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Ah, Governor...
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 North Carolina has a reputation for being aggressive with incentives, but here's a case where the governor should have sat on his wallet. The owner of an auto auction business says that he would have relocated from Virginia to North Carolina without incentives. No wonder. When he tried to move his business to Suffolk, VA, the owner was convicted of extortion. It turns out that he needed a zoning change. To get it, he hired an exotic dancer and tried to photograph a city council member in a compromising situation. Read more. posted by Ed | The underside of the baseball business Tuesday, June 29, 2004 Baseball may be the American passtime, but it is also a remarkable case of corporate welfare and misguided economic development thinking. Here's an detailed three part series that gives you some insight into the real deals. It's not a pretty picture. The take-away: To buy the Expos, some community will have to build a stadium at public expense. I found the story of Miller Field in Milwaukee amusing. Bud Selig, owner of the Brewers, ended up with the whole enchilada at public expense. The only contribution he made was from the sale of naming rights to a stadium paid for by the taxpayers. Even better: The conservative columnist George Will -- the staunch defender of private enterprise -- thinks Selig is the greatest commissioner of all times. Selig plays hardball on stadium deals Expos for sale: Cities know price Angelos, Selig Last Men Standing in D.C.'s Way posted by Ed | Toledo focuses on streamlining economic development efforts Monday, June 28, 2004 A new consulting report has triggered a debate in Toledo about restructuring the region's economic development organization. Among their conclusions: Toledo has too many agencies, with unclear roles. "The result is inefficiency and underperformance." To remedy the situation, the consultants have proposed a reorganization. Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and the Regional Growth Partnership sit in the middle of the controversy. To clarify development efforts further, the consultants also propose focusing on six clusters: plastics, engineering services, automotive components, logistics/warehousing, propulsion systems/advanced manufacturing, and biomedical engineering/medical apparatus. The idea of a new effort is not going over all that smoothly. Read more. Report: Toledo, county lag in development results Single agency eyed to channel development posted by Ed | Pennsylvania's new angel investor program Pennsylvania has approved the first investment under a unique initiative to stimulate angel investing. The State, through the Ben Franklin Investment Partners program, guarantees 25% of the angel investment. The angel investors pay a 1.5% annual fee on the guaranteed amount. In the first deal, the total angel investment was $300,000. The State is guaranteeing 25% or $62,500. If the deal tanks, the State pays this amount to the investors. If the deal works, the State participates in the upside. Learn more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Saturday, June 26, 2004 Here's what happened in the economy last week: U.S. growth slows in quarter Bloated trade deficit slows economy Wall Street economists see quarter-point June rate hike Vital Signs for the Week of June 28 US Consumer Confidence Jumps 5 Pts In Latest Week posted by Ed | The impact of Dell on the Triad It's got to be one of the worst kept secrets in North Carolina. Dell is looking at the Triad region of North Carolina to establish a manufacturing and distribution hub. The state will push hard to get the project, especially when you look at the impacts the project could have on the region. Read more. posted by Ed | Resource: Dispatches from the Frontier Friday, June 25, 2004 One of the wonderful aspects of the Internet comes in meeting new people. My colleague, George Nemeth, author of Brewed Fresh Daily and partner in Smart Meeting Design, introduced me to Dave Bayless, and his Pioneer Entrepreneurs web site. Dave publishes Dispatches from the Frontier, a very thoughtful newsletter on the future of economic development. My recommendation: read it. George and I got on the phone recently with Dave and had a really engaging discussion. Dave is an engaging person who is thinking hard about where economic development is heading. Dave's June 24 newsletter includes a post on a new book, Boomtown USA. The book explores how the explosion of the Internet opens new opportunities for small towns. Jack Schultz, the author, was recently in Moses Lake, WA where he spoke about how small towns, like Moses Lake, can compete in today's economy. Read more. Dave provides us with a good review of the book. His recommendation: buy it. Read more. posted by Ed | Managing brainpower in Pennsylvania In Philadelphia, civic leaders are having some success in holding on to their younger talent. A recent survey of college graduates found that a surprising number are planning to stay in the region. Read more. In Pittsburgh, the city is able to attract a lot of immigrant talent. The problem is holding on to it. Read more. More and more communities will be doing what Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are doing: Finding new ways to measure and retain their brainpower. posted by Ed | Reacting to the boring big boxes With Big Box retail, you could be in Austin or Albany, Nashville or Jacksonville. The strips all look the same: Home Depot, Sam's Club, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Red Lobster, Olive Garden. (It's like the movie, Ground Hog Day, except that you drive somewhere and end up in the same place.) In reaction, some communities are starting to develop physical plans that restore their local character. Read about what planners are doing in Michigan to create unique experiences. Go. posted by Ed | Resource: Planning and building new schools In an age when brainpower determines how well an economy competes, the role of schools moves center stage. EDPros don't typically have much interaction with school construction, but we should. Here's a way to open the door in your community. Distribute an excellent guidebook on planning new schools...Schools as Centers of Community: A Citizen's Guide For Planning and Design. You can download the report from this page. Go. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania's new angel investor program Pennsylvania has approved the first investment under a unique initiative to stimulate angel investing. The State, through the Ben Franklin Investment Partners program, guarantees 25% of the angel investment. The angel investors pay a 1.5% annual fee on the guaranteed amount. In the first deal, the total angel investment was $300,000. The State is guaranteeing 25% or $62,500. If the deal tanks, the State pays this amount to the investors. If the deal works, the State participates in the upside. Learn more. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania's new angel investor program Pennsylvania has approved the first investment under a unique initiative to stimulate angel investing. The State, through the Ben Franklin Investment Partners program, guarantees 25% of the angel investment. The angel investors pay a 1.5% annual fee on the guaranteed amount. In the first deal, the total angel investment was $300,000. The State is guaranteeing 25% or $62,500. If the deal tanks, the State pays this amount to the investors. If the deal works, the State participates in the upside. Learn more. posted by Ed | Outsourcing to intelligent computers Thursday, June 24, 2004 Look past the impacts of outsourcing. A recent report projects that the use of computers with embedded intelligence technologies -- such as voice recognition -- will begin displacing lower end customer service jobs. The conclusion: technology, not outsourcing, is the biggest threat to jobs. You can already see this trend. Call directory assistance. Chances are, a computer will answer the phone and ask you for a number. (A customer service person actually looks up your number, but this task soon will be automated as voice recognition gets better.) According to the report, in the past ten years, about ten million manufacturing jobs involving physical labor and repetitive activities worldwide were lost due to machines replacing humans. In the next wave, the employment threat involves the substitution of embedded intelligence for many first-level jobs in service industries. The impact will generate a net loss of customer service, help desk, directory assistance, and related customer support positions. As the author of the report notes, "Looking forward, we don't really see the big threat in the long run being outsourcing to India. We see the real threat from outsourcing to intelligent [computers]." Read more. These technologies will shift the skill mix needed to support a specific business activity. The overall impact will be higher productivity levels. This trend will continue to place pressure on the low end of the workforce. People wilth lower skills will see their wages continue to stagnate or erode. Real wages for high school graduates, for example, have not increased in the past decade. This trend will continue. The result: a high school education is no longer a ticket to the middle class. To ern middle class wages (above $12 per hour) young people need post secondary education. posted by Ed | Building a kitchen incubator EDPros in rural areas should consider this idea: a kitchen incubator. Here's an example from West Virginia. Read more. But don't consider this idea in isolation. It works best as the hub of an entrepreneurial network. The best example is the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet). ACEnet has launched a promising food processing venture. Learn more. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a deal: Project Merlin The Triad region of North Carolina is busy pursuing a major prospect. According to speculation in the North Carolina press, the company is Dell. No one who knows will confirm the identity of the prospect, since the deal is papered over with strict confidentiality agreements. Read more. Article 1. Article 2. posted by Ed | Resource: Presentation on lining up incentives Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Here's a review of a presentation advising companies on how to line up state incentives. Michael Press, national director of Ernst & Young’s Business Incentives Practice, and Robin Stone, former vice president of state and local government relations for The Boeing Company, delivered the Microsoft PowerPoint-supported presentation March 26 in Savannah, Ga. Read more. Download the presentation. posted by Ed | Job impact of the Boeing 7E7 deal The 7E7 deal -- which cost Washington State a bundle -- will generate between 3,250 and 9,280 jobs, about two-thirds of them at Boeing by 2012. Boeing had wanted to escape the high cost structure of Washington State with its 7E7 project. But Washington State came up with a set of golden handcuffs: $3.2 billion in tax incentives plus a bundle of other benefits adding to about $4 billion. Read more. