noted that the governor was in line with the recommendations issued by the chamber in June. The chamber produced a report on the impact of offshore outsourcing on Michigan manufacturing. Read more. Download the chamber report. posted by Ed Morrison | Arkansas group focuses on the wrong target A coalition in Arkansas wants to loosen the rules governing general obligation bonds. They are pushing a constitutional amendment to enable the issuance of bonds without voter approval. Read more. Time would be better spent focusing on upgrading education across the board. For example, in Arkansas only 11% of high school seniors have taken an upper level math course, compared to 56% for top states. Only 24% of the 18-24 year olds are enrolling in college, compared to 41% among top states. Source: Measuring Up. Brainpower, not financing tools, will determine Arkansas' economic development trajectory. Governor Richardson in New Mexico has got the right idea. He is promoting the New Mexico Laptop Initiative. His plan is to give every seventh grader in the state a laptop computer. His vision is to make sure that everyone coming out of the schools has the opportunity and knowledge to work effectively with computers. Smart. Read more. A recent study in Henrico County, VA demonstrated the benefits of a laptop program. In one survey conducted as part of the study, 97% of mathematics and science teachers reported that the computers have helped students to learn these challenging subjects. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Pennsylvania's Keystone Innovation Zones Wednesday, August 04, 2004 Pennsylvania's Keystone Innovation Zones represent one of the more interesting economic development initiatives this year. Here are a couple of articles that have appeared in the past week. Article 1. Article 2. posted by Ed Morrison | Marketing at Corenet If you've never been to a Corenet meeting to see how money is thrown around on marketing, read this article. It follows the New York delegation to a couple of events. posted by Ed Morrison | Illinois launches VC fund Illinois has launched a new intiative to invest $50 million into venture capital funds. To minimize risk, the Illinois Technology Development Fundwill not invest directly in companies. Instead, it will invest in venture funds based in Illinois or operating here. The state's investment will be limited to no more than 10 percent of a fund's assets. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | The expansion of wireless in Charlotte Here's an article that explains how smaller towns around Charlotte are beginning to ride the wireless wave. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Durham releases arts master plan Arts and cultural developmeent are moving to the center stage of economic development. The process started in the late 1990's when the Blair government in the UK issued a report on the "creative cluster". Learn more. That triggered a lively foucs on the creative sector among a number of UK cities. A couple of years later, the idea moved to the U.S. with the New England Foundation for the Arts. Learn more.Now we see the idea taking hold in the U.S. Providence, RI -- home of the Rhode Island School of Design -- has embraced creativity as a core strategy in its economic development. Now more civic leaders are taking their arts community seriously. For the past year or so, I have been keeping an eye on Durham, NC. Here's an example of an arts community that has engaged in a broad process to define the future of its arts community. Earlier this week, they released the Durham Cultural Master Plan. Read more about the plan from the project web site. Go. Read an article on the plan's release. Go. Or, download the July draft of the plan. posted by Ed Morrison | Renewable energy and economic development Renewable energy -- most notably wind power -- is coming into focus as an economic development issue. This week, Vermont is holding a meeting on renewables. Read more. Here's another commentary from the Midewest. Go. Movement on renewables faces a lot of hurdles, though. For example, in Vermont, environmentalists are quite so sure that they like the idea of wind towers in the wilderness. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Iowa releases bioscience roadmap Governor Tom Vilsack released Battelle's bioscience strategy for Iowa yesterday. The plan recommends that Iowa increase funding for university research and development from $291 million in 2001 to $700 million by 2010 and more than $900 million by 2014. You can read about it here and here. You can also download the report. posted by Ed Morrison | The "big thing" may not be so after all Tuesday, August 03, 2004 The Thing Theory of Economic Development holds that you need a Big Thing to promote economic development. Just about any Big Thing will do: a convention center, a really big convention, a casino, a bunch of casinos, a stadium, a bunch of stadiums (the Olympics). It turns out, though, that these Big Things don't really help economic development much at all. In Boston, the Democratic Convention produced far less economic impact than projected. Read more. (Free registration required.) In Athens, the numbers for the Olympics don't add up either. Read more. In a global economy where value is embedded in knowledge, brainpower matters. Innovation and entrepreneurship networks matter (to translate brainpower into wealth). But Big Things don't matter much at all. posted by Ed Morrison | Connecting with China Monday, August 02, 2004 Regular readers of EDPro Weblog have seen examples of state and local governments engaging in their own foreign economic policies: forming the connections that will drive their economies forward. China is a big opportunity now. With foreign reserves piling up, the Chinese are starting to invest more heavily in the U.S. (just as the Japanese did in the 1980's). Articles today show what Arizona and Columbia, South Carolina are doing to connect with the Chinese. posted by Ed Morrison | Illinois invest $1 million in manufacturing centers When it comes to helping our small and mid-sized manufacturers, the feds have been flopping around like a fish on the deck. Meanwhile, Illinois has made a commitment of $1 million in additional state funds. