Internet-Based Economic Development: How's Your Cyber Advantage?

A great deal happened in the Internet World in the last decade. I was reminded of this fact in reading The Economist's new series on the Internet. It is well worth your attention. You can find it here.

More has happened on the Internet than we can even measure or account for. Perhaps the only way to fathom its impact is to ask yourself how the Internet has impacted/changed your life. Maybe too much happened too fast. Most investors are still smarting from their stock losses in the past couple years. Ouch! Yet the Internet continues to advance beyond most people's wildest dreams.

Everyday a new type of Internet-based or assisted business and industry is born. Just ask Jim Cookinham, the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Software Association (NEOSA), which has 2,000 members and continues to grow. You may find NEOSA's IT workforce information to be enlightening. Check it out here.

The spirit moved me to write a pretty wild monograph called NortheastOhioEconomy.com three years ago, if you are interested. Ok, so I would change a few things if I wrote it today. You can download a copy here.

Rapidly, the Internet has become a highly integrated aspect of our everyday life. It's self-creating and organizing. In some ways, it seems to have developed a life of its own. That's kind of scary when you really think about it.

In an earlier ED Futures article, I talked about the geography of cyberspace. The Internet has helped all of us transcend physical geographic hurdles that once limited our activities. Now, we are "connected" to more than we even know. But I think that is true of life in general. The Internet has connected us to ideas, information, cultures and many other things the world over. Who would have ever "thunk" it? Certainly not my 7th grade geography teacher, who heralded the interstate highway as the be-all-and-end-all innovation in society. Tells you how old I am.

The Internet is rapidly changing how economic development takes place locally and globally. Very few communities, regions and states do not have a website so businesses and other information seekers can find them in cyberspace. With one click of my mouse, I can be seated in front of your organization's website and I can know a lot of your organization and area in just a few moments.

According to CoreNet, the association of business site selection professionals, business site location is relying to a much higher degree on Internet-based information resources. These professionals also tell us that economic development organizations (EDO's) should work harder at standardizing the data and information they provide via the Internet. Valid site selection studies require data that permits "apples to apples" comparisons. Given the multitude of "flavors" that places come in, that is no simple task. That's why the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) has initiated the Site Selection Data Standards Project to help communities, regions and states "harmonize" their data.

We urge all of our clients to get with the data standards program. We also urge them to go beyond standardization and find creative and effective ways to communicate about their unique strengths. Despite some marketing claims that places are becoming "commodities," I challenge that claim. It is true that many places possess similar characteristics from an economic development and business location perspective, but they have just as many differences.

The marketing of place, both on and off the Internet, is a complex undertaking. It's more than websites, brochures, Power Point presentations, trade show booths and fast-talking economic developers. We feel so strongly about this issue that we have embarked upon a new global study to understand the theories and concepts underlying economic development marketing. This is a challenge that Team NEO must tackle properly as it shapes its strategy to market Northeast Ohio to existing and new businesses. The Internet will be an important resource to Team NEO and the many other regional EDO's trying to lure new investment and jobs. We have put a small web directory of several of the ED groups serving NE Ohio up on our website. Click here to access the list.

I am encouraged by the creative ways that communities, regions and states are using the Web to support economic development. Look for more on this topic in the future.