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a deal: NY places a risky bet New York is placing a big bet on a risky company. With an $11 million package, NY has lured a solar cell company from Colorado. One problem: the company has never turned a profit. It's underlying technology better be good. Read more posted by Ed | Olivier moves to Louisiana Governor Blanco in Louisiana has appointed EDPro Mike Olivier as the state's top economic developer. Read more. Not everyone is happy with the choice. Read more here and here. posted by Ed | Impact of the big boxes A controversy is spreading over the use of incentives toward retail development, in general, and big boxes, in particular. Here's an article that outlines the issue in Arizona. Here's what the Phoenix mayor said in a recent speech: "I'm asking every mayor, city and town council in this valley to join me in putting a screeching halt to subsidizing and incentivizing $7-an-hour jobs with millions of taxpayer dollars. I say close the public checkbook on these projects and let the market dictate where retail development goes." Read more. In Savannah, big box development has touched off a similar debate. Read more. posted by Ed | Western North Carolina's entrepreneurial network Step by step, EDPros in Western North Carolina are building an impressive entrepreneurial network. The latest node comes in a county program to encourage start-up businesses in The Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University, the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council and Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network, affiliated with the regional economic development agency AdvantageWest, will serve as partners. Read more. posted by Ed | Comparing Phoenix and Philadelphia Tuesday, June 22, 2004 Here's a good example of the positive role journalism can play in economic development. The Arizona Republic in Phoenix has completed a series of articles comparing Phoenix and Phildaelphia. (Both cities have about 1.5 million people.) The purpose: uncover the lessons that an older industrial city has for a younger city. The Philadelphia Story: East Coast city can teach Phoenix Eds and meds' the latest hope to revive moribund economy 2 cities, 2 climates for entrepreneurs Proud tradition slows Philly economy Old, decaying neighborhoods experiencing rebirth Philadelphia government: 'Corrupt and contented' Mexican migration viewed as hope for expanding Philly's population Reinvestment, partnerships remade downtown Philly into a place to be Years of political neglect stirred exodus from Philadelphia posted by Ed | Pennsylvania takes a step toward tax reform Monday, June 21, 2004 A governor's commission has released its interim report calling for a braoder tax base (translation: fewer loopholes) and lower rates. This approach is the most sensible when it comes to economic development. Do away with tax incentives that selectively erode the tax base and undercut horizontal equity. (Translation: treat similar firms with the same tax rates.) Read more. The state chamber of commerce is not satisfied, though. They want something more from the governor. Read more. posted by Ed | Chicago's mayor presses a "green" agenda Mayor Daley in Chicago has made a bold commitment to green building technology. It's a smart move as a way of postiioning redevelopment in his city. Read more. He is not alone. Citizen groups in Cleveland and Pittsburgh are also embracing green building design. In Cleveland, EcoCity Cleveland shapes the agenda. Sustainable Pittsburgh serves the same function in that city. Focusing on environmentally sensitive design represents an important strategy for revitalizing older industrial areas. (Brownfield reclamation is part of the same approach.) As metro regions sprawl, we are creating less efficient cost structures under our metro economies. We are building new, more dispersed infrastructures to support lower population densities. Our "social overhead" is increasing: more roads, water lines, fire departments, and so on for a given level of economic activity. Mayor Daley's strategy represents a positive alternative. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, June 20, 2004 Here's are the best articles I came across last week on the state of our economy: Truckers Face Bumpy Economic Road Bush, Democrats spar on jobs Rosy US outlook as jobless claims fall and wholesale prices rise Fed Sees U.S. Economy Moving Forward in Its Report Terror attacks top risk to U.S. economy-CFO survey Other views: Asia's shifting sense of U.S. power Reuters Summit-Bush, Kerry advisers clash on economy Greenspan says economy strong but susceptible to many factors, including terror posted by Ed | Presidential Commission recommends NASA reforms Saturday, June 19, 2004 The Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy released its report last week, and it is recommending major reforms in the way NASA does business. If followed, the Commission's recommendations will result in major shifts in the way in which NASA's field centers operate. Read more. Download a copy of the report. Go. posted by Ed | NSA will invest in Maryland start-ups Geography matters. The National Security Agency announced last week that it will commit several million dollars to Maryland-based start-up companies. The commitment will come in the form of both investment and purchases. The NSA also wants to push technology out of its Fort Meade facility into the commercial sector. Read more. posted by Ed | Kansas City will launch manufacturing pilot The National Association of Manufacturers has selected Kansas City as a pilot site for its "Dream It Do It" initiative. The pilot program will be designed to attract students to manufacturing careers, create a network of manufacturing training initiatives, and promote manufacturing as a core economic development strategy. Read more. posted by Ed | Tech transfer can be improved in Maine A conference in Maine this week explored how technology transfer channels in Maine work and how they could be improved. View the program. Catherine Renault, program manager at the Center for Technology Applications at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, recently wrote a report on improving technology transfer in Maine. In her view, the networks between business and university researchers are not strong enough to commercialize research. Read more. posted by Ed | Virginia launches rural broadband initiative Governor Mark Warner announced a $12 million plan to provide braodband access to rural Virginia. The network will connect five cities, 20 counties and 56 industrial parks. The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce are each contributing $6 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in