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New Jersey creates biotech venture fund
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 New Jersey's Economic Development Administration has launched a 410 million venture capital fund for the life sciences. The fund is a partnership with Quaker BioVentures. Read more. posted by Ed | Hello, Mr. Jakeman, I mean, Jakeway Monday, August 30, 2004 Well, the Automotive Industry Action Group corrected its press release. Read more. Let's hope they didn't print the programs, yet. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a Deal: Verizon call center in SC Verizon is moving its call center operations from the New York and New jersey to the Carolinas. The first move was to Wilminton, North Carolina. That center -- which will employ 1,200 -- will open in September. Now, Verizon has announced another call center. This one will be located in Charleston County, South Carolina. Charleston competed with Jacksonville and Savannah for this facility. South Carolina is providing $6.3 million in tax incentives to the company. Verizon will get a $2,500 per employee tax credit ($2.1 million) and $4.2 million in additional job development tax credit that is payable over ten years. Read more posted by Ed | Iowa will try to fix its Values Fund The governor has called for a special session of the legislature on September 7 to fix the Iowa Values Fund. In June, the Iowa Supreme Court nullified the Values Fund --- a $503 million pool designed to accelerate business development in the state. A tentative deal between the governor and the legislature has led the governor to call the special session. Nothing is set in stone. The details still need to be worked out. Read more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, August 29, 2004 Here's the latest on the economy. US economic soft patch sparks debate on outlook Middle-class jobs are missing from the United States economy Coming Soon: The Vanishing Work Force Economic fallout of $50 a barrel Bush's Jobs Albatross Bush's problem: an uneven economy Consumers cautious, but hopeful about U.S. economy GDP: Growth Down, Hopes Up Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 30 Leading Economic Indicators Continue To Rise posted by Ed | Angel network in North Carolina builds a buzz Saturday, August 28, 2004 Angel investing is getting some traction, twenty-five years after it first started in New Hampshire. (University of New Hampshire Professor William Wetzel coined the term "angel investor". He borrowed the term from the early 1900s' practice whereby wealthy businessmen would invest in Broadway productions. Today "Angels" typically offer expertise, experience and contacts in addition to money.) One good example is the Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network (BRAIN). Jim Roberts send along these links to learn more about BRAIN: EDA's magazine Economic Development America. The Summer 2004 issue is devoted to new ED approaches in rural america. And article on BRAIN appears on page 17. Download the issue: Go Entrepreneur Magazine: BRAIN in Entrepreneur Magazine on page 2: Go eWeek Magazine, Red Hat Execs Talk on Profiting from 'Free Software': Go Triangle Tech Journal, Investor profile: Blue Ridge Angel Investment Network: Go posted by Ed | "You may be the speaker, but you're not on our list" Auto-Tech, automotive industry trade conference issued a press release this week that Don Jakeman, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation would be their keynote speaker. There's only one problem: The man's name is Don Jakeway. Read more. posted by Ed | Reorganizing ED in Flint, MI One of the fall-outs of the recession and slow recovery has been consolidations among economic development organizations. The pressure is particularly heavy in the slow-growth industrial regions. Toledo, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland have all been going through reorganizations of one sort or another. Add Flint, Michigan to the list. Read more. posted by Ed | Reacting to the big boxes in Dallas Dallas is fighting against the big boxes, but there's one problem: the city has no comprehensive plan. As a result, it's relying on development moratoriums as a way to slow things down. It's a short term strategy that doesn't work all that well. Read more. posted by Ed | Creating a quality place in downtown Kansas City Building a competitive community means, in part, building quality, connected places. Downtown Kansas City is seeing a rebirth of downtown housing. Now, the city's civic leaders are focusing on promoting retail development downtown. Here's a good overview of their strategy. Read more. posted by Ed | A dilemma in Galesburg What would you do? Galesburg, IL is about to lose their Maytag plant, and county officials believe that the company owes more than $1 million in property taxes. If you were an EDPro in Galesburg, would you recommend suing for recovery? Find out what's going to happen. Read more posted by Ed | Michigan streamlines permitting Michigan's Governor Granholm believes that she has taken some common sense steps to make it easier to do business in her state. Streamlining permitting saves time and money. According to the governor, a manufacturer used to take over a year to get the right permits for an expansion. Now it's about six months. Read more. Visit Michigan Timely Application & Permit Service posted by Ed | Kentucky governor