WIRED kickoff in Kokomo Saturday, May 13, 2006 Last week, I attended the Workforce Innovation for Regional Economic Development (WIRED) kickoff in Kokomo, IN. Read more. North Central Indiana is one of thirteen WIRED regions across the country. Emily DeRocco, Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training for the U.S. Department of Labor, explained the process of moving forward with the WIRED. I confess that when I first learned of WIRED late last year, I was skeptical. But as I have come to understand the ambitions of the WIRED initiative, I think it is the most innovative economic development idea to come out of Washington in nearly thirty years. If succcessful, it will rank right up there with SBIRs as a new way to leverage federal funds to accelerate innovation. (Roland Tibbetts of the National Scince Foundation developed SBIRs in the late 1970s. I had the privilege to interview Roland when I was working on Capitol Hill and he was first implementing the idea.) We are moving into a networked economy and away from older industrial structures. Part of the problem with the federal government comes in the legacies of old ideas that never quite fade away. This inflexibility discourages innovative thinking. In the past, this pattern has encouraged local officials to become very good at "funds brokering". We need new approaches to accelerate productive investment. These strategies, broadly defined, will "link and leverage". The federal government has a valuable role to play, but to assume that role, different agencies need to collaborate and partner with local and regional leaders. Equally important, federal officials need to demonstrate an authentic willingness to partner. The WIRED project breaks new ground in acclerating these emerging relationships. Most encouraging, Secretary DeRocco was very open to new models of economic development, based on the work we have been doing with open networks, what I refer to as Open Source Economic Development. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 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. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. 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.

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