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Ed Morrison · Quickly strengthening regional collaborations in West Michigan
August 7th, 2011
Civic leaders in a corner of West Michigan are moving ahead with new collaborations after we conducted a strategy workshop in Holland, MI a couple of weeks ago.
The leadership has been strengthening the collaborations in Holland-Zeeland over the last few years, and the results are beginning to show.
Through this work, they produced what they call the “white paper in a brown wrapper” that outlines three areas of strategic focus for the Lakeshore in west Michigan (a 2 county region within a broader region of 13 or 14 counties) These focus areas include education, economic development and government collaboration. They call this work in Holland Zeeland the Model Communities initiative.
Our workshop focused on the challenges in economic development, and we found a number of collaborative initiatives on which to focus. They include high speed broadband infrastructure, tighter networks among entrepreneurial support organizations, and a marketing message for the Lakeshore that is more tightly aligned and focused.
The Lakeshore in West Michigan will be a region to watch in the coming months. In the West Michigan region, innovating networks — the deeper capability of developing and executing on complex projects in open networks — is beginning to take hold.
Recently, the Korea’s largest chemical company, LG Chem, announced that it was building a battery plant in Holland to supply battery cells for the Chevy Volt. To capitalize on the growing interest in advanced energy storage, Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization, is moving ahead with a cluster of advanced energy storage.
During our three hour session in Holland, participants learned how to put collaborations together quickly with the disciplines of Strategic Doing. Here are the slides I used to introduce the workshop.
Later, we moved on to Grand Rapids to speak with economic developers from throughout West Michigan. During our discussions, we focused on agribusiness and food technology as a target cluster to begin building more collaborations quickly. This work will begin in September.
Ed Morrison · Accelerating the commercialization of bio-based products: A view from Minnesota
August 6th, 2011
This report on bio-based products just came out of Minnesota’s Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.
Bio-based products from corn, soybeans and other agricultural products can be as a substitute for petroleum-based products. A primary example: bio-plastics.
But before these bio-based products make inroads, manufacturers need some significant questions answered. Accelerating the commercialization of these technologies will require new networks to form between Minnesota’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
You can read more here.
Canada has focused on this potential for some time.
Ed Morrison · Margaret Levenstein – Financing Innovation or Speculation, the Case of Cleveland
August 6th, 2011
Economic historian Margaret Levenstein at the University of Michigan provides a great review of what happened to Cleveland’s innovation networks formed in the 1920’s.
Learn more about the Maggie Levenstein’s work with Naomi Lamoreaux funded by the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
Ed Morrison · Korea’s green strategy
August 1st, 2011
Korea is taking a leadership role in designing a new, green model of economic development. Learn more at the Global Green Growth Institute, launched in June 2010.
Here’s an overview of Korea’s strategy.
Green Growth in Motion | Korea<script type=”text/javascript”>(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd. src=”http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js” ; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script>
Ed Morrison · Expanding the grid to leverage wind power
August 1st, 2011
A new report from the Center for Rural Affairs points to the importance of expanding the nation’s grid to leverage wind power. You can read more about the report here.
Ed Morrison · The agbio economy and its potential in the Midwest
August 1st, 2011
Batelle has released a report on the potential of abgbio in the Midwest. The report explores how the Midwest can use its strong market position in agbio markets and technologies — and the region’s exceptional infrastructure based in land grant universities — to build a platform for future economic growth.
Here’s the report:
Ed Morrison · Cleveland’s offshore wind strategy
July 31st, 2011
The Center for American Progress provides an overview of Cleveland’s offshore wind strategy:
Ed Morrison · Greater Toronto new Civic Action report
July 30th, 2011
A coalition of civic leaders in Toronto issued a report recommending collaborative action on ten focus areas for the Greater Toronto region. The report also highlights the important role arts and culture play in economic development:
Arts and culture are not just important to economic development and employment opportunities; they are also a fundamental building block to a healthy and vibrant society.
You can learn more about CivicAction and their report from their web site.
Ed Morrison · Detroit: Learning the lessons of Chattanooga
July 26th, 2011
As cities realize the importance of attracting and retaining talent, smaller development projects and neighborhood investment are becoming a crucial part of some cities’ revitalization efforts.
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