wants to focus on education Friday, August 27, 2004 Kentucky's first Republican governor in 32 years is focusing on education reform. Expanding the role of universities in economic development is one idea he wants to promote. But, thusfar, his ideas still are in the early stage of coming together. Last week, the governor held a summit on education reform. Read more. posted by Ed | Wireless clouds and zones According to new research by the University of Georgia, the majority of broadband wireless systems are being designed for community enhancement, not revenue generation. The research divides the wireless world into "zones" and "clouds". A zone is group of hot spots that are managed as a group, so a user can log in with a single user name and password. A cloud offers coverage across a specific geographic area, like a town or city center. According to the research, 43 percent of zones and 26 percent of clouds were created to stimulate economic development. While the research is not comprehensive, it does highlight the emerging new infrastrcutures of economic development. Read more. posted by Ed | Iowa's angel investor initiative Thursday, August 26, 2004 Iowa has a good idea going. It is propomoting the development of angel networks by providing a legal template. In addition, If the fund is capitalized at a minimum of $500,000, has qualified investors, and invests in two qualified companies in three years, investors may apply for Iowa Tax Credits. Herte's an example of how an angel group formed in Lee County (population 38,000). Read more. You can learn more about Iowa's Regional Angel Investor Network (RAIN) initiative on this page. The challenge of forming angel investor networks on a small scale is deal flow. Some investors will become discouraged, so it is important to manage expectations. The key is not to look for a few high growth businesses, but to change the local climate to encourage entrepreneurial networks. An angel investor group is just one of the nodes in this network. posted by Ed | Manufacturing in Florida If you are interested in learning more about manufacturing in Florida, here is a good overview article. posted by Ed | Microloans in rural New York Thompkins County, NY, located upstate near Ithaca, is launching a microloan program. The idea promotes the development of small businesses located in rural areas. To be eligible fo rthe loans, applicants must complete an 11 week business planning course. Read more. posted by Ed | RTP takes the temperature of entrepreneurs Wednesday, August 25, 2004 The Council for Entrepreneurial Development represents a leading edge entrepreneurial support organization. Based in Research Triangle Park, it provides a range of successful initiatives to support high growth entrepreneurs. One good practice: CED completes an annual satisfaction survey. You can read about the latest survey here. And, you can download the report. posted by Ed | Helping Michigan's manufacturers Here's a simple, common sense idea. On September 16, a local community college will host an event that gathers in one room all the resources to help Michigan manufacturers. Read more. The 3 hour session will focus on Six Sigma, quality certifications, and lean manufacturing design. The Michigan Manufaturing technology Center is putting together the event. posted by Ed | Trying to get a rural road built Getting a rural road built is a tough, multi-year process. To market its project, one rural community in Virginia has turned to computer animation. Read more. posted by Ed | Manufacturing: Some reason for optimism According to this article from Minnesota, some manufacturers are starting to see gains. Here's the assessment of University of St. Thomas Professo Fred Zimmerman, who has been studying national trends: "There is cause to be guardedly optimistic. The better companies are more likely to expand than the misfits that are poorly run. The good companies are going to expand some. But they will be cautious because they are not sure how long this will last." Read more posted by Ed | The drumbeat against big boxes gets louder Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Christian Gibbons in Littleton, CO passes along this article to his e-mail list. For those of you who do not know, Christian is the thought leader behind the concept of economic gardening, an entrepreneurial approach to economic development, pioneered in Littleton. Learn more. Subscribe to Christian's e-mail list from this page. The sentiments against Wal-Mart -- and other big box retailers -- are growing in certain towns and cities. The strategy of choice are ordinances that restrict these big boxes. Read more. PBS has aired a good two part series on Wal-Mart. You can read about it here. posted by Ed | Coping with the loss of call centers Some call centers are moving overseas. At least that's thec ase with the centers operated by Sykes Enterprise. Here's how two towns are dealing with the impact of outsourcing. Read more. At the same time, migrating call centers to lower cost locations has its risks, especially when it comes to providing technical support. Read more posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, August 22, 2004 Here are the articles that can keep you smart about the economy. Greenspan killed economic growth Leading indicators drop in July Leading Indicators, Jobless Claims Fall U.S. Poverty Likely Rose in 2003, Income Gap Wider Rising health premiums factor