Regions with a more open civic process — thicker collaborative networks — are more agile, responsive and competitive. They will learn faster and spot opportunities faster.

In a complex world, transparency and civility become key strategic assets for a simple reason: speed.

Reading all the connections coming out in the coverage of the County investigation gets a mind-numbing after a little while.

A group of us are turning to social network software to draw maps of the relationships. The patterns become more clear with a network map. We can start to connect different people and projects". The Juvenile Justice Center, Ameritrust, Med Mart, to name a few.

About  week ago, Jay Miller from Crain's Cleveland Business sent me an e-mail. He asked three questions about the Greater Cleveland Partnership. In the interests of promoting an open discussion about the activities of Cleveland's chamber of commerce, I reprint my responses to Jay's questions. He started by pointing out the the GCP points to NorTech and BioEnterprise and Team NEO as its economic development strategy.

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JM: So I have a three-part question: Do you think those organizations (NorTech and BioEnterprise and Team NEO) are having a reasonable level of success in the areas they focus on?

EM: These organizations are having some success, but their regional impacts are relatively small. These organizations are slowly changing the dynamic of the relatively small footprint around Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.   
Here is the rub. In some sense, you cannot have it both ways. 
The GCP looks at these organizations and says, "Here are Greater Cleveland's economic development organizations". 
The FFEF looks at the same organizations and says "Here are our regional (read 16 county) Northeast Ohio economic development organizations". 
This confusion leads to misunderstanding. By "outsourcing" its economic development responsibilities to these organizations, GCP undercuts the utility of these organizations as neutral regional networks and reinforces the impression (and reality) that these organizations are "Cleveland-centric". 
At the same time, there's good evidence to suggest  that these organizations do not really invest much beyond a relatively narrow footprint around Cleveland. Finally, these organizations are relatively expensive to run, and not very transparent in their operations. No one is quite sure how all this fits together or what success looks like. 

"WIKINOMICS" How mass collaboration Changes Everything
Don Tapscott to speak at the University of Akron January 10th – Free admission

Don Tapscott, internationally renowned expert on the strategic value and impact of information technology, and author of “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything,” will speak at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall at The University of Akron on Thursday, Jan. 10.

I know what your thinking....what the heck does Bizooki on Ideablob all mean? Cool stuff I assure you. It is a call for help from a great local entrepreneur - Andy Tabar. Andy recently launched a cool tech company called Bizooki (www.bizooki.com) and was looking for a fun way to raise some coin for his new venture. Ideablob (www.ideablob.com) is a listing of cool ideas and tries to connect the idea to good advice.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Cleveland Public Radio's Dan Moulthrop to discuss Cleveland's efforts to brand the region of Northeast Ohio. I later connected our conversation to some slides.

From Richard Herman:

Dear Rustbelt Bloggers:

Thank you (particularly Chris Varley, Ed Morrison, Jim Russell, Norm Roulet) for spreading the word on the proposal for new immigration law that would create “High Skill Immigration Zones” in the most distressed cities in the U.S. Jim (Pittsburgh Diaspora) has re-framed the issue as an opportunity to encourage Rustbelt economic development collaboration around immigration. Voices are now jumping into the fray from Youngstown, Erie, Buffalo, etc.

Every few months, I get the opportunity to review what I learned by preparing for classes at the Economic Development Institute. For a number of years, I have taught the Advanced Strategy Lab. This class is a four-hour session in which I introduce students (economic development professionals from around the country) to some of the newer thinking in economic development strategy. We spent some of the time working in small groups, as I provide workshop exercises that simulate the strategy sessions in which I frequently participate.

The mind boggles.

We now have airplanes flying over Jacobs Field exhorting people not to sign petitions. In the home of the City Club, this is civic debate?

Perhaps we can bring a little market reality to the situation. From this perspective, the petitioners seem, well, rational and responsible... guardians of the public purse.

From a thread over at BFD:

Serious question for you, Ed: Why, in your opinion, does Cleveland not follow a similar process? I mean the MM/CC, but I also mean Gateway, Rock Hall, Euclid Corridor, Browns Stadium, you know the drill. Why are other cities able to follow a rational planning process while Cleveland lurches from one half-baked scheme to the next? xpMark: You ask a very interesting question. Here's some background on my perspective. Successful downtown development requires two types of strategies. One strategy is led by the public sector. These publicly-led initiatives involve heavy investments in infrastructure. They often include investments in anchor projects like convention centers, stadiums, libraries, and museums.

