ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY
“ I intend to observe how economic development practitioners and their partner networks work together to create environments conducive to attracting policy, budget, and business community support for their research-supported trials, testing and prototyping and their speed to market. Of interest is the navigation around or through roadblocks that turn economic development strategies and action plans into onground opportunities and quality outcomes.
As detailed below, I intend to observe how research, development and demonstration projects can accelerate innovation in the fields of clean energy, the built environment, and positively contribute to net regional exports. Of particular interest are industry collaboration, how research opportunities are evaluated and formed and the need for a committed industry partner or pipeline of funding.”
A very special thanks to Tracy Verrier, Executive Director of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce for organising and coordinating all of the study tour meetings and background information and introductions to her network. http:// www. cayugacountychamber. com /
PRACTITIONER VALUE
The opportunity to hear from other global economic developers cannot be underestimated. Engaging in active dialogue and discussion regarding topics such as Indigenous employment and their startup venture self-determination and the impact of Industry 4.0 are crucial and relevant for ED professional development.
A deep dive into digital technology applications and their positive transformation of government services gave insight into‘ real world’ smart cities applications. Case studies of small and medium sized manufacturers investing in software, supply chain tools and new equipment gave evidence of the positive benefits of automation and process improvement requirements in business.
The masterful use of data( in Australia this is provided by a number of paid services such as REMPLAN, Forecast ID, Geografia et. al) to better identify trends and to allow the practitioner to take the lead on youth programs, workforce retention, investment attraction and micro-business assistance provided relevant global applications.
Within the North American context, a strong current focus of policy and program( formation and delivery) is the empowerment of youth entrepreneurs and local youth retention efforts and novel investment platforms that allow government to partner with the local start-ups( such as student investment funds).
One stand out example at the IEDC Conference was a visit to the Ryerson University DMZ Incubator and Zone that boasts strong deliverables including over 300 businesses incubated and accelerated with nearly $ 400M in funding raised for the start-ups and close to 300 jobs created since 2010. https:// dmz. ryerson. ca /
AMAZON HQ2 – INNOVATIVE ED STRATEGIES & THINKING REQUIRED
It is worth adding commentary on the mad scramble from the majority of North American economic development practitioners their boards of management, associated agencies such as chambers of commerce and commercial ED enterprises to organise their bid to attract the next Amazon headquarters to their regions.
An August 2017 email from Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO announcing that Amazon would require a site of 1,000,000 square feet that would eventually house up to 50,000 mostly white collar workers earning $ 100,000( USD) per year sent the ED profession into a frenzy.
Formal bids were due in late October 2017, and the IEDC Chairperson, Michael Langley informed me( at the EDA National Conference in Ballarat) that, most IEDC members would be submitting regional bids where their local government area jurisdictions needed to join forces for the purposes of scaling to suit the Amazon request.
According to IEDC, the successful region would have to demonstrate access to an international airport, a population catchment of approximately one million people, be an area of high amenity( lifestyle, education, activity centres), and have a highly educated workforce living in close proximity to the mega-campus.
It is believed that of the approximately 55 regions submitting bids, that only 16 will pass the first test of complying with Amazon’ s minimum requirements. According to the IEDC, the Amazon opportunity is tough for economic developers to not invest time and resources in, even when the likelihood of success is almost zero for the majority of bids.
With the disruption of Amazon Web Services being launched on the global stage in 2018, many regions
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