into sickly job growth Analysts debate who creates jobs Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 23 posted by Ed | Fairfax opens offices in Israel, India Saturday, August 21, 2004 Fairfax County Economic Development Authority has opened offices in Israel and India. They are interested in gaining access to technology companies interested in expanding into the U.S. Read more. Fairfax County claims that it is the first county to open an office in India. Read more. posted by Ed | New program to help Pittsburgh manufacturers Innovation Works, a state-funded program to accelerate innovation in Southwest Pennsylvania, is launching a new program to assist manufacturers. The initaitve provides financial assistance to manufacturers to improve their production process. Learn more. The board has been reviewing Innovation Works' mission following complaints that the group has not been effective. Innovation Works is a publicly funded non-profit that invests in early stage technology companies to help the economic development of southwestern Pennsylvania, and it is one of four Ben Franklin Technology Centers across the state. Innovation Works says it invested more than $18 million in 57 companies that created more than 400 local jobs and attracted more than $180 million in follow-on financing between January 2000 and December 2003. But the board has been reviewing Innovation Works' mission following complaints that the group has not been effective. posted by Ed | Expansion of Indiana's broadband infrastructure Here's an update on Indiana's broadband deployment. The interesting aspect of this article is where it appeared. Newspapers in North Dakota, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Texas picked up the story. The issue of broadband access has clearly emerged as a major economic development issue for rural areas. posted by Ed | Heartburn over biotech ratings Some civic leaders in Maryland are continuing to have difficulty adjusting to the fact that North Carolina has overtaken the state in major biotech ratings. For years, Maryland ranked third, behind California and Massachusetts. Now it's fourth. The best advice comes from Paul Mauritz, director of technology strategy and business development for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development: "If you spend all your time trying to manage your position in rankings you tend to lose sight of the ball." Read more. Take the example of the Rockville Economic Development Corporation. They are moving ahead with a bioinformatics incubator. Learn more. posted by Ed | TVA certifies two mega sites for auto manufacturing Last March, TVA launched a program to certify large industrial sites for auto manufacturing. The idea is to save time and money for auto site selectors. The megasite certification program focuses on sites with a minimum of 700 acres of contiguous developable land and key infrastructure capabilities. McCallum Sweeney Consulting developed the certification criteria. This week, TVA announced certification of two sites, one in Kentucky and one in Mississippi. Read more. A third site near Chattanooga is close to certification. Read more. posted by Ed | Traverse City's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship Traverse City, MI is launching Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship. The institute combines the innovative mixture of creative and business resources in the Traverse City area. This idea could serve as a useful model, not just in smaller cities. It is similar to creative incubators now operating in the U.K. and New Zealand. Traverse City received $100,000 from Michigan's Cool Cities initiative to get the institute off the ground. Learn more. posted by Ed | Minnesota's rural summit Last week, Minnesota's Rural Summit took place in Hibbing, in the Iron Range near Duluth. The governor spoke and promoted the idea of innovation as a key to rural economic development strategy. Read more. Prior to the summit, the governor's JOBZ plan -- a type of enterprise zone for rural Minnesota -- received mixed reviews. Read more. posted by Ed | "Incentives will never make a bad site good" Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Here's a good article that provides some insights into the site selection process. Clark Gillespy, an executive at Fluor, spoke to civic leaders in Knoxville this week. He outlined the process Fluor follows with its clients in the site selection process. Learn more. posted by Ed | Toyota makes a major R&D commitment to Michigan Michigan got some good news this week. Toyota announced plans to expand its research and development activities in the state. Toyota's investment could translate into several thousand jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. Learn more. Governor Granholm hopes to attract more high-tech automotive operations to Michigan to help offset a steady erosion in manufacturing jobs. She recently announced a six point plan to keep auto industry jobs in the state. posted by Ed | Celebrating Rural Georgia The Celebrating Rural Georgia conference took place this week. It's part of a broader effort to explore new appraoches to economic development in rural counties. Learn more. posted by Ed | Maine makes progress on building an innovation economy Maine is making progress in building its innvoation economy, but it has a long way to go. Maine spends 0.88 percent of its gross state product -- the value at retail price of goods and services produced by a state -- on research and development; New England spends 3.6 percent, while the country spends 2.68 percent. There's a deeper concern: what is the right mix of innovation investments for the state? To help answer this key question, the state has recently created the Office of Innovation to coordinate efforts across the government. Read more. You can download a copy of the state's most recent indicators report from this page. posted by Ed | Nebraska's 2 year colleges promote their impact Tuesday, August 17, 2004 A new in Nebraska report underscores the importance of investing in community colleges. 