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Personal note
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 The last week has been a stretch, so I'm behind on posting to EDPro. I've been collecting articles, but it takes time to sift through these articles and choose the best ones to post. As regular readers of EDPro know, we have been launching a new model of economic development this spring. We call it "open source economic development" to emphasize the role communities play in developing complex, transformative initiatives. This week, we've started teaching Open Source Economic Development. We've also been launching a new strategy following this model in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. We have also started conducting regional forums in Indiana. Finally, we are in the middle of a transformation project with Lexington. I should be able to catch up in the next week or so, but this weekend, I'll be off on a yearly retreat with several of my college classmates. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Monday, March 20, 2006 Here are the articles on the economy from last week. A high-tech hotbed south of California Freeing Cities From Telco and Cable Monopolies Invest in corporate America. Just don't work there Analysis: Who stands to gain from Doha talks? Federal Reserve Beige Book presents benign picture of US economy Vital Signs for the Week of Mar. 20 U.S. Economy Expanding at `Moderate' Pace This Year, Fed Says Imbalances driven by markets, not policy: Bernanke posted by Ed | Incentives Watch Here are the incentives articles from last week.. Indiana enacted new business tax rules. Read more. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed new legislation to help semiconductor businesses. Read more. The Georgia legislature passed a bill restricting the power of the Public Service Commission to regulate broadband. Read more. New York is still having trouble with tracking incentives. The state auditor has been on the trail for a couple of years through examination of Empire Zones. Now the auditor has come to similar conclusions after looking at two county industrial development agencies near Buffalo. Read more. Nevada tried to recruit firms in San Diego, with mixed results. The homeless headed for the peanuts. Besides, there's no strong evidence of an exodus from California to Nevada. Read more. Oklahoma wants to zap Verizon for missing job targets. Read more. Notice that nukes are back? More talk of nuclear power. And talk about incentives is not far behind. Read more. posted by Ed | Six months after Katrina: A summary of GO Zone Act Six months after Katrina, we have time to look at where we stand. Sherry Vance, Director of Project Management Angelou Economics, has provided EDPro Weblog readers with a good summary of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005. Download a copy. President Bush signed this legislation into law on December 21, 2005. The GO Zone Act contains significant economic incentives to rebuild the Gulf Coast. As Sherry writes: "These economic incentives are so significant that any business considering an investment in any new, replacement or expanded operations, buildings or equipment within the GO Zone should consider how to employ these incentives to the fullest extent possible." In addition to Sherry's piece, here's a good article from Business Week. Read more. posted by Ed | The growing skills gap This story is being repeated in region after region across the country. Our schools are not turning out students with sufficiently high skills. The article comes from Rhode Island. Read more. If you want more background on this issue, read the book, The 2010 Meltdown. posted by Ed | Turning brainpower into wealth through innovation networks Here's an important note out of South Dakota. Last week, state and local EDPros launched the N2TEC Institute, or National Network for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. This pilot project represents a network of universities, industry and government agencies focused on turning university research into successful businesses. Read more. You can visit the web site here. You can also visit related sites Black Hills Vision and South Dakota's 2010 initiative. posted by Ed | Branding Central New York Part of building a globally competitive region comes in telling the story and developing the brand. The challenge is to define the core strengths of the region -- its uniquenss, its heritage -- and build off these strengths. The folks in Central New York -- around Utica -- are wrestling with this issue right now. Read more. As a general matter, EDPros in Australia and Europe have been better at branding. Some years ago, civic leaders in Pittsburgh invested in a branding strategy. Although the initiative did not launch as well as the sponsors had hoped, the initiative did develop a useful web site. You can visit it here. posted by Ed | Measuring the flow of federal ED dollars A report out of a think tank in Wisconsin measures the flow of federal economic development dollars into the states. By this yardstick, for example, Milwaukee ranks 36 of 50 metro regions in competitive grants. Read more. You can download a copy of the report on Milwaukee here. It gives you a good