South Florida Looks for New Ways to Strengthen Regional Advantage

Interest in regionalism ebbs and flows across the country. Most areas are talking a better game than they are walking at this point in time. Most local governments are still driven by Darwinian "survival of the fittest" thinking. Read this article about the latest take on regional cooperation in the Miami-South Florida area.

I think regionalism is important and I believe it is vitally important to South Florida's economic future, but it is unlikely to happen the way things are headed right now. Here is a suggestion. Maybe South Florida's economic leaders should sign an industry cluster-based "trading bloc agreement" with five other world regions to intensify trade, investment and technology cooperation with and among the regions. First question...Which five regions are the best partners? Second question...How do you motivate firms and institutions in the clusters to work together globally?

Perhaps this type of strategy would do more to propel regional cooperation in South Florida than the usual suspects sitting around a table talking about why they need to cooperate. In this case, a larger outside purpose could unite them. Cooperation occurs best around specific things. That is a lesson for all regions.