90% of Nebraska's community college graduates stay in the state. What's more, the study authors conclude that Nebraska makes $17.73 on every dollar it invests in community colleges. Read more posted by Ed | Corvallis hopes to establish nano hub Oregon has put together an innovative partnership to compete in the nanotech race. Not a major research center, the state has formed a collaboration among its universities. Corvallis hopes to use the partnership to leverage itself into a significant hub for nanotech business development. Learn more. posted by Ed | New Cowboys' stadium announced A 75,000 seat football stadium will be built in Arlington, TX. The public sector will pay half of the $650 million faciltiy. Public officals are already pumping the economic impact: $238 million annually. (With 8 regular season football games and 75,000 seats, that works out to an economic impact of $397 per seat. Throw in an exhibition game, and the number drops to $352...It still looks high to me, unless we start making some wild assumptions about multipliers.) Read more. Why not Dallas? The mayor wasn't willing to pay for hapf the stadium. "We couldn't agree. They made it very clear that they were going to find a town that would pay for a significant amount of the stadium. I made it clear that we weren't willing to pay for half their stadium." Read more. posted by Ed | Mayo-university partnership slowed by state legislature Often it appears that state legislatures are the obstacle to economic development, not the promoters. Here's a good case in point: a proposed parternship between the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota has been delayed by the state legislature's inaction. Mayo has already put up its money. The state is slow to meet its commitments. Learn more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, August 15, 2004 The political season is heating up, and so the economy is moving center stage. Here's the latest. Job Growth Needed to Unlock Wallets Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 16 Thanks to oil, economy faces headwinds in political season U. Mich.: Consumer confidence down in August Trade deficit sets new high as wholesale prices edge up July retail sales rebound smaller than expected Poll finds voters take a dim view of Bush handling of economy Bush walking thin line with economy talk Analysts see Fed pushing ahead with September hike posted by Ed | Plans announced for Arkansas steel mill Yesterday, news slipped out that a $700 million steel mill is being planned for Arkansas. The mill would employ 450 people. A former top executive with Nucor will head the new company. Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, will provide some of the financing. Read more. posted by Ed | Tech transfer amendment in Arizona stalled Proponents of a constitutional amendment to easxe technology transfer in the state are having trouble getting momentum. Proposition 102 would lift the current ban on public universities holding a financial interest in commercial ventures. Some conservatives oppose the move. Ballot measures like this one are tough to pass. You can count on 20% hard core opposition. That means you have to get 51% from the remaining 80%, no easy task. Read more. From the looks of the unimpressive campaign web site proponents of the measure need some help. posted by Ed | Georgia opens agriculture innovation center The University of Georgia's Tifton campus will be the site of the state's third major innovation center. The Tifton center, located 200 miles south of Atlanta, will focus on agricultural innovation. Learn more. Georgia is doing a good job in engaging its smaller cities and rural areas in the economic transformations we must all face. Here's a good quote from the lead EDPro in the state, Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Craig Lesser: "I don't know where you can find more dedicated entrepreneurs than in agriculture. America was born on the farm.... The creativity, the sense of survivorship came from that agricultural work ethic." posted by Ed | Pittsburgh lands a development center Pittsburgh has scored with a new electro-optical development facility for Royal Philips Electronics, the large Dutch electronics company. Read more. posted by Ed | Bet you can't read all this Can Hampton Roads come together? The newspaper sure hopes so. The region needs to come together, but civic leadership has not been strong enough to pull together the region. Read more. It's a bit confusing for outsiders. Here's how Word IQ sorts it all out: Hampton Roads is the name for the metropolitan area in southeastern Virginia that surrounds the Hampton Roads channel. Locals subdivide the area into two regions. Most of the region's population lives in South Hampton Roads or, more often, the