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Students learning about a flat world
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 It is vitally important to expose students today to the global challenges ahead of them. Former KY Governor Martha Layne Collins is now working to guide the Kentucky World Trade Center. In this role she is exposing students to the shifting dynamics of global competition. It's one thing to hear that the "world is flat". It is quite different to hear the stories in person. Read more. posted by Ed | Pittsburgh's transformation Pittsburgh is busy with the work of transforming its economy. The path is not straight or level, but at least they are making progress. Most important, they recognize the role that colleges and universities play in their economic transformation. Pittsburgh is making steps to rebuild its economy. Google, Intel and Microsoft are all involved in rebuilding the region’s economic base. Read more. posted by Ed | New Mexico's spaceport New Mexico has a new spaceport, and here's a good article that outlines the ambitions for the project. Accoriding to the article, "Eight states, including Texas, Wisconsin and Utah, are considering commercial spaceports, with some hoping for a slice of the rapidly emerging space tourism industry. But space observers say that New Mexico — an overwhelmingly rural state whose poverty rate trails only Louisiana and Mississippi — has the most government support and private interest. " Read more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Monday, October 30, 2006 Here are the articles on the economy from last week. Housing Slump Slows Economy The innovation equation That office 'weirdo' might be a maverick In China's shadow Knowledge sharing: Forever future prospect? Younger Employees Lack Basic Skills An Autumn Chill for U.S. Growth Vital Signs: Is Employment Picking Up? Galvin Study Forecasts Future Of Electricity - Dramatic Change Needed To Meet Needs Of 2025 How Close to Catastrophe? Fed's Geithner: Globalization keeps inflation down posted by Ed | Delaware's new innovation initiative Business leaders in Delaware are launching a new initiative, First State Innovation, to spur innovation in that state. The initiative has some clear metrics to keep it focused: It will measure its progress based on the flow of "angel fund" money coming into Delaware, the number of startup firms, the number of firms that generate more than $10 million in revenue and the number of businesses that increase revenue from $10 million to $50 million. Read more. posted by Ed | Angel capital on Long Island Long Island investors are launching a new angel capital network. Read more. posted by Ed | Transforming Rhode Island Rhode Island, the Ocean State, is in the midst of an economic transformation. Here's a good article that outlines contours of this transformation. As the article notes, “Massachusetts has gotten good at resting on its laurels, while Rhode Island - nimble, small, cheap - is now all about potential.” Read more. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, civic leaders are not standing still. Here’s a good commentary from the President of MIT. She concludes, “Massachusetts needs to think anew about its economic future...Most of all, we need open dialogue between the public sector, the private sector, the academy, and labor to develop effective strategies to strengthen our existing economic sectors and nurture new ones.” Read more. posted by Ed | Opportunities at the national labs The national labs can be in important resource for economic development. For example, Oak Ridge has become an important anchor to the development of Innovation Valley in eastern Tennessee. Read more. The focus of these collaborations is to move the federally funded technology in the marketplace. Twenty-four national labs invest $8 billion in research and development. There are a number of ways to work with the national labs. They include Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA’s), licensing agreements, personnel exchanges, and user facility agreements. (We learned about these last week at a conference for the WIRED regions, held by the Employment and Training Administration.) posted by Ed | Education and economic development In Central Texas, civic leaders have launched a new alliance to accelerate the redesign of education for three kindergarten to graduate schools. The lights hopes to develop new initiatives to break down the barriers among different institutions and systems. Read more. This initiative represents an emerging trend of tighter connection between education and economic development. So, for example, a recent conference in New York explored the roles of colleges and universities in our economy. Read more. Next week, I’ll be participating in the second state why conference in Indiana to explore these connections. You can learn more about the Indiana conference here. posted by Ed | The Great Lakes as a region Last week, the Brookings Institution released an important report on the future of the Great Lakes region. There’s a good commentary on the report from the editors of the Toledo Blade. Read more. You can learn more about the report from this page. The Great Lakes states are facing an economic transformation similar to the challenge that the South faced with the mechanization of agriculture. Globalization is hitting this region harder than any other region in the country. See, for example, chart three in this press release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A consensus is emerging