West Virginia Told to Focus ED Efforts on Selected Industries

A recent study says that WV should focus its future development efforts on these industry sectors: energy; biometrics; chemicals, plastics and polymers; and forestry, wood and paper products. More here.

More on the Ohio Tax Credit Ruling

Check out these stories for more detailed reactions to the ruling:

Monterey Herald.

Fort Wayne News Sentinel.

Kentucky.com.

All Eyes on Ohio

No, we're not talking about a vote recount for the recent Presidential Election. This time the issue is what the courts will ultimately say about the state's use of tax credit programs.

THE RULING: A federal court says an Ohio tax break for companies that buy new equipment or machinery unfairly rewards businesses for investments because it doesn't offer a similar tax credit if the same company invests elsewhere.

POSSIBLE IMPACT: Economic development officials in 40 states use tax credits to create jobs by luring companies to their states or encouraging them to expand.

WINNERS AND LOSERS: Tax breaks give states a way to attract companies and jobs. They help companies lower their costs. But critics say the money lost to corporate coffers could be used to lower taxes for all residents or businesses in a state, or go toward social programs.

Incentives to Lure the Film Industry

In Hollywood, if a producer is wanting to save money on a film, there's one place on their mind lately: Louisiana.

The recent pull of Hollywood to the bayou state comes from the success of the fall hit Ray, a biography of the life of Ray Charles. Ray brought its $30 million budget to Louisiana and filmed in Baton Rouge, Hammond, Thibodaux, New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. As of this past weekend, Ray had grossed $39,641,775, making more than $20 million of it during its opening weekend.

Stephen Roberts, executive chairman of Louisiana Production Capital, says that the producers of the movie found Louisiana attractive because of the tax incentives offered to film investors. LPC is a broker for these tax incentives and sells them to investors.

Take note. Good idea of bad idea in your opinion?

More here.

Why EDO's Must Partner Globally

It's about more than attracting foreign direct investment and expanding international trade by companies in your area. Economic developers are thinking too narrowly about the significance of the global economy and international relationships.

The global economy is too important to entrust to your international trade or reverse investment departments. The CEO and Board of your organization should be vitally concerned about how globalization is impacting your area's economic future, and your organization's future strategic plan.

Global partnering is about the survival of your area's economic base within the global economy. It is about building the future relationships with your counterparts, and yes even competitors, abroad. My assessment is that only the "globally connected" will survive in the years ahead.

Why would you attempt to work with your international competition? Because working together may be the only way in the long run to combat the negative effects of offshore outsourcing and other rapidly growing global business strategies. It may also be the only way your area can successfully position itself for future business and job opportunities created by the global economy.

If your organization is not thinking about how to extend its strategic development network nationally and globally, it may not exist in five years. Now, do I have your attention?

I would like for all of you to read my new article on the subject of global partnering, which was published by Economic Development America. It is a first attempt to explain this issue and why it is important to economic development.

Some EDOs get it and I talk about what they are doing to advance their global networks. It is my view that eventually businesses (your customers) will actually demand that you get with this program. Don't wait to be pushed in this direction. Start moving in this direction now.

You can download my article, along with the rest of the journal publication here. If that link does not work, click here and download the Fall 2004 Issue of ED America.

And as always, I welcome your comments and questions.

Manchester Innovation Ltd.

The University of Manchester in the UK is a leader in academic research with 37 research subjects of "international excellence." This research activity from part of the largest academic campus in Europe produces world-leading breakthroughs.

The role of Manchester Innovation Ltd. is to provide the management expertise, commercial structure and access to financial advisers to take a project from an innovative idea within the University to a point where it can be out-licensed or is capable of becoming the foundation of a spin-out business.

To undertake this role, MIL has a full-time team of entrepreneurial, commercially experienced staff with skills and expertise to identify opportunities, assess market potential, determine IP protection, and implement the best route(s) to commercialization.

This is one you will find interesting.

Read more here.

Creating a Public-Private Seed Fund

Need some advice on how to create such a fund? Click here for some useful pointers on the steps to take.