Southside (not to be confused with Southside Virginia, a separate region farther inland), made up of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. The northern portion of the area is typically called the Peninsula, after the Virginia Peninsula. The main cities on the Peninsula are Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg, and Poquoson. Got that? Now go back and read the editorial (which you probably skipped). Are you still with it? All this underscores a point: Outside a region, nobody much cares about all the little problems that keeps a region's civic leadership from working together. posted by Ed | Sematech's trial ballon In Austin, Sematech is floating a proposal for $100 million expansion, supported by $45 million in property tax abatements, according to this news report. posted by Ed | Duluth shifts strategy Richard Florida is a controversial figure in economic development. Some of his ideas are whacky, and he's not long on practical solutions. But he does deserve credit for shifting the debate from business recruitment to brainpower. Here's a good example from Duluth. posted by Ed | Struggling with Big Things Both Sacramento, CA and Arlington, TX are struggling with the Big Thing Theory of economic development. (The Big Thing Theory holds that you need Big Things to generate economic development. Nice idea, but it doesn't work.) Both cities are planning Big Things as a way to revive their economies. In Sacramento, it's a basketball arena for the Kings. In Arlington, they want a stadium for the Dallas Cowboys. Sacramento could probably survive a misguided decision to subsidize a sports arena. It's economy is anchored by government employment. In Arlington, the consequences will be more severe. The city's finances are facing a serious structural deficit. Deep subsidies for a sports stadium (especially a pro football stadium with so few event days) will not help. posted by Ed | NY extends broken Empire Zones There's good evidence that New York's Empire Zones don't work. But that did not stop the state legislature from extending them. And it also did not stop some misguided EDPros from claiming that these incentives create tens of thousands of jobs (despite the fact that they have no evidence to prove it). Read more. You can also download the most recent audits of the program from this page. posted by Ed | Jacksonville's incentive policy Friday, August 13, 2004 In part because it it is a public-led economic development organization, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission does an exemplary job communicating with the public. Here is an update on how the Commission will be changing its approach to economic development. In addition to new metrics, the Commission will be focusing on how to build small businesses in distressed areas. Learn more. The JEC has published two useful documents on incentives. The first is a brochure that explains incentives to the public. The second is a detailed incentive policy statement. Both are useful models. posted by Ed | Montgomery County, MD opens a second incubator Montgomery County, MD launched a second incubator last month, and it is already 70% full. The first incubator has graduated an average of over five new companies a year since its launch in 1999. Read more. The new incubator will become part of a network of 24 incubators inthe Greater Washington region. Download a directory. posted by Ed | Mississippi university presidents looking for larger role In some regions and states, the most innovative economic development leadership comes from college and university campuses. Entrepreneurial leaders are pioneering new relationships and connections. The presidents of Mississippi's public universities are stepping forward to claim a larger leadership role in economic development. As one offical noted, "The best opportunity we have is to work together and to share our resources and influence." Read more. posted by Ed | North Carolina wants to keep motorsports North Carolina is responding to the growth in motorsports in other states. Mindful that other states wiuld like to lure, the governor is trying to invest in the industry. But so far, financial commitments are relatively small. A $50 million planned ressearch and development complex will likely receive between $2 million and $4 million. Read more. posted by Ed | Still trying to find a location for Scripps in Florida Thursday, August 12, 2004 Two biotech park developers are bankrolling a PR campaign to put pressure on the Palm Beach County Commission. They want the Commission to select a site for the new Scripps research facility. Read more. posted by Ed | Michigan report tries to raise questions Authors of a new study of Michigan's economy are trying to trigger a conversation about the state's economic development strategy. The study argues that Michigan should shift its focus away from manufacturing jobs and toward "knowledge based" industries. As one of the authors notes, "Our purpose in doing this study is to start a conversation about whether Michigan needs a new economic-development agenda. That's not on anyone's radar screen now." Among the questions the report raises: Can Michigan, in any substantial way, affect the long-term trend of the loss of manufacturing employment? Should Michigan make the preservation of manufacturing jobs its economic priority? How can Michigan both attract and grow knowledge-based industries and