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Idaho gets exposure for its innovation economy
Saturday, November 30, 2002 The latest issue of U.S. News and World Report includes an article on Idaho's successful shift from a natural rsource to an emergin innovation economy. Read the article. Go EDPros in Idaho are understandably elated at the coverage. Go The rest of us can learn from the connection that Pocatello has been able to draw among brainpower, innovation networks and a quality place. These are core elements of an innovation economy. The article also points to the emerging importance of public relations -- not advertising -- as a marketing tool. posted by Ed | Building a quality place in a small town A quality place represents one essential element for building an innovation economy. In small towns this can be tough, but it is possible. Small towns in Oklahoma are discovering the value of their uniqueness. And that's a good place to start. Read more. Go The natural outgrowth of this strategy is to develop tourism as an economic development engine. But there are other benefits, as well. With a quality place, smart people are less likely to leave, and more are likely to move in. The challenge comes down to leadership and civic vision. Can you come together on vision of what makes your small town unique? What makes this vision valuable to people? Think of your small town as a stage set. What elements of this stage set make the experience memorable or different? Next think about assets. What are the assets that could bring people in (first as tourists, later as residents)? Any economic development plan must play to your assets, so you need to understand these assets clearly. Finally, can you isolate "do-able" projects that build on these assets? That's where you start. These are the lessons of the Oklahoma towns that are growing. posted by Ed | Building an innovation economy in rural Minnesota Friday, November 29, 2002 Rural Minnesota is shifting strategy and building an innovation economy, and they are right on track. EDPro Dave Hengel is trying to break some old habits of thought in North Central Minnesota. Hengel is economic development director for The Headwaters Regional Development Commission. "This is a time to challenge communities as partners rather than competitors," Hengel says. "They must see it as a region." Hengel's got it right when he says that fiirms are no longer looking for cheap labor and 10-ton roads, but rather a skilled workforce and high-speed telecommunications. But most important, they are looking for places where people want to live. Among Hengel's strategies: Promote projects that bring advanced, state-of-the-art technology to the region's businesses and communities. Develop a close partnership with education and training providers to increase the skill and knowledge levels of the region's employees. Support projects that provide advanced skill training for the region's existing workforce. Encourage value-added economic development utilizing the region's resources. Build state-of-the-art telecommunications services throughout the region. Read more. Go posted by Ed | Keep Austin wired...I mean, weird When the when the Mayor's Task Force on the Economy revealed its initial report last week, most of the attention focused on a recommendation to "Keep Austin weird." The idea is to keep Austin culturally vital, a core element to attracting and keeping the "creative class" that Richard Florida talks about. The Austin economy has slowed, and the City approached the Chamber to start discussions about what to do. Beginning last September, representatives from the chamber and the City started the process of establishing an "all-encompassing economic development plan." The debate reveals a city trying to move away from traditional recruitment incentives to an economic development policy that focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship. Read more. Go posted by Ed | Early childhood education increases earning power Wednesday, November 27, 2002 Recently, Committee for Economic Development, a leading business group, endorsed a rapid expansion of high-quality preschool programs, with the goal of making them available for all youngsters starting at age 3. The reason: a huge potential payback. The National Institute for Early Education Research, a New Jersey-based and foundation-supported think tank has released research indicating the scale of the return. The Institute evaluated a well-establlished child care program based in North Carolina. The lifetime earnings of those in the project are projected to be $143,000 greater than those in the control group. The program also involved the mothers of these youngsters, helping them improve their basic skills in reading, mathematics and other subjects. As a result, the mothers' incomes are projected to grow by $133,000 over the years. Overall, $4 are returned for every $1 invested. Read more. Go Now think of your community. Count how many 4 year olds you have. Multiply that by $143,000. That gives you the range of income your community is likely to lose each year with inadequate child care programs. So, for every 100 4 year olds, your economy is