Austin Ranked as Most Entrepreneurial

According to the new Visa Innovation Index, which examines variables of innovation for its Ideas Happen campaign, Austin, Texas is the most entrepreneurial city in the country, receiving a score of 95 out of 100.

The index was created by Foster City, Calif.-based Visa International to measure elements of cities' innovation on a per capita basis. Those elements are community support, entrepreneurial ambition and creativity.

Houston and Dallas also made the top 10 most entrepreneurial cities, ranking fourth and sixth respectively.

According to the Innovation Index, Austin is a city of self-expression. Ranking 10th in the category with a score of 87, Austin falls behind cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, but remains the only Texas city to rank in the top 10.

Austin ranked 22nd among the cities that are most supportive of the community. Dallas ranked above Austin in the 19th place, with a score of 19, and Houston placed 41st, with a score of 24.
Providence, R.I., with a score of 83, ranked first in the category.

In the overall Ideas Happen Index, however, Austin placed second, with a score of 78. Those scores reflect combined community support, entrepreneur and self expression scores.
Seattle ranked first in the overall category, with a score of 81.

The Ideas Happen campaign, which generated the rankings, is also a contest that encourages 18- to 29-year-olds to submit ideas online for the chance to receive one of a dozen $25,000 awards to help make their ideas a reality.

More here.

Rio Rancho, New Mexico Launches the First Totally Wireless Community

Check out the story in the Summer 2004 issue of Small Community Quarterly. Some good ideas if your community is thinking about going in this direction.

Handbook for Economic Development Practitioners and Community Leaders

How many of you work for smaller communities? Here is something that might help you.

Many of the cities and towns in rural areas are losing population, and the population that remains is aging. This book demonstrates how a community can turn its fortunes around and describes how smaller communities can build an effective economic development program, fund it adequately, and keep it on track. More information here.

California Central Valley High-Speed Rail? Maybe

California High Speed Rail Authority officials unveiled a tentative map of routes for the proposed statewide bullet train Wednesday -- a plan that includes a 120-mile, nonstop stretch between Bakersfield and Fresno.

My friends in Tulare County are not happy with the current proposal, which does not include a Tulare stop.

More here.

Chicago Casino? Maybe

Chicago Mayor Daley has had an on-again, off-again flirtation with the idea of a Chicago casino over the years, but he recently laid out his concept for a downtown casino in the greatest detail yet.

Your reaction?

More here.

Regional ED Cooperation Working in Greater Detroit

That is the central message in this article. Read it to learn more.

My response? I agree that regional cooperation for economic development can work and produce results.

Michigan Targets German Investment

Mcihigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and executives from western and southeastern Michigan plan to head to Germany next week to try and get more high-end auto and health-related jobs for Michigan.

Michigan already has 610 German companies doing business in the state, the most of any foreign country, the governor said.

German-owned companies employ 172,000 workers in Michigan, Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said. The state estimates German investment in Michigan is worth $31 billion.

Granholm hopes to make a trade trip to Asia at some point, a strategy followed by her predecessor, Republican Gov. John Engler.

Engler visited Japan and China during economic development trips, along with Europe, Canada and Mexico.

More here.

Looks Like Dell in the NC Triad Area

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and Kevin Rollins, the chief executive of Dell Inc., announced that Dell would open a factory in the Triad next fall that will employ as many as 1,500 workers to make desktop computers.

Rollins said that the company has not made a decision yet on whether to build in Forsyth or Guilford County. But he said that Dell hopes to begin construction by the end of this year.
"We haven't finalized the decision clearly. We're going to be doing that in the next two weeks to a month. We're going to do it quickly," he said.

"We've looked at the whole Triad region and many locations, and we've had excellent cooperation from all the governments there, so it will be a hard decision. But we want to move quickly, and get on with the job of adding jobs in North Carolina," Rollins said.
"Our plan is to review those sites quickly so we can begin construction by the end of the year," he said.

Though Dell has pledged to hire 1,500 workers within five years, a Dell spokeswoman said that the company plans to hire 700 full-time employees in the plant's first year.