October and expected to be completed by January 2006.Read more. Good quote from the governor: "As important as the railroad was 100 years ago, as important as the interstate was 50 years ago, I believe they will both pale in the 21st century to making sure you have this broadband connectivity." posted by Ed | Resource: Building entrepreneurship in small communities Here's a concise, practical guide to best practices for building entrepreneurship in smaller communities. The Kauffman Foundation drafted the report: Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship, Best Practices for Small Communities. Download a copy. Go. posted by Ed | The other side of outsourcing Last week, the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development sponsored meeting that explored a different hypothesis about outsourcing: Today, some of America's best-paying jobs may exist because of outsourcing. Read more. posted by Ed | Peoria positions its incubators Peoria, IL is moving ahead with an incubator targeted to women-owned and minority-owned businesses. This project represents an effort to broaded opportunities in the city. A high tech incubator is well underway, but that project does not reach critical segments of the community. Read more. This approach underscores an important point. Building an entrepreneurial culture in a metro area does not happen with one initative. Instead, it represents a series of interconnected initiatives to build a network that supports entrepeneurship and innovation. posted by Ed | Regional collaboration in the Mon Valley? Getting regional cooperation in the Monongahela River Valley near Pittsburgh is tough. The economy is down, and the region has not recovered from the first wave of globalization that hit the region in the 1970's. Mayor John DeLuca of Monessen, PA (population: 8,700), has been trying to rally his colleagues to form a council of governments. Last week, he managed to persuade 10 or 22 river communities to attend a meeting. Supported by David Lewis, an architecture professor from Carnegie Mellon University, DeLuca is showing the type of determination that's needed to move regional economic development forward. As DeLuca noted at the meeting: " "We feel our problems are all the same. Our roads are bad, our buildings are dilapidated, tax bases are shrinking while labor and other costs are going up,. We need to work together to find ways of sharing these burdens if we are going to survive." Regional approaches to economic development are not easy. But in a global econoomy, they are the only path forward. Read more. posted by Ed | Winston County faces up to the youth challenges Winston County, MS is facing the challenges that many other counties face, but refuse to acknowledge: high dropout rates and young people unprepared to meet the challenges of a knowledge-based economy. The facts are simple: a high school diploma is no longer a ticket to the middle class. And dropping out of high school represents a life time disability. Mary Snow, a former teacher, put the challenge clearly. "Along with the juvenile crime and drug issues, we're facing a 30 percent dropout rate and youth who are not able to meet the minimum ACT requirements for getting into college. We're at a critical stage in providing a skilled workforce for business development. Industry has changed a lot over the years. "Our youth need help staying in school and developing into a workforce that is capable of moving this county into the next decade. I used to look at a classroom, and I was a teacher, and think my class was only as strong as the weakest member. Today, I look at our county and believe that Winston County is only as strong as its poorest, weakest child." Read more. In Georgia this week, a symposium addressed the same issues. According to Georgia Southern University, drop-outs are costing the state $17 billion in social services. Read more. posted by Ed | North Carolina child care report North Carolina is a leading state when it comes to thinking about child care as a critical industry for an innovation economy. Eleven years ago, former governor Jim Hunt launched Smart Start, an initiative guided by the vision that every child would enter school healthy and prepared. In a short-sighted move, North Carolina legislators have been cutting appropriations for Smart Start over the last three years, even as they have considered new incentives for companies. Investments in early childhood care are critically important for economies that run on brainpower. You can learn more about the economic impacts of early child care from this site. The report released last week represents an effort to educate the legislators on the need to expand investments in early child care. Read more. You can download the report from this page. (Free registration required.) You can see how your state ranks in preschool education from this site. posted by Ed | Resource: Report on education and economic development The Knowledge Foundation has released a report on education and economic development. Not surprisingly, the report, Public Schools and Economic Development: What the Research Shows, concludes that high quality public schools can help make states and localities more economically competitive. This report is part of a broader reframing of the role education plays in a knowledge-based economy. Instead of thinking of education as a government service, we need to start thinking of education as an investment with direct economic returns. Investments in education at all levels build brainpower. Download a copy of the report. Go. posted by Ed | Export report for the Southern states At its annual meeting last week, the Southern Growth Policies Board released a report on exporting. The report finds that the Southern states are exporting at a rate below the national average. Read more. Download a summary of the report. Go. (The full report is not yet availabe on the Southern Growth Policies Board web