losing $1.4 million in lifetime earnings. As you can see, these are not small numbers. posted by Ed | Former Intel Exec: Oregon is a train wreck waiting to happen Tuesday, November 26, 2002 Richard Florida, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, points out that in today's economy, you need to build great places to live for the "creative class". Oregon is definitely a great place to live. But a former Intel executive says that Oregon is also a train wreck waiting to happen. The state has gone overboard protecting the environment and not paying attention to what it takes to build businesses. The education system is running out of money, the public pension system is a mess, and land use policies have choke business expansions. Read more. Go All of this has led business executives in Oregon to launch the Oregon Business Plan. It is an effort to shape a vision for the state that combines innovation and quality places. On Decvember 9, the state is holding a leadership summit to discuss the Oregon Business Plan findings and its recommendations. posted by Ed | Toyota project shows that Arkansas is having trouble shifting gears Arkansas' economic development apparatus is heavily oriented toward capturing manufacturing plants rather than building an innovation economy. The approach is short-sighted. The governor has requested a $40 million from the legislature for a Superfund to land big projects. At the same time, he has turned down all budget increase requests from the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority. Arkansas' push for the Toyota plant has been far more aggressive than Texas. (Read a comparison. Go.) Here's a great insight from Jeffery Collins, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. ""They always talk about politics being local, but politics are also in the moment. But the economic viability of the state doesn't rest with decisions made in the moment. It rests with strategic planning for the future, with a varied employment portfolio for Arkansans. That means there has to be a strategy, no matter how difficult it appears on the surface, to build a knowledge-based industry." While there are signs that Arkansas is moving toward an innovation economy, the progress is slow. Read more. Go posted by Ed | Early childhood education as an economic development issue Monday, November 25, 2002 An additional indicator trhat early childhood education is emerging as an economic development issue: an article in Business Week, released a couple of days ago, "Best Investment: America's Kids. Go One notable quote for EDPros: "Economic studies suggest that the return on investment in early-childhood development is a huge 14% to 15%, after adjusting for inflation." Unfortuantely, as many as 40% of youngsters are entering kindergarten unprepared. EDPros interested in getting a jump on this issue should start with the National Institute for Early Education, www.nieer.org. The site provides excellent state profiles to start. Also review the links page to find a place to strengthen the early childhood network in your community. Finally, download a national poll on early childhood education to understand the issue more clearly. Go. The poll indicates that if you head in this direction, you are likely to find a lot of support in your community. posted by Ed | Scotland continues to shift its strategy Sunday, November 24, 2002 When it comes to economic development strategy, Scotland is a global leader from whom many U.S. regions can learn. So EDPros should take notice when Scotland moves the head of the US economic devcelopment agency from Stamford, CT (where it is near the headquarters of Fortune 500 companies) to Boston (where it is near technology and research). The Scots have concluded that they must drive their economy up the economic ladder. Low wage competition -- from countries in Asia and Eastern Europe -- is eating into their light manufacturing base. This is a game that the Scots cannot win, and they do not want to. Rather, they want to learn how to bring technology to market more quickly. The new Boston office of Scottish Development International will concentrate on projects in biotechnology, microelectronics, energy, and financial services. It will be part of a larger Scottish strategy of launching Intermediary Technology Institutes (ITIs) focused on three sectors: energy, life sciences, and technology. These institutes are designed to increase innovation within these sectors. The appraoch is very smart. These institutes plan to purchase research from academic resources, including Boston-based universities. Then, after assessing market needs, the Scots would commission research from their universities and others, including Boston academic institutions, to develop technologies designed to meet those needs. Learn more. Go Taking this model, there is no reason why a research-poor region in the U.S. should not establish offices near the major research centers in the U.S. in order to extend their innovation networks. posted by Ed | Kansas recruiting wind power producers EDPros in western Kansas are thinking outside the box. They are promoting wind power as a new industry. Wichita County's economic development director contacted 16 wind-farm developers last year in hopes of boosting the economy. Two responded. Now the two compmaies are working on plans to build wind farms with 200- to 300-foot-tall wind turbines. Kansas has become a center of activity for wind farms, with companies looking at land throughout the state. Read more. Go posted by Ed | Rochester gets new economy initiative moving...but in what direction? Saturday, November 23, 2002 A year ago, the business leadership in Rochester, NY established Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE). In September, the GRE recruited Micahel Finney from Michigan to lead the organization. (Finney was formerly vice president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.