that the region needs to move more aggressively in a coordinated away. Read more. posted by Ed | Transformation, expectations and time Economic transformation takes time. Part of the challenge for EDPros comes in managing expectations. Political leaders operate on a time horizon defined by the election cycle. The business of economic transformation is, however, generational. Forty years ago, San Diego was a backwater. Today is it is an international hub of the life sciences and wireless technologies. In short, San Diego is a miracle that took 40 years to happen. It took the same long-term time horizon for North Carolina to transform Research Triangle Park. Read more. Now, civic leaders in Florida are carefully re- orienting public expectations for the state's life sciences businesses. Read more. posted by Ed | Wireless in the Twin Cities The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul are trying to work together to coordinate their wireless strategies. Read more. posted by Ed | Business plan competitions Business plan competitions create the opportunity to build new networks in your regional economy. You do not have to be a big organization to start. Here is an example from a relatively small economic development organization in Fulton County, Indiana. Read more. Indiana is focused on changing the conversation around entrepreneurship and innovation. This coming week, a range of activities will be under way to celebrate Entrepreneurship Week. Read more. You can learn more from the web site Here's an announcement from Rhode Island this week on an Elevator Pitch-Off. Read more. posted by Ed | New York's new technology base New York is aggressively investing in microelectronics and nanotechnology to revitalize the economy around Albany. Here's a good summary of what's been taking place. Read more. posted by Ed | Moving Mississippi in a new direction The Mississippi Technology Alliance has a new president, Randy Goldsmith. A few months ago, I heard Goldsmith speak at a conference. He has a clear grasp of the linkage between technology transfer and economic development. With Goldsmith, you see the conversation shifting away from such a heavy emphasis on industrial recruitment. Universities are moving into a central role in economic development in the state, Angie Godwin, president of the Area Development Partnership, put the matter clearly, "It all goes back to the 360-degree view of economic development which is shifting the emphasis away from industrial recruitment to creating our own enterprises and human capital." Read more. posted by Ed | California pushes broadband The governor of California has announced a new initiative to encourage broadband deployment in the state. He signed an executive order to establish a broadband task force. Read more. posted by Ed | The challenges of biotech Biotech investment carries a lot of inherent risk. Here’s a view from Seattle. Read more. At the same time, upstate South Carolina sees the life sciences as a potential major new contributor to its economy. Read more. And in Florida, civic leaders are paying attention to manage the expectations around by the life sciences. Read more. To accelerate business development in biotech, Florida business leaders are focusing on strengthening their venture capital foundations. Read more. posted by Ed | Research Triangle and environmental technology The anchors have been set for a promising environmental technology cluster in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. These anchors include: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) area laboratories and research programs at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina. Read more. posted by Ed | Chicago's emerging focus on innovation Sunday, October 29, 2006 Chicago has some way to go in developing a regional focus on innovation, but at least the conversation is starting. Last week, Chicago’s civic leaders got together to conduct their first regional innovations summit. Read more. posted by Ed | Universities as export businesses In recent years, colleges and universities have been producing economic impact studies to demonstrate their value to regional and state economies. Last week, for example, Oklahoma State University released a report on its economic impact. Read more. Seen in another light, colleges and universities are also export businesses. They produce and sell knowledge assets. Here's an example of this perspective from Carnegie Melon University. CMU has entered into a joint education program with Portugal. Read more. posted by Ed | Rural broadband in California Saturday, October 28, 2006 The governor of California has signed an executive order to accelerate the deployment of rural broadband. The executive order streamlines the permitting process and opens up road construction project plans to allow for broadband inclusion along roads when they are already under construction. Read more. posted by Ed | Changing the conversation in Maine Friday, October 27, 2006 Regional economic development is all about changing the conversation. It’s about moving the conversation from problems to opportunities. The Brookings Institution has been changing the conversation in Maine. Here are some articles sent on by EDPro reader Mark Munro from Brookings. Charting Maine's Future Think tank’s proposal for Maine: spending cuts, then invest savings Report offers advice on how to 'GrowSmart' Report: Maine economy on mend You can download a copy of the Brookings report on Maine from this page. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Monday, October 23, 2006 Here are articles on the economy that caught my eye last week. Global warming fight helps economy-report Falling income sign of a growing divide Vital Signs: Where is Inflation Heading? Dollar Rises on Speculation Fed Will Highlight Inflation Risk Inflation remains concern for Fed Global competition fears grow posted by Ed | Integrating technology and a business model Sunday, October 22, 2006 This article touches on the tough part of technology-based economic development. The integration of a technology platform with a business model. As one Baltimore-based entrepreneur puts it: "It’s important to really, truly integrate the business vision with the science...If you’ve got good science, but you haven’t got a clear business model, you fail.” That's why innovation is so tough. Read more. I am reading two books that provide excellent insights into this process. Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want by Carlson and Wilmot and The Elegant Solution by Mathew May. posted by Ed | Innovation Valley continues to develop Some interesting developments are taking place in eastern Tennessee around Knoxville and Oak Ridge. They have named the region Innovation Valley. Last week, civic leaders announced anchor tenant for their new research park. Read more. You can learn more about Innovation Valley from their web site. posted by Ed | Adult learning centers Many communities are moving to establish adult learning centers. The centers provide a convenient way for adults to continue their education and for educational institutions to deliver on-site instruction. Here's an example of a new adult learning center in Jackson, Tennessee. Read more. posted by Ed | Don't do this at home For weeks, I have been pointing to the missteps of the Cleveland business leadership in pushing gambling for Ohio. Now the backlash starts. We are living in time of transparency. The Internet enables information to be widely shared. So, authenticity, truthfulness, clarity are all important virtues. The gambling supporters have tried to disguise their efforts, but -- judging by the editorial reaction -- the rest of the state is not buying. In thirty years of being involved with politics, I have never seen such anger directed toward an issue. We'll see, though, on election day. The proponents of gambling in Ohio are throwing around a lot of money, so they still may prevail. You can read about is in the Cleveland 2.0 blog. posted by Ed | Consulting update Here are some of the recent consulting reports that have been completed. A team of three consulting firms -- Competitive Strategies Group, McCallum Sweeney Consulting and Applied Marketing Sciences -- completed a strategy for Baton Rouge. Read more. Market Street Services completed a report on the North Carolina Research Campus. Read more. Angelou Economics has advised Jacksonville to forget about chasing smokestacks. Read more. Richard Florida's Catalytix group has completed a report in Aberdeen, SD. Read more. posted by Ed | Detroit and cleantech The Detroit region is positioning itself as a hub for "clean technology". The first step in developing this strategy involves strengthening existing networks. As one chamber exeutive noted, "Raising awareness about opportunities in the Detroit Region was our primary goal, and we connected with hundreds of people at the Cleantech event that resulted in more than 30 strong business leads among alternative-energy companies and venture capitalists interested in doing business in the Detroit Region." Read more. You can learn more about clean tech on the Clean Tech Blog and at Clean Edge. posted by Ed | Building research anchors Clusters develop around research anchors. Here are some examples of how local economic developers are investing in new research anchors. Of course, Florida's biotech push is closely tied to their strategy. Learn more about that strategy here. The City of San Jose has launched a project to develop innovative electronic vehicles. The Economic Development Administration is investing $200,000 for planning of the San Jose Electronic Transportation Development Center (ETDC). You can read the press release here. A new center on explosives research is underway in Maryland. Read more. The strategy to develop the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC near Charlotte is tied to this approach. Read more. posted by Ed | Anatomy of a deal: Torrey Pines For those of you interested in following the accelrating development of biotech investments in Florida, here is a good overview of the decision by Torrey Pines Institute to locate in the state. Read more. posted by Ed | Framework for cities from CEOs for Cities A new report from CEO is for cities provides a useful framework to guide economic development in urban areas. The framework outlines four dimensions: talent, innovation, connections and distinctiveness. The challenge, of course, comes in the execution of this or any framework. At the same time, these frameworks help reorient the discussion toward productive investments that matter. You can download a copy of the report here. posted by Ed | Creative economy in Massachusetts Massachusetts has released a new report on the creative industries. The report calls for the creation of a creative economy council to guide the development of these businesses. Read more. You can download a copy of the report here. posted by Ed | Municipal creativity and innovation Innovation is not only a private sector game. Local governments can play as well. Through innovation, local