site.) Read a perspective on the report from Alabama. Go posted by Ed | Rural counties need to collaborate That's the message that came from the last session of the annual meeting of the Southern Growth Policies Board held in Oklahomna City last week. Read more. posted by Ed | Northern KY Triange development starts Developers broke ground last week on the first major development within the Northern Kentucky Technology Commercialization Triangle. Campbell County, the state Office of the New Economy and Northern Kentucky University are promotioing the development to lure knowledge-based businesses to Northern Kentucky.Read more. Learn more about the project concept. Go?. Northern Kentucky University is suipporting this development with the Institute for New Economy Technologies. Learn more about the Institute. Go posted by Ed | Wyoming launches entrepreneurship pilot Goshen County in Wyoming has launched Planned Approach to Community Entrepreneurship (PACE) in an effort to build entreprenurship netowrks inthe local economy. The initiative represents a joint venture between the Goshen County School District, Eastern Wyoming College and Goshen County Economic Development. This initiative represents the type of collaboration that more communities will be exploring. EDPros have bascially three strategies to build their economy: recruit new companies, help existing companies expand, and support new companies. More and more communities -- especially in rural areas -- are moving resources from the first strategy to the other two. Read more. posted by Ed | Arizona moves to expand Mexican trade From now until September, a wroking group of the Arizona-Mexico Commission will be identifying opportunities for Arizona to expand its trade with Mexico. Go. As the article points out, developing trade relationships takes time. Tucson has spent 3 1/2 years developing its connections with Ottawa. (Learn more about the Ottawa/Tucson connection.) As one EDPro notes: "We need to build a brand for Arizona in these new markets." posted by Ed | Toyota in San Antonio: How many jobs? An economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas has raised questions about how many jobs the new Toyota truck plant in San Antonio will generate. The big question: how many suppliers will open around the plant? No one disputes that the plant itself will generate 2,000 jobs. The state comptroller's office estimates that suppliers to the plant will generate another 10,000 jobs. The University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute for Economic Development estimates that there will be about 5,300 supplier jobs. The Fed economist estimates the supplier jobs will be more like 2,000. Read more. posted by Ed | Denver's international economy According to a report released last week, 9.5% of the jobs in Denver's metro economy are tied to the global economy. The researchers estimated the number of jobs from foreign companies located in Denver. They added an estimate of the number of jobs tied to exports. They then applied a multiplier to this base. Read more or download the report. posted by Ed | Iowa Values Fund in the ditch Friday, June 18, 2004 On Wednesday, Iowa's Supreme Court has struck down the legislatio that created the Iowa Values Fund. This seven year initiative is designed to pump $500 millionn into the state's emerging innovation economy. The sticking point now: The fund has already made financial commitments to a range of companies. The goveror and legislative leaders are now trying to scramble to fix the damage. The original legislation included provisions that Reppublicans in the legislature wanted, buyt the governor opposed. These items included a tax cut and regulatory reform. The governor used a line item veto to eliminate them. The Supreme Court held that the governor's veto violated the state's constitution. Read more. Article 1 and Article 2. Visit the Value Fund site. posted by Ed | Turning Arizona State into a catalyst for growth Tuesday, June 15, 2004 Entrepreneurial college and university proesidents are becoming a bigger factor in economic development. Here's a profile of President Michael Crow of Arizona State University. Read more. posted by Ed | Resource: Measuring performance Monday, June 14, 2004 Keeping score is a tough challenge for economic development professionals. Don Iannone passes along this web site as a good resource to get started. View the site. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, June 13, 2004 Here are the best articles I came across this past week. Gas prices taking toll on economy Economy isn't working for teens Consumer confidence climbs U.S. import prices surge, jobless claims rise G8 leaders spar over global economic risks Online Sales Surged In '03 posted by Ed | Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network Saturday, June 12, 2004 Another angel firm has formed, this one in Asheville, NC. This group is interesting, because it it's operating in rural Western North Carolina. Learn more about The Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network (BRAIN). Go. BRAIN is part of a leading edge entrepreneurial network that EDPros are designing and building in Western North Carolina. Learn more about the work of the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council. Go. posted by Ed | Chambers in the Triad coordinate legislative priorities The chambers in the Triad region of North Carolina demonstrate one of the important benefits of collaboration: Defining a clear legislative agenda. For the second year, 22 chambers in the region, covering 12 counties, have submitted a unified agenda to their 33-member delegation. Read more. posted by Ed | Louisiana struggles to get stuff right Economic development in Louisiana is still having trouble getting stuff straight. First, the state invested $1.2 million in a television football network that never really got off the ground. (It has managed to produce a program on LSU football, though.) Next, the state