~{!/~}s emerging business sectors division.) last week, the board approved Finney's first budget. GRE's goal is to invest $14 million over five years to attract new companies and jobs to the region. The plan calls for spending $2.6 million next year. Learn more. Go. It will be important to see if GRE extends its activities beyond recruitment. Some of the early indications are not promising. For example, a portion of next year's budget will be used to advertise in corporate real estate magazines such as Site Selection and Plants Sites and Parks...not a very productive way to promote a region. Rochester should be looking to EDPros in San Diego, Phoenix and Pittsburgh for some better ideas. Visit the GRE web site. Go posted by Ed | Johnstown PA moving ahead with the right strategies Friday, November 22, 2002 When it comes to economic development, Johnstown, PA is a tough case. A stagnant real-estate base and dwindling population threaten to derail a slow, decade-long revival. But EDPros are focusing on the right strategies...and a core one is keeping their brainpower. The Johnstown Area Regional Industries web site provides a good look at the type of initiatives that other EDPros should include in their strategies. They include a tight integration of workforce development and economic development, a focus on employer consortia in training, and an emphasis on connections between business and post-secodary education. View their web site. Go posted by Ed | Preschool is emerging as an economic development issue Thursday, November 21, 2002 Many EDPros have not heard of the Committee for Economic Development (CED). It is a business think tank that takes the long view on economic development. So, CED reports tend to be a good indicator of where the economic development field is heading. Most recently, CED has focused on early childhood education. The reason is clear: Weak early childhood education eventually means fewer people having the necessary skills to succeed in the workforce. According to Roy J. Bostock, chair of the CED, ~{!0~}We thought it was time to address, indeed, to throw down the gauntlet for the need, the imperative for quality early childhood education." Learn more. Go. Download the report. In 1998, the Commission on the Future of the South called for more emphasis on early childhood education as a critical component of economic development. States across the South have been responding. See, for example, the position of the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry. posted by Ed | Keeping colleges students in your community...Albany has a new idea Wednesday, November 20, 2002 Albany's Center for Economic Growth has launched a new networking program and Web site to help retain college graduates in the area. The new Web site links employers and students together to fill internships and other on-site work training opportunities. In addition, the Center holds networking events to connect students with employers. The new web site provides a simple, practical way to reverse the braindrain, but its success will depend heavily on aggressive marketing to both students and employers. Check out the site at www.mybeanstalk.com. It provides a EDPros good model for building a simple, clean web site. Students are able to browse listings of internships and narrow their search by location, type of business and interest area. posted by Ed | Installing fiber optic networks in smaller metros Tuesday, November 19, 2002 EDPros in smaller metro markets can face difficulties building a broadband infrastructure. Battle Creek, MI is an example of a city moving ahead by installing a fiber optics loop. The lopp will connect the downtown with the airport and the industrial park. Most Internet connections rely on traditional copper phone lines. Fiber optics transfer data thousands of times faster than conventional lines. By installing conduits, the city bears an initial cost -- about $1.5 million -- that potential telecoms might be reluctant to pay. Later, the city can recoup its investment by leasing space in the conduits to the private sector. Learn more. Go posted by Ed | North Carolina creates a model for broadband in rural areas Like roads, electric grids and telephone lines, broadband will shape the pattern of economic development in the years ahead. North Carolina is aggressively rolling out broadband -- by combining top-down goals and resources with bottom-up volunteer creativity and