Friday, December 09, 2005
Regional competition can trigger destructive bidding wars. So, it's a healthy sign when regional officials in Texas warn communities to stay within their budgets in trying to attract a major new project.
In this case, regional collaboration is emerging from the state level. The state government has mandated that each council of government can submit one site for consideration.
Absent a state mandate, the key to long term regional collaboration involves developing regional agreements to share tax revenues from these projects. While still rare, these agreements will emerge more frequently as local officials come to a basic insight: Everyone has more to gain from collaboration.
The project itself is noteworthy. FutureGen is a $1 billion federal initiative to design, build and operate a 275-megawatt energy facility that produces electricity and hydrogen with near zero emissions. The federal government is considering several states for the project – Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Wyoming and Indiana. Read more.
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.
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.
Reducing regional competition for a large project