invested $600,000 in another start-up, Trans Caribbean Airways. State officials thought the airline would start offering flights between New Orleans and the Caribbean destinations. The airline is broke, and state officials can't get in contact with the airline. Next, it turns out that the State has $71 million in unused worker training funds. Let's hope Governor Blanco's administration can start to strighten out this mess. Read more. posted by Ed | Michigan boosts international efforts The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) will be expanding its international efforts. MEDC plans to expand the activities of its international division that looks for both foriegn market opportunities for Michigan companies and inward investment opportunities. Michigan's international program operates with a ten person taff and offices in Shanghai and Mexico City. In addition, MEDC supports the Michigan Global Partnership. The Partnership runs alongside the state's international business attraction activities. It represents a collaboration of MEDC with 20-plus companies and 30 local economic development agencies marketing Michigan to foreign prospects. Read more. posted by Ed | Ohio's Third Frontier Network As EDPros, we need to be developing quality, connected places. In Ohio, the Third Frontier Network is a state initiative to connect colleges, universities, and K-12 schools through a dedicated high-speed fiber-optic network. Read more. posted by Ed | Bennington, VT discusses strategy If you are an EDPro ina a rural county, you may be interested in followng this story. Citizens in Bennington County, Vermont discussed a short, 35 pge economic strategy last week. The story caught my eye because it sounds many of the important themes that we need to underscore: the importance of education to economic development; the emergence of sustainability as a key driver of business development; an increasing emphasis on collaboration; and the growth of global connections. There may be some good lessons here. For example, Vermont may be a good model for developing foreign markets for value-added agricultural products. Read more. posted by Ed | Iowa EDPros head for New Zealand More and more economic development oprganizations are building up their global connections. Here's a story out of New Zealand. A delegation from Iowa has headed for New Zealnand to develop new connections between New Zealand and Iowa's emerging biotech businesses. The connection came through serendipity. A member of the state's Economic Development Board lived in Auckland from 1990 to 1994. She decided that New Zealand was a potential market for Iowa's biotech companies, and she followed through on the idea. Read more. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania EDPros launch Smart Market brand As I reported in an earlier post, an eight county region in southcentral Pennsylvania has launched a new brand: The Smart Market. Here's a good quote from the launch event: "Economic-development expansions occur on a regional basis and are not confined to geopolitical boundariies. Companies first look at regions for the attributes they offer, such as work force, transportation systems, utilities, services, recreation and culture. By branding our region, we are conforming to the way companies think about local economies." That's from EDPro Robert McNary, president of the Lebanon Valley Economic Development Corp. Read more. posted by Ed | Web Watch: Missouri's new job site Missouri's Department of Economic Development has invested $600,000 to develop and launch a new web site. Greathires.com connects employers with potential employees. As job seekers register on the site, they choose from menus of words and phrases that are identical to those used by employers. The goal is to allow job hunters and employers to match up more quickly. We'll be seeing more of these types of sites in the future, as EDPros rescognize the importance of brainpower in driving their economy. Visit the site. posted by Ed | Fort Wayne venture fund launches A Fort Wayne-based venture fund has assembled $500,000 in funds for early start-ups. The goal is $1.2 million. The Imagineer Fund is designed to assist technology-based businesses. The fund is designed to fill the void in seed and pre-seed financing for entrepreneurs developing new technology. Investment will be made in for-profit businesses with new technology that promise rapid growth. Investments will typically be very early stage (seed or pre-seed) in increments of $5,000 to $15,000. Read more. The Imagineer Fund is part of a broader strategy to design a more flexible, responsive system of financing in Northeast Indiana. Learn more. posted by Ed | Maryland builds hot spots on I-95 Friday, June 11, 2004 Maryland has started to implement wireless hot spots at welcome stops along the Interstate 95. Smart move. With a relatively small investment, the state is building the state's brand effectively. Read more. posted by Ed | The biotech buzz Wednesday, June 09, 2004 Skeptics (realists?) point out that biotech business development is a very long haul. Despite the fact that 29 states have formal biotech plans, the industry is still relatively small. Total revenues are about $30 billion and total employment is only 200,000. Read more. posted by Ed | Web Watch: Cleaning up the air Environmental groups have launched a new effort to clean-up coal-fired power plants. They have produced a report and web site to reinforce their campaign. View the web site. Go. posted by Ed | Georgia uses the global stage Georgia's leadership used the G8 Summit this week to position the state on the international stage. Read more. posted by Ed | Resource: Renewable incentives database Tuesday, June 08, 2004 Here's a good resource that covers the state incentives for renewable energy. Go. posted by Ed | Resource: State bioscience reports released BIO 2004 is underway this week, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has released a new report