flexibility. The state legislature set the goal of providing the entire state with access to broadband by the end or 2003. It then set up the Rural Internet Access Authority (RIAA) to coordinate the effort. Statewide, 2,800 volunteers and public-private projects inform the public and demonstrate broadband's possibilities. The agency's Web site, e-nc.org, helps state residents locate the nearest Internet providers. The site also collects requests for high-speed service to help providers map rollout efforts. Another important point: North Carolina sees the issue in broad terms...by seeing supply, demand and content together. In other words, it's not just a matter of getting wire in the ground. Learn more. Go posted by Ed | New Jersey moves to consolidate universities Monday, November 18, 2002 New Jersey is taking steps to merge its state universities to create the University of New Jersey (but that's not what it will be called). The goal: strengthen economic development. The new university would consolidate Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Political and business leaders are trying to make New Jersey more attractive to talent and research dollars by knocking down administrative walls between the state's medical schools, technology school and its largest university. Increasingly, states are seeing univeristies as economic development engines. Politicians are becoming less patient with "ivory tower" attitudes. If you are not already focuesed on how to build networks with your state's postsecondary institutions, you need to start. Learn more about New Jersey. Go As for the name, my bet is on Rutgers. posted by Ed | Networking events build your innovation economy Quality networking events help EDPros build their innovation economy. Tech Oasis in Arizona provides a good model. Local meetings are loosely organized and held on the third Tuesday of every month. The meetings are not driven by an agenda. Rather, Tech Oasis augments the efforts of other effective industry groups, such as economic development organizations, cluster groups or government associations. Learn more. Go. The first Tech Oasis program was founded in Tempe in 1999. Visit the Tech Oasis web site. Go posted by Ed | Child care is becoming an economic development tool Sunday, November 17, 2002 EDPros in Enid, OK are on to something. As Jon Blankenship, executive director of Enid/Garfield County Development Alliance, puts it: "Affordable quality day care centers and early childhood development programs can be a consideration and important to a company that is looking at the city." Learn more. Go Quality child care is important for another reason. It builds brainpower. Northg Carolina has long been a leader in improving early child care, not as a social issue, but as a matter of economic development. Learn more about North Carolina's nationally recognized Smart Start initiative. Go Also, learn what the state is doing to improve the skills of child care workers. Go. The state's position is supported by recent, rapid development in brain research. Early chald care is critical to developing the cognitive and intellectual skills we need later in life. In the years ahead, we'll see smart EDPros building and reinforcing their community child care networks. posted by Ed | EDPros can leverage colleges and universities Saturday, November 16, 2002 If you have a college or university nearby, you have an economic engine to harness. The best place to start is by using college and university resources to improve your access to technology in your office. There are a lot of innovative examples around, and they are summarized in the new report, "Opening the Door: Technology and the Development of University-Community Partnerships". Download a copy. Colleges and universities can play a variety of roles: -- Consultants to provide expertise and training. -- Catalysts to conceptualize, design and implement an initiative. -- Application service providers to host technology tools such as online mapping tools or community information portals. posted by Ed | Trouble brewing...US lags in graduation rate Friday, November 15, 2002 Most EDPros don't know much about graduation rates...the percentage of young people who graduate from high school. It's not surprise, we never had to know this stuff. No longer. In a global economy that runs on brainpower, graduation rates matter. Companies will grow where they can get a steady supply of brainpower. And dropouts cost a community in terms of lost opportunity. For every high school drop out, your economy is losing about $200,000 in potential income. Not surprisingly, the income prospects for high school drop outs has been deteriorating steadily in recent years. Graduation rates are alarmingly low. In the three counties around Charleston, SC, for example, the graduation rate is only about 60%. That means only 6 of 10 9th graders each years will finish high school. No comes news that the US lags in graduation rates. In international comparisons, the US is only average. Nationwide, our graduate rate is only 74%. Learn more. Go posted by Ed | Coordinate higher education to strengthen your regional economy Postsecondary education is critical to