Sunday, September 11, 2005
It appears that Brownsville, TX has started down a useful path in defining its future. Last week, civic leaders in the region held a roundtable discussion on the region's future. They invited a number of outisde voices to start the conversation. Importantly, these perspectives focused on higher education. Read more.
At the same time, as one participant noted, having good educational institutions is not enough. A region must focus on its assets and build off them. Another comment highlights this importance of how we think about these opportunities. A lot of economic development involves changing peoples' minds. We do that by changing the conversation.
Why is this important? People move in the direction of their conversations. If we end up comparing our assets to others -- but we're only Brownsville -- chances are we will not focus on the opportunities to move ahead. If, instead, we focus on what we could do together -- how collabroation could work -- our chance of actually translating an idea into action increases.
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.
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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 importance of our converesations