prepare, retain, and attract young professionals? Read more. Download a copy of the report. From the looks of it, the report has successfully started to raise some issues. Here's another view. posted by Ed | Mississippi finds a Blueprint Mississippi's governor Barbour received a new Blueprint for the state's economic development earlier this week. You can learn more about the Blueprint from this page. You can also download the executive summary. posted by Ed | Toledo struggles to redefine its economic development efforts Wednesday, August 11, 2004 Toledo is struggling to reorganize its economic development efforts. The answers aren't simple, because the region's leadership has not come to a unified view of how the region should compete. Equally serious, trust levels among the leadership appear to be relatively low. The leadership appears to be relying too much on outside consultants. They are missing a fundamental insight: Regional economic development is a process, not an event. Reports and reorganizations will not provide answers in the absence of new civic habits of collaboration. Read more. These habits can start to form if the leadership puts aside organizational questions and focuses, instead, on how the region's strengths can be leveraged to compete. Structure follows strategy, not the other way around. Toledo makes an interesting contrast to Buffalo, where the regionalism debate appears to be far more productive. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a Deal: Hubbell Lighting Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Asheville, NC recently competed for a new headquarters for Hubbell Lighting. Asheville lost to Greenville, SC. Here are the details of Asheville's package. Read more. posted by Ed | Illinois expands tax incentive program Illinois is expanding its tax credit program to include smaller firms. The idea is to encourage "traded" businesses to expand in the state. (Traded firms are businesses that derive a majority of their revenue from outside the state.) Learn more. This legislation highlights one of the major problems with tax incentives: they tend to expand over time. In addition, tax incentives add complexity to the administration of the tax law. This Illinois statute provides an excellent example. To qualify for the credit, an Illinois business must prove that the expansion in Illinois would not have occurred without the credit. To do that, applicants are required to submit projected costs for the expansion in Illinois and a competing state. The analysis must include the costs of labor, utilities, taxes and the cost differential of another state's incentive programs. posted by Ed | Kerry wants to slow BRAC If elected, Senator Kerry says he will slow the the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Read more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, August 08, 2004 Here are the best articles from last week. Help Wanted: Economy adds more low-paying jobs Vital Signs for the Week of Aug. 9 Oil puts a drag on the economy Silicon Valley's economic slump erodes traditional optimism Anemic job growth adds to economic worries Floyd Norris: What fuels malaise in job market? Online sales growing strong, seen over 300 billion dollars by 2010 Taking a spin in America's new jobs engine is pretty scary It's still the economy, stupid Jobs: July's Stunning Disappointment Bush's jobs deficit posted by Ed | The challenges of regional marketing Saturday, August 07, 2004 Regional marketing is the toughest area in which to coordinate regional economic development efforts. It all sounds happy and healthy on paper. "We need to collaborate to compete." But when it comes to prospects, they can only land in one place. Few regions have tax sharing arrangements in place to enable local communities to share in the benefits and costs of a big investment, no matter where it lands in a region. The Triad Region of North Carolina is under this kind of pressure right now. They are facing the real test of regional cooperation. Dell is likely to put a big facility in the Triad region, but it is not clear where it will land. Read more. Over the long term, regional marketing efforts generate pressures that can eventually pull these efforts apart. In the short term, the issue is trust and transparency (which must be balanced against the client's requests for confidentiality). All the partners in the alliance must feel that they have a fair look at all the prospects. Over the long term, the challenge comes in balancing the equities. Some portions of a region will benefit more than others. Effective regional marketing requires an ongoing effort to balance these fiscal pressures. For example, in Charleston, SC, Berkeley County is getting most of the prospects, Dorchester County has been getting a lot of the new residents (added costs), and Charleston County has been paying the most of the bill for the regional marketing efforts. These pressures erode the base of support for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. posted by Ed | More evidence on the Thing Theory Here's another article that suggests that the Thing Theory of economic development -- the notion that you build economic development with big investments in convention centers, stadiums, casinos -- doesn't work. The folks in Arlington, TX are considering a new stadium for the Cowboys, but they can't come up with a reason why their existing investment in the Rangers stadium made any