economic development. In a step that could provide a good approach to follow, Ohio and Kentucky officials have signed an agreement to extend in-state tuition benefits to students living in Ohio and Kentucky counties near Ashland, KY. EDPros need to pay attention to these type of agreements. Not everyone has an MIT in the backyard. But nearly every community has access to postsecondary education. The problem is that these institutaions are often small and with tight budgets. From an economic development standpoint, tighter coordination among institutions is critical to building a "post-secondary" cluster. The tighter the cluster, the less chance students will drift away. But higher education administrators often spend too much time protecting their turf to let common sense coordination happen. Here, Ashland Community College, Ashland Technical College and Morehead State University's Ashland branch as well as Ohio University-Southern in Ironton, Shawnee State University and Rio Grande Community College are participating in the agreement. The savings are not trivial: Ohio students will get a break of $1,920 per semester or $3,840 per year at Ashland Community College. While it wasn't part of the agreement, Shawnee State University in Ohio and Ashland Community College and Ashland Technical College in Kentucky also announced an agreement Thursday where credits from the Kentucky schools will be credited towards a four-year degree at Shawnee State. This is the type of collaboration that can strengthen a regional economy. Learn more. Go posted by Ed | Pittsburgh making progress in innovation: Radio program Thursday, November 14, 2002 Pittsburgh's innovation strategies are starting to pay off. Listen to a recent radio broadcast that includes our friend, Ronnie Bryant. Go Part 2 includes additional details and some suggested web sites. Go posted by Ed | Southwestern PA sees a worker shortage coming...Time to recruit young people Southwestern Pennsyvania is moving to put young people high on the economic development agenda. In a report released today, the Task Force on Young People, organized by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development focused on an issue that many other regions will start to experience: a projected shortage of workers as Baby Boomers retire. To address the issue, the Task Force believes that southwestern Pennsylvania needs to engage in a sustained, focused, regional effort to make southwestern Pennsylvania a location of choice for young people. Read more. Go The report echoes a good deal of Richard Florida's work on "the creative class". A similar effort is underway in Memphis with the chamber's Talent Magnet strategy. Among the other recommendations: -- Making attracting and retaining youth the top priority for the region by establishing a "Next Generations Consortium." -- Give high priority and high profile to fostering a commitment to diversity by creating a "CEO Roundtable on Diversity" and by encouraging a culture of diversity. Advancement and leadership opportunities for people of color, women, and New Americans is also important, and measures of their roles should be created and tracked. -- Create ongoing means to collect views of young people about southwestern Pennsylvania and use that data to inform community and economic development projects. -- Focus on utilizing the full value of our colleges and universities by building greater, coordinated partnerships between them and with the business community for curriculum development, internships, and recruitment. -- Create a more coordinated and aggressive effort for recruitment of young people to the region. -- Review all existing economic development and infrastructure plans (particularly transportation) using a "youth lens" for possible reprioritization. posted by Ed | Microcredit programs gain respect If you are interested in microcredit programs, here is an interesting statement of support from Treasury Secretary O'Neill. According to the Treasury Secretary, microfinance programs add value to the seed capital they lend by providing real-world business training to entrepreneurs. EDPros in rural communities should especially look at this option. Go posted by Ed | Tennessee revamps its state chamber Wednesday, November 13, 2002 Tennessee Association of Business is now the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Based in Nashville, the Tennessee Chamber hopes to coordinate with local chambers and focus on statewide issues of competitiveness. Learn more. Go This step is no slam dunk. State chambers are facing increasing difficulties with flat or declining memberships. Increased competition and a relatively weak value proposition hurt growth prospects. State chambers often represent a business executive's "third choice" behind the local chamber and an industry association. Tennesse will be missing an opportunity if the new chamber builds its business model on a traditional membership package and a standard menu of "business climate" issues. While these legislative matters are important, they are no longer a sufficiently aggressive focus for a state chamber. Tennessee business leaders ought to keep their eye on nearby Kentucky. In the