Recycling Generational Stereotypes: Does This End with Gen Y?

Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation” (Again, and again, and again…)

Have you seen the news? Read the articles? Heard the talking heads?

They say young people are “lazy” and “entitled”. It’s said that young people – the entire generation – will never amount to much.

I came across a Time Magazine article the other day that really bothered me. It was another older person talking down to my generation. The article described us this way: “They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder.” It said we’re a generation that “postpones growing up” pointing out that “fully 75% of young males 18 to 24 years old are still living at home, the largest proportion since the Great Depression.” We’re apparently the “New Petulants” because we “can often end up sounding like whiners.”

What?! We’re “whiners” just because we don’t want to live the same lives as our parents?!

More here.

Training Staff for Fundraising

This a a good one. Fundraising is the lifeline activity for any nongovernmental organization (NGO), yet it is the most challenging task for us all. This is because there are so few resources available and too many seekers reaching them out. In such cases, only organizations that are competitive, responsive and creative succeed. But to be competitive, responsive and creative, it is important to become professional enough. Professionalism is about applying high business tactics to survive the growing competition in the world. In fund-raising, professionalism is necessary. Read the article here.

Five Quarters of Economic Gains

The U.S. economy grew for the fifth consecutive quarter, with real gross domestic product up 2 percent in the third quarter.  This and other trends can be found in the update of the Quarterly Indicators: The Economy and Small
Business for the third quarter of 2010. We are not out of the woods yet folks! Quarterly Indicators: See the Economy and Small Business.

Twelve Crazy Regulations Small Businesses Must Deal With

OK, this is a MUST read! Even with all of the massive economic problems that the United States is facing, if the government is not using common sense in many cases. In America today, it is rapidly getting to the point where it is nearly impossible to start or to operate a small business. The federal government, the state governments and local governments are cramming thousands upon thousands of new ridiculous regulations down business owners’ throats each year. It would take a full team of lawyers just to even try to stay informed about all of these new regulations. Click here to see 12 of the most absurd government regulations created by government.

Follow Your Heart and Intuition

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary” ~Steve Jobs

Utah Lures California Companies

Companies are getting the message. Over the past two years California companies like Adobe Systems, eBay, Electronic Arts, Oracle and Twitter have expanded in Utah. The Tax Foundation weighed in last week on the business tax climates of each state. Utah ranked 9th best, while California was 49th (only New York fared worse). Utah lowered its corporate income tax rate in 2008 from 7% to 5% which is one of the lowest in the country. If you want to gauge the regulatory climate by the numbers, consider the Pacific Research Institute which publishes its Economic Freedom Index. When it comes to regulatory environment it ranks Utah 2nd and California 49th

Read the Forbes story here.

New State New Economy Index

Many jobs lost in the recession are never coming back and job creation is expected to be sluggish for years. This has created an imperative to develop new jobs, business models and industries. The states are on the front line of this effort and it is more important than ever for them to embrace innovation and the New Economy. ITIF will unveil the latest data on how the states are doing in efforts to be competitive in the global, entrepreneurial, innovation- and knowledge-based New Economy. How did Washington State do? The report builds on previous reports that go back more than a decade and uses 26 indicators to assess the states’ efforts to succeed in the innovation economy. See how the states rank and learn about what has worked and where progress is needed in the 2010 State New Economy Index.

A Look at the Future of Work

Intuit has just released The Intuit 2020 Report. It covers twenty demographic, social, economic and technology trends impacting consumers and businesses over the next decade. The report, co-authored by Steve King and Carolyn Ockels of Emergent Research (and also Future of Work Associates), started as part of Intuit’s strategic plan process.

Emergent Research worked with Intuit to develop these trends as input to a ten-year visioning exercise Intuit did as part of its own annual planning. Because Intuit realized the trends would of be interest to Intuit customers, partners, and others the company decided to release the report to the public.

Download the report

Teaching Entrepreneurship @ the High School Level

How do you teach entrepreneurship to high school juniors? In only one hour?

Read this article by Rocco Tarasi in Pittsbrugh.

“I had the privilege this summer of speaking for an hour to students at the Neighborhood Academy, a college prep school in Pittsburgh for low-income students, about being an entrepreneur. “Being an entrepreneur” is certainly a broad topic, and you could choose to focus on a number of different areas. I decided that I would have three goals: make it simple, make it inspiring, and make it practical.

So when I was considering what topics to cover, I stayed away from the “administrative nuts and bolts” of being an entrepreneur – accounting, taxes, legal, HR, etc. Not that those aren’t important activities, but they certainly weren’t going to meet my 3 goals. I also chose not to talk about the “psychological” aspects of being an entrepreneur – making mistakes, keeping the faith, the highs and lows, the importance of working with strong teammates, etc.”

To read the full, original article click on this link: Blogging Innovation » How do you teach entrepreneurship to high school students?

Seven Steps to Developing an Economic Gardening Implementation Strategy

This article is an excerpt from the InFocus issue, Strengthen Your Local Economy through Economic Gardening, by Christine Hamilton-Pennell, published by ICMA.

Economic gardening is an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that seeks to grow the local economy from within. Its premise is that local entrepreneurs create the companies that bring new wealth and economic growth to a region in the form of jobs, increased revenues, and a vibrant local business sector. Economic gardening seeks to focus on growing and nurturing local businesses rather than hunting for “big game” outside the area.

Preparing a strategy for an economic gardening program can be complicated-there are many elements that must be developed first, taking into consideration unique community needs and available resources. Here are the seven steps to developing an implementation strategy for your economic gardening program to succeed.