economic sense. When asked what economic benefit the city received from the Rangers stadium, the mayor responded, "I can't really tell you." At least he's honest. Read more (Free registration required.) For more on why Big Things don't create economic prosperity, see this report from some researchers at Penn State. Here they conclude that building a Big Thing -- in this case a fiber optic telecommunicatiuons infrastructure -- was not enough to trigger an IT cluster in Humboldt County, CA. As the lead writer concludes, "People want a magic bullet, but creating a knowledge economy involves more than infrastructure. There has to be coordination among public policy, cultural attitudes and economic initiatives or efforts are fragmented." In other words...Collaboration and networks. Read more. posted by Ed | Local incentives? Just say, "No" Friday, August 06, 2004 Gerald Gordon, the top EDPro in Fairfax County, VA has written a good opinion article on why local tax incentives are a slippery slope. Read more. There's little evidence that tax incentives work at all. (Local taxes represent such a small portion of a company's cost structure, why should they?) Learn more. More important, local incentives undercut a community's ability to make longer term investments in schools, infrastructure and services. Add to that the problems of equity and risk assessment that Dr. Gordon raises, and you have a the set-up for a policy headache, as Wichita is discovering. Read more about Witchita. posted by Ed | Corporate sponsors: Business start-up classes We're all scrounging for money these days. Corporate sponsorships provide an option to consider. If you can come up with programming that delivers potential new accounts to corporate sponsors, you can define a mutual benefit. You get sponsorship money, and the sponsor gets an inexpensive marketing pipeline. You are delivering potential accounts to their doorstep. One way to make the sale: convert your sponsorship proposal into a "cost per lead". In most cases, direct programs provide clearer benefits than other types of marketing. Another strategy: Use corporate sponsorships to cover all your out-of-pocket costs. Don't go ahead until you get these sponsors lined up. That way, you'll never lose money on an event. In six communities in Maine, Key Bank is sponsoring an adult education training program for people interested in starting a business. It's a model for other communities to gain corporate sponsorship of an important initiative. (Contact information is in the story.) Read more. posted by Ed | Battling an image problem Civic leaders in Baytown, TX are confronting a difficult challenge: Combatting an image that does not line up with reality. Read more. The challenge focuses on a major dimension of economic development that we rarely explore: framing (or, cognitions). How we think about a situation limits our range of actions. If we see manufacturing as a dying industry, for example, it's unlikely that we will see the opportunities that arise at the intersection of manufacturing and medical instrumentation. If we see our Main Street as dying, it is unlikely that we will see the value of heritage tourism. How we think determines how we feel, and how we feel drives our capacity to act. What is true for individuals, also holds for communities. The stories we tell each other about our community define the scope of our actions. Equaally important, our communities will move in the direction in which we have conversations. If our conversations focus on finding problems, we will find them. Chances are, we will move in a downward and endless cycle of linking problem to problem to problem. At the same time, if we have conversations about opportunities and collaboration, chances are we will find them. posted by Ed | Trying to establish Florida's "Research Coast" Trying to take advantage of The Scripps Research Institute's plans to open a campus in north Palm Beach County, the three counties of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River are marketing themselves as a future home for biotechnology companies and related businesses. There's one problem, though: not enough available sites. Read more. posted by Ed | Michigan's effort to keep auto jobs Thursday, August 05, 2004 Earlier this week, Governor Granholm announced a six point strategy to keep automotive jobs in Michigan. Read more. Manufacturers supported the governor's initiative. Read more. Today, the Detroit Chamber also praised the governor's remarks. The chamber noted that the governor was in line with the recommendations issued by the chamber in June. The chamber produced a report on the impact of offshore outsourcing on Michigan manufacturing. Read more. Download the chamber report. posted by Ed | Arkansas group focuses on the wrong target A coalition in Arkansas wants to loosen the rules governing general obligation bonds. They are pushing a constitutional amendment to enable the issuance of bonds without voter approval. Read more. Time would be better spent focusing on upgrading education across the board. For example, in Arkansas only 11% of high school seniors have taken an upper level math course, compared to 56% for top states. Only 24% of the 18-24 year olds are enrolling in college, compared to 41% among top states. Source: Measuring Up. Brainpower, not financing tools, will determine Arkansas' economic development trajectory. Governor Richardson in New Mexico has