on the state of biosciences. Completed by Battelle Memorial Institute and the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), the report finds that states are broadly committed to bioscience development. States are, however, learning the importance of specializing in specific sub-sectors. Download the SSTI report. The Milken Institute has also released a report on biotechnology development. According to this report, only a small number of metro areas are succeeding in developing a viable cluster. Download the Milken report. posted by Ed | Wisconsin group forms new manufacturing alliance Advocates for manufactuing in three counties in Wisconsin have formed a new manufacturing alliance. The group is designed to pursue a series of initiatives to strengthen the manufacuting base within the three counties. Read more. Ned Hill, an expert on manufacturing from Cleveland State, helped kick off the new alliance. Ned has been a tireless advocate of manufacturing, and he's a good speaker on the subject. (Ned and I sit on the board of the West Side Industrial Retention and expansion Network.) posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, June 06, 2004 Herre are the articles on the economy that I found interesting lst week. White House's taxing dilemma Time to welcome China to the G8 table Job growth leads to hints of interest rate hike U.S. payrolls add 248,000 during May China Must Float Currency for New Status U.S. Service Jobs Up, Productivity Strong posted by Ed | Forming connections between India and the NC Triad region Here's a really smart idea. The vice chancellor for research and economic development at North Carolina A&T is developing research alliances with Indian Institute of Technology, the leading technology university in India. By building research alliances, he will start the process of forming the ties that may lead to foreign investment in the Triad region. Learn more. posted by Ed | Arts as an economic development strategy To be competitive in today's economy, communities must integrate physical planning and economic development. Why? Because smart people can live anywhere, and they will chose to live in quality, connected places. These shifts mean that arts play a different and more central role in economic development. In the past, economic development professionals viewed the arts as part of a community's "quality of life". True enough. But now, the arts play at least three other roles. One involves physical development. The arts community often provides the leading edge of development for downtown areas. Theaters, museums and festivals all provide anchor investments in a downtown. This is the strategy that Mesa is following. In this case, the arts community often serves to reduce the perceived or actual risk of real estate development. Go. But the arts have at least two other important roles in economic development. The arts can form a base for creative businesses, such as advertising and creative digital media. This strategy emerged in the late 1990's in the UK, when the government published a report on the "creative industries cluster". Now, you can see how the creative industries have become key strategic thrusts for London, Edinborough, and Northern Ireland. (See, for example, the Creative London web site. By 2002 or so, the New England Council took up the call and began to focus on the creative industries in New England. Providence, RI is using the arts strategically in this way. Finally, the arts play an increasingly important role in developing brainpower. This aspect of the arts and economic development is more difficult to document. It has its roots in the explosion of brain science in the 1990's. We have come to learn that arts education plays a critical role in brain development, especially in early childhood. posted by Ed | Professor Florida catches a few spears in Michigan Richard Florida spent some time defending his theory of economic development during a conference on Mackinac Island, MI. He's got a message that's a bit skewed. He's spending too much time defending odd notions about the connection between economic development and the gay community. While the content of his theory leaves some people scratching their heads, Florida is right about one point: Top-down economic development plans are virtually impossible to implement. The challenge is to design new approaches to economic development that rely on networks, distributed communities of practice, and open civic dialogue. Read about Florida's comments. posted by Ed | Angel group forms in Western Michigan A new angel investment group is forming in Western Michigan. The group will focus on investments that range from $200,000 to $1.5 million. The group is also focusing on three counties: Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon, aroundd Grand Rapids. Read more. Visit the web site. Go. posted by Ed | Incubators popping up in the Charlotte region Communities around Charlotte are focusing on building incubators as a strategy to boost the regional economy. While the strategy makes sense, incubators are more than real estate deals. The key is to offer services that extend the social networks of entrepreneurs in the region. These incubator projects look more like a fad than a strategy to me. The amounts of money are not large, and, generally speaking, cities and towns are not good promoters or operators of incubators. You need people closer to the market. Read about what is going on in the communities around Charlotte. Go. I like the GLIDE model at Lorain Community College here in Ohio. It's a partnership among the chamber, the county and the community college. Read more about GLIDE. Go. Learn more about incubators from the National Business Incubator Association. Go posted by Ed | Minnesota foundations promote regional economic development A group of foundations in Minnesota, led by The McKnight Foundation and the Blandin Foundation, are promoting regional economic development. Importantly, the foundations