feel for the types fo federal economic development dollars flowing into a larger metro region. The more detailed report, issued last September, is here. posted by Ed | Web Watch: Network Kansas The Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship has launched its NetWork Kansas Web site, call center and assistance fund for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Visit the site. The site represents a network of more than 200 organizations that provide assistance to small businesses. In addition to accessing the Web site, entrepreneurs can call a toll free number to speak with a NetWork Kansas counselor to help research the network of resources and connect them to the right organizations. The Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 established the Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship to promote entrepreneurship in the state. posted by Ed | Wiring Houston and San Diego Wireless and broadband initiatives have been coming to the big cities. Here's what's happening in Houston and San Diego. For additional perspective see this commentary: Freeing Cities From Telco and Cable Monopolies. posted by Ed | Shifting to a new mindset in the Midwest Sunday, March 19, 2006 Making the transition from an older industrial economy -- focused on hierarchical organizations and moving materials -- to the new networked economy is not easy. Here's an article from Minesota that outlines the challenges in making the shift. Read more. A good quote: "If we are going to be successful, we have to embrace change. Change and disruption are good. We can leverage and grow from it. Yes, things are hard but with that hardship comes opportunity." We see the same difficult transition happening in Detroit. There, Quicken Loans is considering building a headquarters downtown. A newspaper commentator highlights the different way Quicken does business compared to lumbering auto companies: "I mean, this is a company whose credo and real-world feel is all about excitement, execution and empowering employees to fix what's broken, doesn't work or is communicated incorrectly -- and doing it NOW -- because that's what delights consumers, builds business and then the money follows." Read more. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a Deal: Kia in Georgia Kia Motors Corp. announced they were building a new plant in Georgia, and here is a good article that gives background on the deal. Read more. posted by Ed | Cutting back on higher ed Here is a good commentary from Rhode Island on the growing connection between education and economic development. Read more. Unfortunately, the story in Rhode Island is repeated across the country. While we stand on the threshold of a new economy powered by brainpower, state legislatures have been shifting budgets away from our higher education institutions. To make up the gap, schools have been raising tuitions. You can see how your state measures up from this site. posted by Ed | Guarding our ports from the mountains EDPro Jim Roberts sent along this article. A cluster of port secrutiy firms is emerging in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Go figure. Read more. posted by Ed | Promoting manufacturing Here's a good overview of the program to promote to manufacturing by the National Association of Manufacturers. Read more. the program is focused on the 3 "C's": building competitiveness through innovation, holding down costs and encouraging manufacturing careers. posted by Ed | The importance of innovation to the Bay State A new report by the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative underscores the importance of supporting technology entrepreneurs to build prosperity for the state's future. Read more. You can learn more about the Collaborative from their web site. posted by Ed | More on Kalamazoo's Promise Here's more on one most innovative economic development programs in the country, Kalamazoo's Promise. The initiative provides college tuition for students who graduate from public high school and attended public university in Michigan. Read more. posted by Ed | Talking cooperation in Chattanooga and North Georgia Some regional discussions are taking place between Chattanooga, Tennessee and North Georgia. The idea is to help civic leaders in Catoosa County, GA establish themselves as the Gateway to Georgia. Read more. An interesting note from the article: Chattanooga operates one of the more successful incubators in the country, Chattanooga’s Business Development Center. Since its founding, the Center has graduated 346 companies and has generated 2,800 jobs. posted by Ed | University research and innovation Thursday, March 16, 2006 Here's a good article on the role of research universities in innovation. The article is based on a recent research paper completed at W. P. Carey School of Business. Read more. posted by Ed | Toyota moves Some significant moves by Toyota last week: Toyota is shifting around work between Indiana and Kentucky. Read more here, here and here. More than $22 million in incentives were involved in bringing Toyota to Lafayette, IN. Read more. Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) will build a new auto parts plant in Simcoe, Ontario. Read more. posted by Ed | Jacksonville's Blueprint for Prosperity The City of Jacksonville, FL has released its new strategy, Blueprint for Prosperity. Among other initiatives, the strategy promises that every student in Duval County who needs a mentor or a tutor would have one. You can read more about it here. You can visit the web site here and download the reports from this page. posted by Ed | Unshackling Upstate New York A business group in upstate New York is moving to exercise more private sector leadership on economic development decisions. Read more. Visit the web site. You can also download the report. The report argues for a new approach to economic development. The report notes: "Despite significant and prolonged tax-supported spending, the impact on the state’s economy has been meager. With the exception of localized achievements, New York’s employment statistics demonstrate that the state economy has not responded to massive injections of taxpayer funds." Unfortunately, the report is weak on specifics. A better critique was issued recently by member of the state legislature, Joseph Morelle. This report focuses more precisely on the issue of innovation. Download the report. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, March 12, 2006 Here are some of the better articles that I came across. U.S. Economy: Productivity Declines, Labor Costs Rise Job Growth in U.S. Picks Up, Tops Forecasts Best companies ride changes Vital Signs for the Week of Mar. 13 The Program To Promote Manufacturing Small Firms Work As Heavy Lifters Of Area Economy Ports Deal Collapse Seen Having Little Global Trade Impact posted by Ed | Incentives Watch Here are some articles on incentives from last week. A newspaper in Washington State explores thee question, "What is a job worth?" Read more. Sometimes the best incentives come in making life easier for business. Here's an intersting look at San Jose's Small Business Ambassador program. Read more. The HQ for Southwest airlines may be in play. Read more. Maryland's governor is responding quickly to the rumors. Read more. Austin is thinking about incentives for HP. Read more. posted by Ed | Building an entrepreneurial region Akron's leaders are starting to move with big ideas for encouraging entrepreneurship. Read more. Here's the challenge: Encouraging entrepreneurship is not just about training people in the skills of starting and managing their own business. The real task comes in building the open networks that speed business development. Through trusted networks, entrepreneurs can quickly test ideas, assemble resources, and launch products. The focus should be on stimulating open networks of innovation. In this effort, social network analysis plays a critical role, as private companies have already figured out. Read more. (If you want to learn more about building an entrepreneurial region, come to our workshop later this month.) posted by Ed | New approaches to economic development Here is some background on our upcoming workshop on new approaches to economic development. Read more. We will be presenting practical tools on how to apply some of the newest insights in corporate innovation to economic development. These approaches include social network analysis and a new model, Open Source Economic Development. One of our instructors, Valdis Krebs, is mentioned in this article from last week's Business Week. Read more. You will learn to use Valdis' software tool that he has developed for EDPros. You can sign up on this site. posted by Ed | The role of utilities in economic development Utilities can play a vital role in economic development. Here's a good profile of the activities of Madison Gas & Electric to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. Read more. We need to stimulate innovation in our regional economies. More utilities should follow the model. posted by Ed | Don't do this at home Columbus, OH paid $900,000 for a cluster study. Read more. You can download the data from Porter's web site here. Cost: $250. Enough said. posted by Ed | Regional collaboration in South Carolina Here's an example of regional collaboration that works. Ten years ago, three counties in southern South Carolina joined their economic development efforts. In 2004, they added a fourth county. Ther results, looking back, appear very goo. Read more. posted by Ed | Problems finding manufacturing workers We have a education system that seriously underperforms. We're producing far too many people with few skills needed by technically sophisticated, growth-oriented companies. At the same time, we have a popular misunderstanding of how manufacturing has evolved in this country. Manufacturing jobs are no longer dull, dirty and dangerous. They represent high skilled, high-paying occupations. This story in Minnesota can be repeated in many of the states of the Great Lakes. While manufacturers of laid off low skilled workers, they're having difficulty attracting and finding technically oriented workers. Read more. This problem will only get worse as the Baby Boom generation retires. In Wisconsin, state work force, officials are trying to address this strategy this challenge with a career letter strategy. Read more. In Northwest Indiana, the focus is on developing alternatives to college. Read more. posted by Ed | Phoenix