More here.

St. Louis Population Recount

While some are concerned about a vote recount in the recent Presidential election, St. Louis is concerned its population count in the 2000 Census.

Reversing more than five decades of population loss, the city of St. Louis says it has won its challenge of Census Bureau estimates that its ranks declined by roughly 16,000 people since 2000.

Earlier this year, the Census Bureau put the city's population at 332,223, down 4.6 percent - or an estimated 15,966 residents - from the April 2000 head count. The distinction: America's one-time gateway of westward expansion lost residents at a larger percentage rate than any city with more than 100,000 people.

But St. Louis officials swiftly cried foul and appealed, arguing that the census estimates may not account for recent economic development, including ambitious downtown projects such as a new ballpark for baseball's Cardinals.

More here.

Tech Museum of Innovation

Here is one you might like to know about.

The Tech Museum Awards honor innovators and visionaries from around the world who are applying technology to profoundly improve the human condition in the categories of education, equality, environment, health, and economic development. Individuals, for-profit companies, and not-for-profit organizations are eligible.

The Tech Awards showcase their compelling stories and reward their brilliant accomplishments. The Tech Awards program inspires global engagement in applying technology to humanity's most pressing problems by recognizing the best of those who are utilizing innovative technology solutions to address the most urgent critical issues facing our planet.

More here.

Understanding Occupations and Industries in Regions

Read this introduction to a fascinating paper on targeting industries and occupations in regions.

"No one ever “sees” a regional economy. Instead, we have mental maps based on conceptual categories that often showcase certain decision-makers as key to economic development. The two most common typologies used to depict regional economies have been grouping jobs by industry or grouping them by occupation (Harrington, 1999). However, the industrial conception of a regional economy is older and much more heavily used. This has been reflected in regional economic analysis and economic development practice geared to firms as drivers of economic growth.

In recent decades, scholars have been increasingly interested in the occupational aspect of regional employment. This reflects, among other factors, a growing appreciation for the role of human capital in economic development (Mather, 1999). In addition, increasing mobility by both workers and firms during recent decades has coincided with a growing separation of functions across space within firms and industries – a spatial division of labor that may relate to occupational distinctions among regional workforces."

Download the paper here.

Arts and Economic Development

Interesting paper on the arts and economic development by Ann Markesun at the University of Minnesota. Download it here.

Renewable Energy and the Environment

The University of Minnesota's Initiative on Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE)promotes statewide economic development, sustainable, healthy, and diverse ecosystems, and national energy security through development of bio-based and other renewable resources and processes.

More here.

Economic Segregation Report

--New Brookings Institite Report--

An analysis of census income data for cities and suburbs in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000 shows that:

--The overall per capita income gap between central cities and suburbs remained unchanged between 1990 and 2000, in stark contrast to the widening gaps in the previous two decades. However, the city and suburban income gaps in the Northeast and Midwest are still wide and growing while smaller gaps in the South and West are narrowing.

--The proportion of poor and affluent suburbs (to middle-income suburbs) increased rapidly in the 1980s but leveled off during the 1990s. As a result, only just over 60 percent of suburban residents live in middle-income suburbs today versus nearly 75 percent 20 years ago.

--The gap between the richest and poorest suburbs increased rapidly during the 1980s and more slowly in the 1990s, although patterns of inequality vary widely across the country. Generally, the suburban income gaps are largest in the Sun Belt metro areas such as Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Houston. In Northeastern metropolitan areas such as Buffalo, Rochester, and Hartford, per capita incomes between suburbs are more similar.

--Most of the growth in the number of poor and affluent places occurred because middle-income places became poorer or more affluent. An important exception is that the growth in poor places in the 1990s occurred entirely in counties annexed by metropolitan areas. Using fixed 1990 boundaries for metropolitan areas, the number of poor places actually declined in the 1990s.

Even though the prosperous 1990s improved the per capita incomes of cities and suburbs, the decade did not reverse or eliminate the income inequalities across locales that emerged during the past three decades.

Download report here.

Who Said Advertising Was Dead?