next month or so, the Kentucky Chamber -- in all likelihood -- will be moving in more entrepreneurial direction. The Kentucky Chamber is focusing on how to use the Internet to build stronger business communities. Building Internet-based dialogues within the business community offers the promise of far stronger, more flexible, more focused business connections...and more promising business models for state chambers. posted by Ed | Here comes the 7 Rivers Region Yesterday, EDPros launched a regional collaboration that includes three states on the upper Mississippi. The new "7 Rivers Region" brand name will promote an area that includes seven counties in Wisconsin, two in Minnesota and one in Iowa. Go Here is a map of the region. Dan Kapanke, one of the leaders of the effort, promotes themes of regional cooperation: "For the 7 Rivers Region to continue to thrive, its imperative that all of our communities work together to build a strong economy and compete with other regions. Together, we can compete globally by strengthening our work force, reinforcing our infrastructure and attracting new investments." EDPros launched the brand at a regional summit, "Building Success: Tools for Collaboration". You can learn more about the regional brand by downloading additional materials. The materials include a useful a presentation that builds support for the regional brand and the logo. Go. This effort demonstrates how communities outside major metro areas can collaborate to compete. For this effort to thrive, leaders will now need to build collaborative relationships between the 7 Rivers Region and other regional economies, both here and abroad. They can also learn from other regions, like the "Right Corner of Texas" web site that I reviewed recently. posted by Ed | Call Centers in Colorado Tuesday, November 12, 2002 Call centers are emerging as a cluster in Colorado Springs. Read more. Go As I indicated in an earlier note, these centers are now subject to more intense international competition. To operate a work-station in the United States costs about $26 to $30 an hour, including salary and benefits, rent, administration and other expenses. Operating costs run maybe $12 an hour for the same workstation in India. The best long term strategy for US call centers is to move up the value ladder into more sophisticated customer service operations. Labor costs and technology (voice recognition) will eat away at US call center businesses that base their business models on lower skills. Successful US-based call centers will evolve from high-school graduates doing basic work to college graduates and people with advanced degrees handling specialized work. posted by Ed | Missouri refocusing its ED strategy Monday, November 11, 2002 Joe Driskill is director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, and he has been spending his time selling a new approach to Missouri's economic development. While incentives are still part of the mix, Driscoll wants the state to focus more on workforce skills, innovation and global connections. He's focused on the right issues: like smoothing tech transfer out of the University of Missouri and building more incubators. The only open question: Are his persuasive powers strong enough to move the business and political leadership away from old thinking about ED? Learn more. Go posted by Ed | Winston-Salem region heads toward innovation Eight counties in Northwest North Carolina have launched a new strategy project. The area includes rural counties with Winston-Salem as the hub. Layoffs in the textile industry have hit the region hard. Funded by $400,0000 in federal and state grants funds, the project seeks to build individual recovery plans for each county, then group them together for cluster development, marketing and workforce development. Angelou Economics, one of the most innovative ED consulting firms around, will head the project. The business leaders behind the study have their heads screwed on right: they are looking to build an innovation economy, not just come up with list of possible firms to recruit. Learn more. Go This project could provide some useful guidance to rural counties in North and South Carolina that are suffering from major declines in manufacturing employment. In addition, I expect to see Angelou's recommendations to track what is happening in Western North Carolina, where the Mountain Council for Entrepreneurial Development has recently launched under the leadership AdvantageWest, a regional ED organization. In addition, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce is developing an "entrepreneurial league system", based on work by Tom Lyons of the University of Louisville and Gregg Lichtenstein of Margate, N.J. This approach tracks entrepreneurs much like a baseball team would track its players through a farm system. Learn more. Go. posted by Ed | Here's a good regional web site Friday, November 08, 2002 EDPros need to coordinate their regional marketing. One of the best web sites we've seen promotes the "Right Corner of Texas". The home page is clean and concise. You're also one click away from building searches and useful community data. Finally, the site balances