builds global networks Line up the Greater Phoenix Economic Council as in other economic development organization that is moving to attract foreign investment. In the last six months, we've seen a number of regional development organizations making new commitments to building their global networks. Read more. posted by Ed | Wisconsin leaders travel to Denver In a commentary last week, the presidents of both the Madison,WI and the Milwaukee chambers of commerce joined to report on their recent visit to Denver. Along with 50 business, government, education, a nonprofit leaders from Wisconsin, the two chamber leaders visited Denver to understand how regional collaboration works there. Read more. posted by Ed | Kansas City's life sciences vision The Kansas City region has made a large commitment to biotechnology development. Here's a good interview with the chairman of the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute. The interview provides an overview of what's been going on in the region. Read more. posted by Ed | Two types of strategies In a recent presentation in Manchester, New Hampshire, economic development consultant Angelos Angelou outlined the importance of private sector engagement in successful economic development. Read more. His talk points to an important distinction that any people often miss. There are two basic strategies and economic development. Publicly-led, privately-supported economic develop projects tend to focus on large-scale infrastructure development. These projects include convention centers, industrial parks, brownfield remediation and other "big things". Economic development strategies also include another category of privately-led, publicly-supported strategies. These strategies are quite different. The Northern states have generally been focused on publicly-led strategies, while the Southern states have generally followed the opposite path. Transformative development happens when the two strategies work in tandem. Having worked both in the South and the North, my own view is that business leaders in the Southern states are more comfortable with the balancing. In the North, business leaders are generally still trying to figure this out. posted by Ed | Moving technology jobs to rural areas Some technology companies are moving jobs into rural areas in order to cut costs. As an alternative to outsourcing, this strategy opens new opportunities for rural communities. Read more. Last year, word of a new start-up in Arkansas, Rural Sourcing, hit the news. You can read more aboutthe firm here. Or, visit their web site. posted by Ed | Savannah's repositioning in creative industries In Savannah, the opening of a new center for the arts last week has change the landscape of the city. (Some in old Savannah are not so happy.) Some economic development professionals also hope that it will significantly add to the positioning of savanna as a center for knowledge-based businesses. Read more. posted by Ed | Measuring the child care industry A recent report from the University of Colorado provides a good profile of the child care industry in the state. As we increasingly face worker shortages, businesses are paying more attention to early childcare for a variety of reasons. On one level, childcare provided by employers helps attraqct quality employees, improve productivity, and reduce turnover. On another level, early childhood development, generates high public returns as economic development. Read more. posted by Ed | Pittsburgh's technology report The Pittsburgh technology Council has released its most recent report. It provides an overview of the technology economy in southwestern Pennsylvania. The report sets a good overview of the 13 county region, and it explores the development of technology industry clusters within the region. These clusters include information technology, advanced materials, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and environmental technology. Read more. Download a copy. posted by Ed | St. Louis retools a biotech initiative Thursday, March 09, 2006 Civic leaders in St. Louis are recasting BioGenerator, a two year old initiative to accelerate commercialization of biotechnology from the region's universities. Read more. The impulse is a good one. Figuring out what works is a continuous process. There are no textbooks. Even strategy consltants like Michael Porter or the Council on Competitiveness are frustratingly vague when it comes to the details of implementation. posted by Ed | Finding the right balance Wednesday, March 08, 2006 Building a strong economic base requires a balanced approach. Recruiting companies is not enough. Starting new companies is not enough. Building a creative place is not enough. Educating people is not enough. "Creative people" are not enough. We need all of these components (and a few more) in dynamic balance. The lack of balance in Massachusetts' life sciences development is becoming more apparent by the day. At least that is the perspecitve of one commentator. She notes, "Massachusetts has not made the strategic investments that California and North Carolina have in training bio-manufacturing workers." Read more. EDPros need the skills and abilities to see their regional economies as integrated systems, not