are working closely wiith higher education institutions in the state. The foundations provide the opportunity to align higher education resources more closely to the needs of employers. As one participant notes: "Higher education... is a critical component of regional economic development. When these institutions work closely with employers, communities and organizations like RED Group and the MIFs, we can more efficiently and effectively educate and train workers and apply research and technical assistance to economic development initiatives statewide. The fund will help foster this cooperation." Read more here and here. posted by Ed | BIO 2004 from a Massachusetts perspective BIO 2004 opens in San Francisco this week, and here's an interesting article on how the folks in Massachusetts see the opportunities. The comments suggest the limits of standard invcentives and selling to biotech companies. As one executive puts it: The major reason for us to stay in Massachusetts was the labor pool, especially skilled manufacturing labor." Read more. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania governor outlines manufacturing actions Like many other states, Pennsylvania's manufacturing economy has been hit hard. Last week, Governor Rendell met with his Manufacturing Competitiveness Coalition. Last March, he held a manufacturing summit. Since that time, he has taken a number of steps designed to bolster the position of manufacturing firms in his state. Read more. posted by Ed | Tech park for nanotech manufacturing in upstate NY Saturday, June 05, 2004 Regular readers of EDPro Weblog know that we have been covering the development of the 1,350 acre Luther Forest Technology Campus near Saratoga. It is designed as a nanotechnology manufacturing campus. The project is part of a broader plan in upstate New York to move build a high performance technology base in nanotechnology. Public hearings are now being held on a loan package for the park. Read more. Downlad a site map. posted by Ed | Investments in medical devices: stents Who says U.S. manufacturing is dead? Drug coated stenms are a booming busness. A drug-coated heart stent is a tiny mesh tube that is inserted into clogged arteries. The drug coating helps to prevent arteries from reclogging. Indiana appears to be in the running for a new factory to produce stents. Jobs would pay about $70,000 per year. Here's an article that provides an overview of whathas been happeniung in the market. Read more. posted by Ed | South Florida economic summit Friday, June 04, 2004 A huge economic summit took place this week in South Florida. About 1,200 business leaders come together to hear Governor Bush talk about the benefits of a regional approach to economic development. Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami-Dade County started working on the collaboration last spring. The region includes 5.2 million people, which makes it about the size of Arizona. Read more. posted by Ed | Louisville set to evaluate the merger Louisville has become a poster child for city-county consolidation. It's good to remember, though, that the first vote on city-county merger took place in 1956. In 1982, another vote took place, and the measure failed by a small margin. Now, however, the merger has been completed, and Louisville is set to evaluate some of the consequences. Read more. Learn more about Louisville from this web site. posted by Ed | The complex job of economic development Thursday, June 03, 2004 EDPro Steve Kelley in Tucson has provided us with a good article on the complexities involved in economic development. Read it. posted by Ed | The impact of ratings Wednesday, June 02, 2004 Here's a short article from Akron that explores the impact of ratings on site selection decisions. The conclusion: While they may add some value, ratings probably do not have much of an impact on the site selection process. Read more. posted by Ed | Rural NC looks to homegrown revival For years, counties across the South have based their economic development strategies on branch plant recruitment. Now that that approach no longer works as well, rural counties in North Carolina are turning to local strategies to generate wealth. At the same time, state policies are not catching up with the new trend. Most state economic development policies in North Carolina are still based on recruitment strategies. Read a good overview article. Go. posted by Ed | Biotech conference set to open in SF For those of you interested in Bio 2004 in San Francisco next week, here are some recent background articles: Networking at biotech conference Other states challenging California for biotech jobs Dealmakers look to lure biotech out of California City's biotech ambition hits resistance Piedmont Triad Partnership to send delegation to biotech trade show posted by Ed | Wisconsin governor sets renewable energy goal Governor Doyle wants 10% of Wisconsin's electricity to come from renewable sources buy 2015. That goal doubles the current level of electricity from renewable resources. Read more. Doyle wants the state government to lead the effort by establishing even more ambitious goals for state government. He would like the state government to use renewable energy for 10 percent of its total electricity needs by 2006 and 20 percent by 2010. As the national power system moves toward more distributed forms of power, we will see more states and regions declaring specific goals for their regional energy systems. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Tuesday, June 01, 2004 Articles on the economy from the past week: Oil soars on Saudi concerns Consumer spending up solidly, income growth strong, good signs for economy Mideast Reform, Global Economy on G8 Agenda Is Good Economic News Really Good? U.S. online retail sales hit $114B in 2003: That figure represented 5.4% of all retail sales last year Consumer Optimism Slips in May posted by Ed | |
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