the Right Corner brand with the different brand identities of the partner ED organizations. The Northeast Texas Economic Developer's Roundtable, a group of economic development representatives from 23 counties in the region, manages the site. The Roundtable includes 43 partners. Take a look. Go posted by Ed | Canada explores the innovation economy Thursday, November 07, 2002 An important debate is underway in Canada to explore how to build an innovation economy. Spurred by the federal government, the debate explores important questions, such as the role of cities in innovation. The Toronto Star has published a good article on this debate. Go You can learn more about Canada's innovation strategy, launched in February 2002. Go We do not have a similar national debate underway, and none is likely soon. But in cities and regions across the country, EDPros are pushing the issue of innovation in new and important ways. Massachusetts has long focused on building its innovation economy. Go Philadelphia is moving in this direction, as well. Go These sites provide EDPros with a quick way to learn about innovation issues. posted by Ed | EDPros can boost technical education Wednesday, November 06, 2002 Education is one of the big areas where EDPros can exercies influence. Sound crazy? I don't think so. We simply need to focus on some basic truths about education. Clear messages. Then we need to repeat them again and again. One of the important messages is this: everyone needs a K-14 education, because a high school diploma is no longer a ticket to the middle class. We have in our mind that every child should attend four years of college. But this expectation is both unrealistic and unnecessary. Only about 25% of adults have a four year college degree. And most jobs in the future will not require 4 years of college. However, high school alone is not enough either. Earnings of high school graduates have been declining for years. In contrast, most jobs -- and most jobs with a middle class income -- will require some post secondary education. That's why boosting technical education options is so important. By sticking to this message, EDPros can start to reshape people's thinking about the importance of technical education. Here's an example. Go posted by Ed | Incentive Speak strikes again: Cost this time? $3 million per job In what must be a record, NY State and its local partners are investing $23.9 million in incentives for a natural gas storgage facility that will produce 8 jobs. Investment per job: $3 million. EDPros are often guilty of "incentive speak", but this project takes the cake. Instead of doing some hard analysis of the return on investment from these incentives, New York appears to have fallen into the "build it and they will come" mindset. Here's what the Empire State Development Corp. folks say, ""If a company makes the investment or creates jobs, they will receive tax credits from the state." Here's what the local Empire Zone coordinator has to say: ""The investment, infrastructure and power is so important for this state." Here's what the company says: "We became aware of the Empire Zone, which would afford us tax benefits, and we made the final decision to pursue development. It really worked to induce a company like ours to go here." Are we surprised? The proposed power plant was not originally in the Empire Zone (where incentives are supposed to be targeted), but local officials fixed that probelm. They simply redrew the boudaries of the zone. Yes, incentives work. (Why? People like money.) But to what end? Will a capital intensive natural gas storage facility help the economiy of Upstate New York? Not really. And certainly, it is not worth the investment of $24 million. Here's the core problem: The incentive programs in New York State do not have clear goals for job creation for the incentives. (Even more important, the incentives miss the mark. They do not addresss the core ED problem of upstate: an aging skilled workforce and too few young people with adequate work skills.) Read more. Go posted by Ed | Albuquerque's redesigned web site Tuesday, November 05, 2002 Here's a new web site provides a good benchmark for EDPros. It has clear navigation and is easy to use. Check your site against this one for organization, navigation, graphics and timeliness. Go posted by Ed | Crafting a brand for Pittsburgh Monday, November 04, 2002 Branding has always been around. But only in the last twenty years has branding become the dominant concept in marketing. And it's only been in the last five years that EDPros have seriously moved to reshape their regions around a brand. Branding matters a lot, and I've seen what it can do. I was involved in the successful branding initiative in Oklahoma City with the "better living, better life" campaign. This initiative has turned around perceptions of Oklahoma City, both inside and out. Perhaps no region faces a more complex and tricky branding challenge than Pittsburgh. An excellent article in the local paper outlines the pressures. Our good friend, Ronnie Bryant, head of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, is walking a tight rope. If you are interested in marketing, spend a