got the right idea. He is promoting the New Mexico Laptop Initiative. His plan is to give every seventh grader in the state a laptop computer. His vision is to make sure that everyone coming out of the schools has the opportunity and knowledge to work effectively with computers. Smart. Read more. A recent study in Henrico County, VA demonstrated the benefits of a laptop program. In one survey conducted as part of the study, 97% of mathematics and science teachers reported that the computers have helped students to learn these challenging subjects. Learn more. posted by Ed | Pennsylvania's Keystone Innovation Zones Wednesday, August 04, 2004 Pennsylvania's Keystone Innovation Zones represent one of the more interesting economic development initiatives this year. Here are a couple of articles that have appeared in the past week. Article 1. Article 2. posted by Ed | Marketing at Corenet If you've never been to a Corenet meeting to see how money is thrown around on marketing, read this article. It follows the New York delegation to a couple of events. posted by Ed | Illinois launches VC fund Illinois has launched a new intiative to invest $50 million into venture capital funds. To minimize risk, the Illinois Technology Development Fundwill not invest directly in companies. Instead, it will invest in venture funds based in Illinois or operating here. The state's investment will be limited to no more than 10 percent of a fund's assets. Read more. posted by Ed | The expansion of wireless in Charlotte Here's an article that explains how smaller towns around Charlotte are beginning to ride the wireless wave. Read more. posted by Ed | Durham releases arts master plan Arts and cultural developmeent are moving to the center stage of economic development. The process started in the late 1990's when the Blair government in the UK issued a report on the "creative cluster". Learn more. That triggered a lively foucs on the creative sector among a number of UK cities. A couple of years later, the idea moved to the U.S. with the New England Foundation for the Arts. Learn more.Now we see the idea taking hold in the U.S. Providence, RI -- home of the Rhode Island School of Design -- has embraced creativity as a core strategy in its economic development. Now more civic leaders are taking their arts community seriously. For the past year or so, I have been keeping an eye on Durham, NC. Here's an example of an arts community that has engaged in a broad process to define the future of its arts community. Earlier this week, they released the Durham Cultural Master Plan. Read more about the plan from the project web site. Go. Read an article on the plan's release. Go. Or, download the July draft of the plan. posted by Ed | Renewable energy and economic development Renewable energy -- most notably wind power -- is coming into focus as an economic development issue. This week, Vermont is holding a meeting on renewables. Read more. Here's another commentary from the Midewest. Go. Movement on renewables faces a lot of hurdles, though. For example, in Vermont, environmentalists are quite so sure that they like the idea of wind towers in the wilderness. Read more. posted by Ed | Iowa releases bioscience roadmap Governor Tom Vilsack released Battelle's bioscience strategy for Iowa yesterday. The plan recommends that Iowa increase funding for university research and development from $291 million in 2001 to $700 million by 2010 and more than $900 million by 2014. You can read about it here and here. You can also download the report. posted by Ed | The "big thing" may not be so after all Tuesday, August 03, 2004 The Thing Theory of Economic Development holds that you need a Big Thing to promote economic development. Just about any Big Thing will do: a convention center, a really big convention, a casino, a bunch of casinos, a stadium, a bunch of stadiums (the Olympics). It turns out, though, that these Big Things don't really help economic development much at all. In Boston, the Democratic Convention produced far less economic impact than projected. Read more. (Free registration required.) In Athens, the numbers for the Olympics don't add up either. Read more. In a global economy where value is embedded in knowledge, brainpower matters. Innovation and entrepreneurship networks matter (to translate brainpower into wealth). But Big Things don't matter much at all. posted by Ed | Connecting with China Monday, August 02, 2004 Regular readers of EDPro Weblog have seen examples of state and local governments engaging in their own foreign economic policies: forming the connections that will drive their economies forward. China is a big opportunity now. With foreign reserves piling up, the Chinese are starting to invest more heavily in the U.S. (just as the Japanese did in the 1980's). Articles today show what Arizona and Columbia, South Carolina are doing to connect with the Chinese. posted by Ed | Illinois invest $1 million in manufacturing centers When it comes to helping our small and mid-sized manufacturers, the feds have been flopping around like a fish on the deck. Meanwhile, Illinois has made a commitment of $1 million in additional state funds. Read more. posted by Ed | The emergence of innovation networks Here's a good article on how innovation networks are emerging in response to new, more sophisticated consumer demands. Read more. posted by Ed | |
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