simply a string of projects. Simple-minded "stove pipe" thinking -- "economic development" is different than "workforce development " is different than "community development" -- perpetuates our fragmented views os the world and distorts our ability to identify opportunities. (They are all around us, even in "depressed" economies.) Opportunites lie in the connections. And it is the new job of EDPros to design and make these connections. Weave networks. posted by Ed | Retirees as economic development targets Retirees are an attractive economic development target for some states. Here is a good overview article. Read more. Here's an article on the impact of retiress on upstate South Carolina. Read more. posted by Ed | New report on smaller manufacturers Tuesday, March 07, 2006 A new report outlines the future for small and mid-sized manufacturers. The Future Success of Small and Medium Manufacturers: Challenges and Policy Issues outlines two important trends that are shaping the future of these smaller manufacturers. First, large manufacturers are increasing their dependence on suppliers of parts as they streamline their operations to increase productivity. On the positive side, this trend opens new opportunities for supplier firms. At the same time, the pressures to reduce costs and to innovate are increasing. The second trend involves the development of increasingly sophisticated production in developing countries. Smaller U.S. manufacturers are facing increasingly sophisticated competition. In order to stay competitive, these companies have to offer value to their customers that low-cost overseas competition cannot match, such as proprietary, high-technology products, a willingness to customize, and fast turnaround times. This report mirrors the recent findings of the 2005 Georgia Maufacturing Survey. Learn more. posted by Ed | With some focused attention dropouts are preventable Most dropouts say they would have made it through high school with more challenging coursework, interesting classes and a little extra help. "This epidemic is a national disgrace because we know this problem is largely solvable," said John Bridgeland, who heads Civic Enterprises, the group that released a national survey released last week. The report, characterized as the most extensive of its type, found that nearly half of the 1 million students who drop out each year were simply bored with their classes. Most, who were only two years or less away from a diploma, said schools did not motivate them. Read more. Download the report. You can also visit the National Droput Prevention Center for some practical ideas to get started. One successful approach: Communities in Schools. posted by Ed | Best performing cities Monday, March 06, 2006 Milken Institute has released its report on the fastest growing metros. Among the findings: Florida has six of the top ten metros. The Southwest produced six of the top twenty metros. At the other end of the spectrum, Midwestern metros -- five in Michigan and four in Ohio -- occupy nine of the bottom ten spots on the index. You can download a copy of the report. Download. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, March 05, 2006 Here are articles on the economy from last week. Bush: U.S. Should Welcome Competition U.S. Economy: Productivity Falls in Fourth Quarter Mixed forecast for U.S. growth America Needs More Engineers Will there always be a New Orleans? Vital Signs for the Week of Mar. 6 Getting a grip on prosperity Fortune's Most Admired Companies The Economics of Outsourcing: How Should Policy Respond? Seize golden opportunity of rapid globalization Friedman on globalization: "The world is flat" (If you did not read the book.) Bush concedes outsourcing hurts workers Our Financial Failings Employees filling 'Jobs Bank' paid not to work GM Gypsies' chasing fewer and fewer jobs posted by Ed | Incentives Watch Here are the articles on incentives I came across last week. The Supremes heard the Cuno case in oral argument on Wednesday. You can read more here, here and here. Early read: The Court is unlikely to strike down the Ohio statute. (The case concerns whether state tax incentives violate the commerce clause.) Another controversy is brewing over local state and tax incentives for big box retailers. Gander Mountain, a competitor to Cabelas and Bass pro Shops is on a crusade. Read more. The top EDPro in Colorado Springs says beautiful mountain views are not enough to keep companies. He needs more incentives. Read more. States are targeting renewable fuels for incentives. Read more about developments in Colorado. Read more about developments in Arkansas. Shaky finances for the target company did not stop Florida from providing incentives to a Canadian company. Read more. In the rush for a "green" company, did Florida officials check their common sense at the door? Toledo has managed to keep a company downtown after it threatened to move to nearby Maumee. Read more. Austin lands an HP data center with an incentive package. Read more. posted by Ed | Quotes of the week Here are some of the best quotes from last week "Early child development is economic development with a very high public return. I want to stress that it's a public return. I want to stress that it's an economic