Hunter Morrison recently submitted this note at the request of the Cleveland City Planning Commission.

The City Planning Commission is empowered by the Charter and by the Codified Ordinances to grant or deny permission to demolish, alter or construct buildings in the City’s Public Land Protective District. While, in most cases, the Commission can rely on the advice of its staff and the actions of the Design Review Committee to inform its decisions, in high profile cases, the Commission itself must take the role of primary decision-maker. These cases often involve the demolition of significant buildings, such as the Cuyahoga Building, the Engineers Building, and the Allen Theater.

(The substance of this post appeared as a comment on Brewed Fresh Daily.)

In economic development, Cleveland faces two leadership challenges.

The substance of this post appears as a comment on Brewed Fresh Daily.

Northeast Ohio is not dealing well with sprawl. A large part of the challenge comes in reconciling different perspectives on a complex issue.

In confronting the challenges of sprawl, my brother Hunter raises some interesting points in his Meet the Blogger interview.

This Sunday's PD carried a story about an exciting new polymer center at Case. The story profiled Anne Hiltner, the Center's impressive director. Read more. In the world of economic development, this news is a big deal.

One of the easiest ways to get new visitors to your city is to come up with something really grand.

We have the world's tallest thermometer in Baker, California.

At times, too little money is better than too much. Anyone who is worked with start-up companies understands this point.

With too little money, entrepreneurs are forced to be resourceful. They focus on challenges really matter. They learn to learn from their mistakes. When times are tight, entrepreneurs take small steps to test ideas then expand the successful ones. They gain powerful insight from their mistakes.

Last week, I was busy, as Valdis Krebs would say, "closing triangles" between leaders in Oklahoma City and Lexington, Kentucky. First, you need some background. Beginning in 1993, I worked with the Chamber of Commerce in Oklahoma City to design a new economic development strategy. In the past, Oklahoma City, like many other cities, defined economic development in terms of recruitment. The main focus of their efforts was to identify a large companies and try to recruit them to the area.

At a time when our business leaders in Cleveland are pursuing gambling, business leaders in Milwaukee, St. Louis and Indianapolis have their priorities straight: They are focused on innovation.

For the past week, I have looked in more detail at the dashboard developed by the Fund for our Economic Future. The Fund's economists have done a good job in isolating factors associated with regional growth.

Here's an interesting collaboration between the Cleveland Clinic and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read more.

One of the major challenges in Northeast Ohio is a lack of collaboration and alignment.

This dynamic is slowly changing, however. Here's some evidence of the shift. Team NEO, the region's's economic development organization, has formed a partnership with two major port authorities. The agreement establishes a structure to share prospects opportunities in a cooperative way.

A good discussion appears this morning in the Akron Beacon Journal on the emergence in Akron/Canton of a new effort to promote networks of entrepreneurs. The mere fact that the meeting took place -- and the published transcripts appear in the paper-- provide some sense that this effort will succeed. Read more. Read the transcript. The newspaper even includes audio clips of the proceedings.

A new report outlines the future for small and mid-sized manufacturers.

The Future Success of Small and Medium Manufacturers: Challenges and Policy Issues outlines two important trends that are shaping the future of these smaller manufacturers.

In the middle of all the talk about Case stumbling, we might remind ourselves what a good research university can do to strengthen a regional economy. In the past couple of weeks, here's what's been happening down the road in Pittsburgh.

For several years, I worked and lived in Louisiana, so I still keep touch with friends. Lou Burnett, an old newspaper man, writes an excellent newsletter on what is happening, especially in the northwest part of the state, around Shreveport.

The County's Blue Ribbon Task Force officially ended today, and we began the process of implementing the County's new economic development strategy. The County is taking an important step to support a new approach to economic development in our region: economic development that is privately-led and publicly supported.
  

The latest issue of Business Week highlights social network analysis and points to the work of our colleague Valdis Krebs. Read more.  As we have been saying for some time, Valdis (a CSU grad) is an international expert on a remarkably important field for Northeast Ohio: innovation.

Wisconsin is learning the lessons of the Irish Miracle. Simple enough: education, innovation, collaboriation. We know the path ahead. But somehow, we are not executing very well, according to this insightful commentary. Read more.

Nortech gets a star in my book for forging a new collaboration between our Nano-Network and an affiliate organization in New Mexico. Read more. Learn more about the partner here.