Tempe, Arizona...

Tempe isn't writing personal postcards to corporate leaders, but it is buying promotional advertisements aimed at national business leaders in the January editions of Fast Company, Money, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Forbes.

The magazine ad features a Tempe-based venture capitalist lounging barefoot on a boat in Tempe Town Lake. The ad will not appear in the magazines nationwide, but will be targeted at readers in three select cities with a high concentration of high-tech and biotech firms. The city hopes to generate a buzz among decision-makers to lure corporate relocations and expansions. Tempe officials won't say in which cities the ads will appear, but it isn't hard to imagine they will be coated in snow during Arizona's most temperate months.

"I'll let you use your imagination," Tempe spokeswoman Kris Baxter said. "We are saying, 'Lower your overhead without losing your lifestyle.' Some tech towns are so expensive. Tempe is a tech town and we are 40 percent less expensive." Tempe is spending $40,000 on the ads.

Source: Arizona Republic

China's Most Wealthy

Who's got the bucks in China? Click here to find out. This is very interesting. Whoever said that China was not into capitalism and wealth creation?

Corporate Social Reporting

Are company reports on their social and environmental impact any use? The style and content of non-financial reports vary greatly. Some firms spend much time and effort giving out information of uncertain value.

The only tool standardising non-financial reports is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a broadly supported checklist of dozens of questions to which almost all of the best reporting firms pay lip service. Rob Lake, head of socially responsible investment engagement and corporate governance at Henderson Global Investors, says “the GRI framework is a good one”. But firms can (and do) choose carefully which of its questions they answer.

One which particularly interests investors such as Mr Lake is the GRI's request for a geographical breakdown of taxes paid. (Whether most shareholders really want this made public, given the hostile publicity that low bills might attract, is debatable.)

While far from perfect, I think these practices are used and we need to continue to use them. At least that is my view as a local economic developmetn strategist.

More here.

What Corporate America Wants in Return for Bush Round 2

With business groups claiming much credit for his win, they're asking for plenty in return: Trade deals, tax reform, deficit reduction... Corporate America is smiling today.

At the President's first post-election press conference on Nov. 4, a relaxed and jocular George W. Bush, basking in his popular majority win, dropped talk of cooperation with the depleted Democrats on Capitol Hill and instead vowed to press ahead with his conservative policy goals. "I earned capital in the campaign, and now I intend to spend it," said Bush. "I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I would spend it on."

More here.

Promising Place: Bozeman, Montana

I have had my eye on several communities across the country over the past several years. Bozeman, Montana strikes me as a place with considerable potential as an all-round good place to live, work, and play. Take a look for yourself:

City of Bozeman

Gallatin Development Corporation

Roanoke Valley Releases Regional Cluster Study

Click here to download a new regional cluster study for the Roanoke Valley region of Virginia. Offers a good example of how a rural region can approach this job.

Regional Virtual Tour Technology

If you are considering an investment in virtual tour technology, you may want to see what Southwest New York Regional Planning and Development Organization has accomplished. Go here.

Courts Challenge Economic Development Actions

The use of tax incentives to lure business and industry and the power of eminent domain – tools long used by states, counties and localities to spur economic development and job growth – are under attack in two separate cases in the federal courts.

The outcome of the cases could have significant and far-reaching impact on state and local economic development programs around the country.

On Sept. 28, the U. S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Kelo v. City of New London. The court will consider the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment limits on the power of eminent domain, the legal process used by governments to acquire private property for various purposes after paying the property owner. The "public use" clause of the amendment states "…nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

The City of New London, Conn. exercised its eminent domain power to condemn several residential properties in order to allow a mixture of office, recreational facilities and hotels to be built.

At issue in the case is whether the eminent domain power can be used as a means of increasing the tax base to improve the local economy. State courts are divided on the issue. Some have limited the power solely for the purpose of building public infrastructure – roads, courthouses and parks, for example. Others have interpreted the "public use" clause more broadly, allowing the eminent domain power to be used for private redevelopment intended to have long-term economic development benefit.

More here.