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | The emergence of innovation networks Here's a good article on how innovation networks are emerging in response to new, more sophisticated consumer demands. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Saturday, July 31, 2004 Here's the latest news on the economy from last week. Economy slows sharply in the spring as consumers cut back on spending U.S. Economy Grew More Slowly Than Expected in Spring Economy Cools Amid Shopping Slowdown Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 2 What Impact Will E-Commerce Have on the U.S. Economy? Download the article Fed: Belief in hell makes economy sizzle Economic Optimism Surges According to PwC's Manufacturing Barometer World economy strong enough to weather oil rise - IMF U.S. job quality improving with economy-Fed study posted by Ed Morrison | Incentive packages for Dell Dell is expanding in Cincinnati (a distribution center), Oklahoma City (a call center) and, possibly, North Carolina (a manufacturing facility). Here's a review of the incentive packages involved. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Tucson revamps its economic development efforts Tucson's civic leadership is putting together a new effort to strengthen the collaboration among the 30+ public and private groups that workin economci development. The new entity represents an impressive collaboration among elected officals, private setor leaders, and university and community college leaders. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Workforce challenges ahead A new Accenture report highlights the major failings in our workforce development systems. Only 17% of the executives participating in the survey see their workforce as "industry leading". Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | NEO fund makes its first investments A new collaboration among foundations in Northeast Ohio, the Fund for Our Economic Future, released the list of its first investments last week. Read more. Collaboration among our regional foundations is a good step forward. The next opportunity for the Fund will come in establishing an on-going collaborative partnership with our region's colleges and universities. Right now, the Fund considers our region's higher education institutions as vendors, not partners. Instead of inviting colleges and universities into their strategy discussions, the Fund is asking our colleges and universities to bid on two Requests for Proposals. This approach is largely a legacy of industrial economy thinking: the notion that you get your "best ideas" from a competition among your vendors. A more appropriate approach for the Fund arises from a different starting point. The best ideas on regional economic transformation come from collaboration and networks. The foundation community in Minnesota is taking this more open, collaborative approach to regional economic development. Learn more. Minnesota foundations see their role as "realigning systems" through expanded collaboration. The McKnight Foundation, which is leading the Minnesota alliance, could provide some useful insights to the Fund for Our Economic Future. (To understand, in part, why colleges and universities are central to regional economic development, read this article.) posted by Ed Morrison | Oregon gets traction in nano Oregon is a bit of a long-shot when it comes to building a globally competitive cluster in nanotechnology. But civic leaders in the state have come up with an innovative strategy, and Oregon scored a significant victory last week. The feds are starting to pour money into the collaboration. The Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute forms the centerpiece of the state strategy. It is a collaboraation among Oregopn Stgate University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Anatomy of a deal: Georgia renegotiates with Rubbermaid To lure Rubbermaid to Atlanta, Georgia agreed to a $1.3 million incentive package. Now that Rubbermaid is undergoing a major corpoate restructuring, the company is moving only a fraction of the jobs to Atlanta. Georgia is renegotiating its deal. The state wants to reduce the package from $1.3 million to $400,000. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison | Philadelphia's CEO group extends its scope Philadelphia's CEO group is extending its geographic reach into Delaware and New Jersey. The CEO Council for Growth focuses on initiatives to expand collaboration among different economic development groups in the region. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Enterprise Florida helps universities in Florida, Canada to connect Wednesday, July 28, 2004 Here's another case of a state implementing innovative foreign economic partnerships. Enterprise Florida has provided support for a new strategic alliance between the University of Miami and McGill University in Quebec. The alliance focuses on engineering and information technology. :Read more. Why is this important? Three reasons. First: in the knowledge economy, it's is all about brainpower. Many state legislators don't get this point yet, but colleges and universities are the core of our future economy. Second, globalization is short-hand for the integration of global markets. As markets integrate, national government policies (trade policies, primarily) become less important. Regional economic policies, on the other hand, become more important. States that recognize this fact will move more aggressively to support these alliances. To compete globally, you need to think regionally. Finally, strategic alliances are the name of the game. In a world of networks, no one organization can survive alone. Strategic alliances -- either across neighborhoods or across the globe -- are the primary vehicles through which wealth will be created. Strategic alliances are replacing the large, vertically integrated organizations of the Industrial Age. posted by Ed Morrison | Web Watch: Arizona's local economic profiles Arizona has posted detailed economic profiles for its local communities. Read more. You can download them from this page. The Department of Commerce has calculated detailed location quotients for communities, based on six digit NAICS codes. In addition, they have a brief write-up for each community. The files are in a variety of formats, so you can manipulate the data, if you like. Another step in the analysis would help most communities, though. The information is still dense, and EDPros in mpost smaller communities don't have the time or inclination to sort through what all this means. posted by Ed Morrison | New Mexico universities push tech transfer New Mexico universities are setting aggressive goals for technology transfer and university spin-outs. For example, the University of New Mexico hopes to generate three new businesses in the next year. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Anatomy of a Deal: Scripps in Florida Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Armed with $1 billion from the federal government, Governor Bush went shopping and landed The Scripps Research Institute. Local governments threw in another hefty sum -- up to $667 million -- for infrastrcuture. Scripps got a great deal: an East Coast site at no cost. Governor Bush claims that this seed will grow into 50,000 jobs and 500 businesses. Others are not so sure. The controversy continues. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Wichita reviews tax incentive policies Wichita is reviewing its tax incentive policies, and from the looks of it, the review is about due. The City provided tax incentives to a local health club to expand. Read more. The deal violates one of the basic rules of economic development: not all businesses are created equal. Sheltered businesses -- firms that survive on local customers -- do not create long term wealth. We generate wealth from traded businesses that conduct business outside our regional economy. So, giving tax incentives to health clubs redistributes wealth (from taxpayers to owners of health clubs), but it does little to generate any net benefits for Wichita. In most economies, about one third of the employment is in traded businesses. These firms generate higher wages, and they represent the economic drivers of the economy. You can think of it this way. In economic development there are three types of money. "Good money" comes from selling goods and services outside the economy and importing income. "Neutral money" comes from businesses that circulate money within the economy. Hardware stores, retail shops, and health clubs all deal in neutral money. "Bad money" represents funds that we send to outside suppliers. This is money that has leaked out of the economy. David Morganthaler a noted venture capitalist and close adviser to REI, provided me with this quick explanation. posted by Ed Morrison | Georgia EDPros head to Macon Georgia EDPros held their monthly meeting in Macon. They learned how a community can leverage its assets through collaboration and focus. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Anatomy of a Deal: Dallas Cowboys go for a new stadium Monday, July 26, 2004 The Dallas Cowboys will be trying to convince the voters in Arlington, TX that they should pay for half of a $650 million new stadium. They will focus on economic development, despite the fact that there is no evidence that stadiums generate additional investmetn. (This is especially true for football stadiums that are idle all but 8 days a year. Read more. (Free registration required.) posted by Ed Morrison | Why broadband matters If you have any doubts about why broadband matters, read this article. posted by Ed Morrison | Wisconsin's biomanufacturing strategy Wisconsin has about 250 biotech companies that employ more than 19,000 workers. From this base, state EDPros hope to build a stronger industry cluster based on bio-manufacturing. This strategy will provide opportunities for some of the factory workers that have been laid off from other manufacturing companies. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Fort Smith maps an incubator strategy If your community is considering an incubator strategy, you might connect with Fort Smith, AR. Davie Spindle, the EDPro who heads the city's economic development department, is circulating a plan to create incubators in a seven county Oklahoma/Arkansas region. Read more. Visit the Fort Smith web site. posted by Ed Morrison | Lessons from a new cluster forming in Oregon Oregon is moving ahead with a strategy to build a cluster in secure networks, and their experience carries some valuable lessons in how clusters form. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Rethinking economic development in Tucson Tucson's civic leadership is moving in the right direction by rethinking the roles of economic development. Learn more The traditional categories that we are using -- attraction, retention and expansion -- do not focus on the underlying "drivers" of our economy: brainpower and innovation (both of which are embedded in regional innovation systems, called "clusters"). Further, these tradiitonal categories give too little attention to building quality, connected places -- the type of places where innovation can flourish. (We tend to view these investments as "community development", another line in the sand.) Our basic economic development categories are seventy years old. Attraction strategies started in Mississippi in the 1930's. Business "retention" is a term that focused on what Northern states could do after firms started moving to the South. That wave started with textiles in the 1950s. Workforce development has its roots in federal programs that date to the 1960's. By thinking in old categories, we close ourselves off from the new opportunities in front of us. posted by Ed Morrison | Economy Watch Sunday, July 25, 2004 Here are good articles from last week: Disposable income is where politics, economy meet Forecasting economy a bit like shooting craps Wavering voters have doubts about Bush, worries about economy Leading economic indicators decline in June Consumer confidence stands still U.S. economy picking back up -- Greenspan Greenspan's remarks on economy send mixed message posted by Ed Morrison | Work Keys as the basis for workforce development If you do not know what you are doing in workforce development, you might call the folks in Grant County, Indiana. They are moving ahead with a program based on Work Keys. Learn more. This type of skills-based approach makes sense. Work Keys tends to be relatively expensive, but the basic focus on skills bridges the language gap between employers and educators. Learn more. The concept for Work Keys is rooted in the Secretary's Commision on Acheiving Necessary Skills (SCANS) that concluded its work during the first Bush Administration. If you are new to workforce development, start here. The SCANS reports provide you with an understanding of the basics. Visit the SCANS web site. Alternatively, start with a really good book, Teaching the New Basic Skills. You can buy is used on Amazon for less than a buck. Go. posted by Ed Morrison | The myth of sports arenas as economic development Sports arenas and stadiums are often promoted as economic development engines, but -- in truth -- they have limited impacts. And in some cases the net impact is negative. Here's an opinion article from Sacramento that explores the myth. Read more. If you are interested in reading more about sports stadiums and economic development, here's a good report: Stadiums, Professional Sports, and Economic Development: Assessing the Reality. Here's another article from the Brookings Instituteion. Sports, Jobs, & Taxes: Are New Stadiums Worth the Cost? posted by Ed Morrison | Finding manufacturing's future This morning's Atlanta paper carries a good article on the future of manufacturing in the U.S. In the later decades of the 19th century, manufacturing in the U.S. moved from small job shops to mass production. The railroad and telegraph created opportunities to reach a mass market. Tapping new energy sources -- first coal, then electricity -- enabled manufacturers to create a factory system capable of producing to meet these markets. High volume production appeared first in process manufacturing -- petroleum (Standard Oil), steel (US Steel), soap (Proctor and Gambel), cereal (Pillsbury, Quaker Oats), and processed food (Swift in meat packing, Campbells in soups). When Henry Ford introduced the Model T, he set the stage for another transformation in U.S. manufacturing. He introduced high volume manufacturing in sophisticated fabrication and assembly. Alfred Sloan at GM then integrated mass production with sophisticated mass marketing. We are now facing a new transition for American manufacturing. The trends have been underway since the late 1970's. And the new directions are becoming clearer. Read more. (Free registration required.) As the article hints, over the longer term, U.S. manufacturing can move into high end manufacturing processes (composites, powdered metallurgy, nanotechnology), design integration (design simulations, rapid prototyping), and systems integration (systems design and support). All of these new directions will require stronger manufacturing networks among companies. Part of the short term challenge is simply to adopt sound manufacturing processes. A recent seminar in Washington State illustrates the point. A recent report from Pennsylvania suggests that companies that respond to the challenge by becoming faster, better and more cost-effective will best position themselves to compete. To succeed, the study pointed to the need for Pennsylvania manufacturers to pay special attention to increasing sales through process and product innovation. An article this morning from Mississippi shows how manufacturers are upgrading to boost productivity. We need to accelerate the change in our thinking. This challenge is the biggest one we face: breaking the brain barrier of old habits. Read a good opinion article from a manufacturer in New Hampshire. For a view of manufacturing from the UK, read the recently released report from the Department of Trade and Industry. Manufacturing is now giving the UK economy a boost. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison | Shifting the mirrors in Louisville Building an entrepreneurial economy involves redrawing mental maps, as much as anything else. It means starting to see the world differently, by looking for connections and opportunities. Most economies that stagnate have a leadership preoccupied with fears, limitations and destructive rivalries. These places need a collective leadership head adjustment. Here's a good story on how a high tech entrepreneur started to shift perceptions in Louisville. Read more posted by Ed Morrison | |
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