governments can provide higher quality, more flexible services at a relatively lower cost. Here's a good commentary on this dimension of innovation. Read more. posted by Ed | Nebraska-Japan connection in life sciences States and regions are starting to develop their own foreign economic policy. They are forming bilateral relationships to strengthen their economies. These relationships go beyond simple trade missions. Instead, they are focused on building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. Here is an example of how Nebraska is developing their relationship with Japan in life sciences. Read more. posted by Ed | Cleveland design district concept plan A promising initiative is underway in Cleveland. A professor from Cleveland State University is joining with a real estate developer to propose an innovation district focusing on consumer design. Read more. posted by Ed | Chicago: Innovate Now Sunday, October 15, 2006 Chicago's civic leaders are moving forward on a bold regional agenda to push innovation. They will announce their plans in a summit on October 24. Read more. posted by Ed | Regional collaboration to compete globally Civic leaders in Norwalk, Connecticut are promoting the idea of regional collaboration in order to compete globally. Read more. posted by Ed | eBusiness Ready Workforce The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the new grant in Nebraska to prepare workers for e-business. The initiative, called Building an eBusiness Ready Workforce in the Northern Great Plains, is focussed on preparing workers to participate in an Internet-based economy. Read more. posted by Ed | Rhode Island robotics Some very interesting initiatives are underway in Rhode Island. For example, here all of the state's high schools will be participating in a robotics competition. Read more. posted by Ed | Leaks in our brain power pipeline Here is a report from Norfolk, Virginia that highlights a problem in every regional economy I visited over the last ten years. High school dropout rates are alarmingly high. In many states education statistics obscure the problem. This report from Norfolk outlines of 40 percent of the entering ninth graders will fail to graduate from high school. These dropouts represent a massive leak in our brain power pipeline. Read more. The decision to drop out of high school represents the most important economic decision of a person's life. Leaving high school early represents a lifetime earnings loss of about two hundred thousand dollars. posted by Ed | South Carolina's Education and Economic Development Act Saturday, October 14, 2006 Here's a good explanation of South Carolina's Education and Economic Development Act, an important innovation in state policy. Read more. posted by Ed | Economy Watch Sunday, October 08, 2006 Here are the articles on the economy from last week. Jobs prediction for September is everybody's guess Is there a 'Davos' economics? Broad economic views on Nobel short list Bernanke: Savings situation getting dire Job growth slows, unemployment rate dips Most Young People Entering the U.S. Workforce Lack Critical Skills Essential for Success No, everything's not rosy for America's middle class Wacky ideas get respect posted by Ed | Download a copy and spread it around Saturday, October 07, 2006 Last week the Conference Board released an important report, "Are they really ready to work?" The report concludes that young workers are "sorely lacking in much needed workplace skills." The report goes on to say, "The future workforce is here, and it is ill-prepared." Download a copy and spread this report around to your civic leadership: chamber boards, elected officials, workforce boards, school boards, school superintendents, community foudantions. We can no longer pretend that this challenge will somehow go away. Every state has promising pilot projects uderway to address the many facets of this challenge. It's time to identify good pilots and move them to scale. You can download the report from this page posted by Ed | Moving arts and culture to the middle of economic development Here's another example -- this one from Michigan -- on how smaller communities are merging arts and cultural activities into their economic development strategies. Read more. You can visit the web site of The Center for Arts and Public Policy and download a white paper, "The Rebirth of Arts and Culture". Go. posted by Ed | Accurate pictures of brain drain Not so fast. That's the conclusion of a recent report by the University of Buffalo about the brain drain in the Buffalo region. The trend is not as severe as some people would like to believe. Read more. posted by Ed | Delivering skills Here's another article on worker skill shortages. This one is from Michigan. Read more. The message of these trends is simple. The regions that figure out how to deliver talent and brainpoiwer will prosper. posted by Ed | Creative industries in Idaho A business professor at Boise State in Idaho will be conducting a seminar on creative industries. She's right on point. From the article:
Read more. You can also visit her site and download a paper. posted by Ed | Recruiting retirees Friday, October 06, 2006 A number of North Carolina communities are promoting active retirement as an economic development strategy. Read more. posted by Ed | Montana turns to early child development The governor of Montana has joined the call for early childhood development as an economic development strategy. He addressed a business audience at a summit called, “Best Beginnings: Montana's Children Are Tomorrow's Work Force.” Read more. posted by Ed | Lansing, MI begins to unite A new consulting report urges economic development organizations in the Lansing, MI region to unite. A number of smaller projects within the region have begun to build trust across organizational and jurisdictional lines. This report might provide the spark to try something more transformative. Read more. posted by Ed | Wireless Dublin (OH) Dublin, OH has gone wireless. Here are the details. Read more here and here. posted by Ed | Emergence of alternative energy It doesn't take a genius to figure out that alternative energy will be a growth industry in the future. Here's an article out of Pennsylvania. Read more. posted by Ed | Connections: New Texas law clinic One of the best ways to get graduate schools more engaged in economic development involves giving students real cases on which to work. A new law clinic at the University of Texas will train law students on transactional skills. The clinic will focus on community and economic development transactions. Read more. Now, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas could step up with a companion clinic. posted by Ed | "The land the law forgot" A tale of how corruption and economic development do not mix. Read more. posted by Ed | Exports in central Pennsylvania Here's an example of how a community college class has started to change perceptions on the importance of exports and foreign markets to a regional economy. Read more. posted by Ed | Plant shutdowns and workforce transitions Here's an interesting case of a community that has approached an impending plant shutdown with some innovative responses. Maytag is closing in Southern Illinois, but economic development and workforce development professionals are arranging plant tours to market the most valuable asset in the plant: the workforce. That's only one of a number of responses. This is a transition team that gets it. Read more. posted by Ed | Blueprint for Maine's prosperity The Brookings Institution has completed a major report on the future of Maine and its economy. Read more. Like an earlier report for Pennsylvania, this report outlines the patterns of development in the state and encourages some bold thinking about the state's future. You can read more here, here and here. You can download the report and associated studies from this page. posted by Ed | Comprehensive plan example Comprehensive plans represent phyical plans that local jurisdictions adopt to guide development patterns. Under state planning laws, a jurisdiction must adopt a plan before it can enforce zoning ordinances. Wellesley, Ma has recently completed a plan. Read more. If you are curious about what a good comprehensive plan looks like, you can download it from this page. There are a number of good physical planning sites on the web. Two of my favorites are PlannersWeb and Planetizen. EDPros can use these sites to get some helpful background on physical planning issues. posted by Ed | Micro-enterprise for economic development Here's a good commentary on why micro-enterprises represent a good economic development strategy. Read more. In San Franscisco, the City provides investments in micro-enterprises started by women. Read more. posted by Ed | Tulsa: Plugging the leaks The Tulsa Chamber has launched a new campaign to increase the percentage of local purchases by area businesses. Read more. This strategy is sound: Plugging the leaks. Learn more. posted by Ed | Don't do this at home: Putting lipstick on a pig Wednesday, October 04, 2006 Last night I participated in a panel discussion on gambling in Ohio. Minutes into the discussion, we learned that there is no clear economic development rationale for promoting gambling in Ohio. Mark Rosentraub, Dean of the Levin School at Cleveland State and a proponent of casinos, made clear that Ohio residents are the target market for the Cleveland casinos. In other words, there is no target market outside Ohio for these casinos. As a result, these casinos will not be attracting money into the state. Translation: There is no way for these casinos to generate more income for the Ohio economy than they will drain. In my view, Mark was only able to present some tortured logic designed to keep Northeast Ohio gamblers from leaving the state to gamble. That's no way to promote economic development. The folks in Louisiana have figured this out. A recent editorial in the Baton Rouge Advocate advises "Don't waste time opn gambling". Read more. Proponents in Ohio also want us to see casinos as a good way to raise money for college. That's not only inefficient, it's inequitable. Why should inner city poor families be financing college for suburban kids? And the cost of this goofy tax policy: About 30,000 to 50,000 addicted gamblers each year at an annual cost of $300 million to $500 million in added social costs. These costs are real, and they will put upward pressure on tax rates far into the future. Casinos will be taking money from people who can't afford it and transferring it to people who don't need it. An efficient Social Security system in reverse. Calling this initiative "Learn and Earn" is simply hypocritical, a pollster's strategem. Putting children out front doesn't disguise the real motive of this push: To grant valuable state monopolies for a handful of wealthy casino owners. Lipstick on a pig, as they say in the South. (For more background, I have compiled some of the better, independent casino studies, here.) posted by Ed | |
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