return." Art Rolnick, research director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Read more. "The ability to understand, lead, and deal with the consequences of innovation will be one of the most important determinants of the success of the next generation of business leaders." George G. Daly, new dean of the business school at Georgetown University. Read more. "The culture has not changed, and it won't until people are outraged and there are consequences.'' Mary Anne Sharkey, Ohio Governor Taft's former communications director commenting on the government corruption scandals that have enveloped the Taft administration. Read more. “I would bet that not many people in this room knew we made coil silica in Southeast Iowa. And I would bet that not many people knew what coil silica is. My point is that there is a lot of that going on in Southeast Iowa....I have one customer within 200 miles of Keokuk." Brad Feket, an executive with Chemcraft in Keokuk, IA commenting on the emerging innovation economy in Southeast Iowa. (An innovation economy is emerging all over the U.S., but few people are seeing it.) Read more. "The embers are here, there's just not enough oxygen." Duncan Moore of The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester commenting on the importance of building more collaborations to accelerate innovation in Rochester. Read more. "In order to have a skilled workforce to draw on now and in the future, Michigan's education system needs to improve at all levels." Chuck Hadden, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association. Read more. posted by Ed | Carnegie Mellon's economic development impact If you want a good model of what a research university should be doing to accelerate regional economic development, look at Carnegie Mellon. Here's a good example of how Carnegie Mellon University is accelerating regional economic development through technology transfer. Read more. Carnegie Mellon is also strengthening the region's international ties. The Heinz School recently announced a new branch in Australia. Read more. Carnegie Mellon has also announced a partnership with Electronic Arts that can "revolutionize how computer programming is taught in the U.S." Read more. The university is also actively involved in key public policy debates, such as the relative decline of engineering education in the U.S. Read more. Also recently, Carneige Mellon announced that Andrew W. Moore, Carnegie Mellon University professor of computer science and robotics, will head the new Google office in Pittsburgh. Read more. posted by Ed | Marketing the Pine Belt Here's what EDPros in Mississippi are doing to market the "Pine Belt". Read more. posted by Ed | Workforce challenges ahead In a recent post, I noted that too many states do not have clear numerical targets for the number of high school graduates going on post secondary education. Read more. (You can download the report here. Download.) In Indiana, Ivy Tech seems to be heading in the right direction. Leaders of the system are looking to double the number of graduates from the Ivy Tech system. Read more. I have been reading an interesting book on the major challenges we are facing in our workforce. The 2010 Meltdown outlines how we must innovate in order to address the major workforce challenges ahead. posted by Ed | Report on policies for entrepreneurship Here's a commentary on a report looking at how states should encourage entrepreneurship. Read more. You can download the report. Download. The report makes a good point: Venture capital is a lagging indicator of an entreprenurial economy, not a leading indicator. That said, local and regional civic leaders can encourage the formation of more effective networks of early stage investors. posted by Ed | The dubious value of rankings Rankings sell magazines and they promote the "think tanks" that often compile them. But are they of any real value? Read more. The Tax Foundation recently produced its rankings of business climate, but some folks in Rhode Island are not impresssed. Read more. posted by Ed | Don't do this at home Dumb zoning ordinances department: A tax service wants to relocate to downtown Sturgis, MI, but a local zoning ordinance prevents the move. It holds that you cannot operate a year-round tax service business on the main floor of any building in the four-block area classified as “downtown.” No matter that that downtown Sturgis has vacant storefronts. This is the problem with inflexible single use zoning districts. We have elevated legalisms above common sense. Read more. posted by Ed | Regional collaboration in East Tennessee A spirit of regional collaboration is emerging in East Tennessee. Read more. At times, one of the biggest challenges facing economic development professionals is overcoming old high school basketball and football rivalries. Too many civic leaders are still driving in the future by looking in the rear view mirror. posted by Ed | Promoting manufacturing policies in Michigan The Michigan manufactures Association has released in a report that promotes public policies to encourage manufacturing in Michigan. You can read more about the report here . You can download a copy of the report here . posted by Ed | A window on the future of economic development Here's a good article on the bottom line benefits of early childhood education. This article provides a window on the future of economic development. More and more state and local governments will begin to realize that investments in early child care are more valuable than incentives to companies. Read more. posted by Ed | Focusing on adult education The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) is partnering with the KnowledgeWorks Foundation on an important initiative focused on adult learners. Read more. Consider these facts: More than 80% of our workforce for 2010 is already in the workforce. Many of these workers have weak literacy and numerary skills. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that about 40 million American adults struggle with basic reading or can't read at all. We do not have strong career pathways to move workers from the working poor to careers. (So, for example, Wal-Mart workers have no easy way to move up in their careers because training options are difficult to pursue.) The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), released 15 December 2005 by the US National Center for Education Statistics, shows little improvement in adult literacy skills. At the same time the literacy demands of employment are increasing. posted by Ed | A region emering in Southeast Iowa Southeast Iowa is moving toward a regional agenda and will be soon hiring Angelou Economics to help civic leaders understand their opportunities. Read more. posted by Ed | More problems with unemployment statistics A recent post highlighted the problems of using unemployment statistics to measure the health of your regional economy. My example came from Northern Kentucky. Read more. Because these statistics are computed, they are less reliable than direct measures of economic performance. My advice: stick to employment numbers, not unemployment rates. Here's another example: the leading economic development professional questioning the value of unemployment statistics. Read more. posted by Ed | Smaller manufacturing success stories Despite the gloomy manufacturing headlines, some manufacturers are growing dynamically. Here's a good case in point of a small manufacturing firm in Minnesota. Read more. Find these examples in your region and highlight them. This is the best way to counter negative perceptions about our manufacturing future. Too many people see manufacturing jobs as dirty and dangerous. In fact, manufacturing is a high technology profession that offers a promising future to many young people. posted by Ed | Build global networks More and more states are recognizing the growth opportunities in international markets. Here is a new weekly column from New Jersey on how companies are going global. Read more. You might suggest the same approach to your local newspaper. Include a regular column on how companies in your region are building their global networks. Even in regions that appear to be falling behind, there are companies that are thriving through their global connections. For example, a recent report out of Youngstown State University highlighted regional manufacturers that were growing. The one common denominator: They were building global networks. posted by Ed | Controlling health care costs: Prevention In the recent meeting of the National Governors Association, the governors issued a report on healthy choices. Read more. You can visit the NGA web site to learn more. The report recognizes that the most immediate opportunity we have to control health care costs involve improving prevention. Arkansas has taken the lead in pursuing this strategy. Read more. Other states, such as Indiana, are also moving in this direction. Read more. posted by Ed | Smaller regions moving to entrepreneur networks Smaller regions are moving their economic development strategies toward innovation and entrepreneurship. The recruitment model of economic development is losing influence to strategies that focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Here are two examples. In central Pennsylvania, a group of Economic Development professionals are moving to establish an incubator in Williamsport. The incubator would strengthen a new Keystone Innovation Zone in the region. Read more. Learn more about the Williamsport/Lycoming Keystone Innovation Zone here. In Southwest Iowa, economic development professionals are conducting Energizing Entrepreneurs workshops. Read more. posted by Ed | Florida has only begun investing in biotech Florida has tried to build a biotechnology base with heavy investments by the state government. A recent editorial in a Tallahassee newspaper summarizes these investments and puts them in the context. Th editors warn their readers to expect more public investment in the future.Read more. posted by Ed | Redevelopments in Western Michigan There are some promising developments in Western Michigan with the redevelopment of Grand Rapids. According to one participant, “We recognize the vision is here and what can happen if we don’t make it a more viable downtown, a more viable region.” Here is a good article that summarizes what has been happening in Grand Rapids. Read more. posted by Ed | |
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