Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Building a strong economic base requires a balanced approach. Recruiting companies is not enough. Starting new companies is not enough. Building a creative place is not enough. Educating people is not enough. "Creative people" are not enough.
We need all of these components (and a few more) in dynamic balance.
The lack of balance in Massachusetts' life sciences development is becoming more apparent by the day. At least that is the perspecitve of one commentator. She notes, "Massachusetts has not made the strategic investments that California and North Carolina have in training bio-manufacturing workers." Read more.
EDPros need the skills and abilities to see their regional economies as integrated systems, not simply a string of projects.
Simple-minded "stove pipe" thinking -- "economic development" is different than "workforce development " is different than "community development" -- perpetuates our fragmented views os the world and distorts our ability to identify opportunities. (They are all around us, even in "depressed" economies.)
Opportunites lie in the connections. And it is the new job of EDPros to design and make these connections. Weave networks.
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.
Finding the right balance
