Saturday, January 15, 2005
Jeff Collins, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville spoke recently in Fort Smith. He made several important points about the future direction of economic development. In particular, he tightly tied the future of education reform to economic development.
A banker in the audience later commented: "(Collins) is trying to open everybody’s eyes. If you look at what’s going on around us, if we continue to sit on ... the things we’ve always relied on, we’re going to get left behind. We’re going to have to do something to keep up with what everybody else is doing and at some point get progressive, do some things that nobody else is doing.” Read more. Translation: old economic development formulas won't work in the new global economy.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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.
The view from Fort Smith