few minutes and read more. Go posted by Ed | "The Region" redefines Dallas-Ft. Worth For EDPros trying to bridge old gaps within their region, you can now use the example of Dallas-Ft. Worth. The two cities are getting together to coordinate their development planning. Last week, the city councils held their first joint meeting. In many communities, economic development cooperation is undercut by old rivalries. It seems, in many cases, that these rivalries have more to do with high school football than with serious economic issues. People are driving into the future by looking in the rear view mirror. As EDPros, we need to focus on building regional economies based on local collaboration. The regions that do not understand this basic dynamic will lose out, as the integration of global markets accelerates. We should be telling our local leadership, "If Dallas and Ft. Worth can do this, why can't we?" Learn more about what is happening in Dallas-Ft. Worth. Go posted by Ed | Here's a workplace education program that might work Sunday, November 03, 2002 In workforce development, we often focus on young people coming into the workforce or on workers who have recently lost their jobs. But there is another group that deserves close attention: people already in the workforce. 80% of the workforce for the year 2010 is already in the workforce. Unfortunately, too little attention is being paid to workplace education, especially for workers on the olower end of the pay scale. Most workplace education programs are geared to higher level, higher skilled positions. That's why a new pilot program in Indiana deserves the attention of EDPros. It establishes Lifelong Learning Accounts that can be used for educational expenses. Employees can use the money in these accounts for educational activities, including GED preparation, language classes and certificate and degree courses. Employees have to contribute a minimum of $120 and can contribute up to $500. Employers match the employee contribution, also up to $500. Public and foundation money will then match each account with a contribution up to up to $1,000. From the perspective of either the employee or the employer, they get a 3:1 match on their investment. They have 3 years to use the money. Aside from the leverage in this program, I like two other features. First, it moves us toward a "consumer-led", instead of a "provider-led" workplace training system. Second, this program can be carefully customized. A similar pilot program in Chicago, for example, targets restaurant workers. (Ther Indiana pilot targets employees in manufacturing and the public sector.) The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) designed both pilots. CAEL is a national non-profit organization that promotes adult learning in partnership with individuals and groups including educational institutions, employers and labor organizations. EDPros interested in workplace education can learn more about the Indiana pilot program. Go Learn more about Lifelong Learning Accounts and CAEL. Go. posted by Ed | EDPros need to know how to present complex information Saturday, November 02, 2002 Every once in a while, I come a cross an ED report that does an excellent job presenting information. This is not a trivial challenge. Most ED information is complex, and people do not have time to read. EDPros need to explore different approaches to presenting complex information. A good rule of thumb: any report that people cannot read in an evening after dinner will not be read. If you are interested in this issue, take some time to review a recent report on the Baltimore regional economy. In a few short pages, the authors outline a compelling picture of the region. Strong graphics make the report easily accessible. Download a copy. EDPros interested in this topic can learn more. If you are interested in good web design principles, look at the Web Style Guide. If you want to know how to present information cleanly, read the books by Gene Zelanzny, former Director of Visual Communications at McKinsey. Go. If you are really into exploring the design prionciples of complex information, Edward Tufte is the leader in this field, and you can get his books from his web site. posted by Ed | Toyota appears headed for Texas Friday, November 01, 2002 Two Japanese newspapers, Nikkan Kogyo Simbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported that San Antonio has been selected for the auto maker's sixth assembly plant in North America. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia have all been competing for the plant. Toyota has car assembly plants in Kentucky, Indiana, California and Canada and has broken ground on another plant in Mexico, which will start producing pickup trucks in 2005. Japanese manufacturing plants in the U.S. now accont for 21% of the evehicles produced in the U.S. This story comes on the 20th annoiversary of the start of Japanese auto production in the U.S. Learn more. Toyota will not confirm the story. And meanwhile, Arkansas Governor Huckabee (against the advice of local Toyota officials) is planning a trip to Tokyo. Learn more. posted by Ed | |
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