1.     Gain the support of local officials and other stakeholders – It takes time and effort to develop the support of elected officials for an economic gardening approach. The first step is to sit down with each official and other key stakeholders and listen to their concerns about economic development.

2.     Identify your community’s assets – Develop an inventory of community and business assets available to you. Your list of assets should include the usual suspects such as economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, small business development centers (SBDCs), SCORE, workforce centers, universities and community colleges, financial institutions, and civic and social groups such as Rotary and Kiwanis. Other groups and individuals can also provide value to your community.

Look for individuals in your community who have skills and expertise in areas such as business coaching and mentoring, finance, employment/workforce development, research, marketing, meeting facilitation, organizing/managing projects, public speaking, legal support, and fundraising.

Perhaps the most important assets you can identify in your community are individuals who can become champions and advocates for your economic gardening project. They might be successful entrepreneurs who want to give back to their community or individuals within any of the groups or organizations listed above.

3.     Develop a collaborative effort among resource partners – Once you have identified the assets in your community, explore which entities and individuals are likely to become resource partners in moving your economic gardening venture forward. Set up a steering committee that can guide and implement the project.

4.     Create a system-wide operating agreement – Because an economic gardening project generally involves multiple entities, it is important for the steering committee to develop a formal or informal operating agreement that addresses key operational and long-term planning issues.

5.     Determine the target audience for services – One of the most important questions an economic gardening project needs to answer is, “Who will we serve?” The first step in determining your target audience(s) is to inventory the available entrepreneurial talent in your community. What kinds of businesses are located there? What is their level of growth or maturity?

6.     Develop a delivery system to provide services to the target audience – Steps involved in creating a viable delivery system include finding or developing qualified business coaches, providing or linking to technical assistance resources, locating entrepreneurs within your target audience, offering market research services, identifying financial resources, and partnering with other providers within and outside the local area. A local referral network of small business professionals and service providers is a crucial element at this juncture.
7.     Develop a communication system to gain community support and buy-in – Make public presentations explaining the economic gardening program and gain the support of local media. Use entrepreneurs and your local referral network as advocates to deliver your message to funders, prospective clients, and the public. Build regular reporting functions into your ongoing activities.

Will the Biomedical-Research Bubble Burst? By Lior Shamir

This article appeared in the Chronicle on Higher Education on October 17, 2010.

The United States still reels from the aftermath of the financial crisis. Many of us in the biomedical-research community, meanwhile, fear that our field may face a recession of its own in the not-too-distant future.

Reminiscent of the dot-com crash of the previous decade—and, indeed, of today’s financial crisis, mainly precipitated by the implosion of the subprime-loan market—biomedical research is endangered by its precarious position atop a bubble of unsustainable financial practices. The unrestricted grant-making policies of the National Institutes of Health inflate the number of biomedical researchers in a fashion that cannot be matched by the availability of research funds and might eventually lead to a shortage of financial support for biomedical research.

The trouble begins with how lead scientists must often scrounge for money to keep their research programs alive. Grantees’ home institutions—that is, universities and research institutes—typically pay principal investigators’ salaries and start-up costs for a limited period of time, after which the lead scientists are expected to attract external backing that will cover their programs, including their salaries. Such a system allows universities and research institutions to hire more scientists and expand their research at little cost to the institutions themselves, while enhancing their own reputations and academic prestige. The system also provides universities and research institutions with a financial benefit: Overhead charges are deducted from grants raised by principal investigators. Thus, universities and research institutions have strong incentives to open ever-increasing numbers of such tenuous, grant-dependent, “soft money” tenure-track lines.

Enter the NIH—the primary agency that supports fundamental biomedical research in the United States—and other organizations, which provide money not only for materials, equipment, and stipends for research assistants, but also for the salaries of principal investigators once their start-up money has run out.

While the NIH Data Book does not provide detailed information about the increase in principal-investigator positions supported by NIH awards, the trend is nonetheless evident by the applications for career-development grants, which provide salaries for young investigators. The number of applications for these awards increased from 1,029 in 1997 to 3,340 in 2007. The success rate was consequently reduced from 51 percent to 31 percent.

Such an unbalanced incentive for universities and research institutes to continually bring new researchers onboard depends on the assumption that new money will keep getting into the system and that the flow of new money will satisfy ever-increasing growth. That, however, is rarely the case, whether one is dealing with start-up Internet companies, the subprime-loan market—or scientific research. In fact, the flexibility of the NIH budget and its potential growth are highly limited, as the NIH budget has been flat since 2003.

Because of the relatively low costs involved in opening “soft money” faculty positions, as well as institutional lust for expanding research and getting a larger piece of the NIH budget, it is expected that an increasing number of new, externally paid faculty positions will open and put increasing pressure on the NIH’s extramural funding. This is the money that the NIH gives to research institutions and universities to support studies conducted outside of the institute.

Obviously, any future increase in available NIH funds is limited, so the inevitable result of this unbalanced growth is that, in the long term, the NIH will no longer be able to keep up with the demand for soft-money principal-investigator positions. Studies will run short on funding, research centers and laboratories will close, and scientists, research assistants, and support-staff members will lose their livelihoods.

To avoid such a recession in biomedical research, universities, research institutions, and the NIH must work together to ensure that any growth in the number of principal-investigator positions reflects the predicted growth in available financial resources.

One solution is to change the NIH’s grant-making policy to require that a principal investigator’s salary—or at least a substantial part of it—be paid for by the investigator’s home institution. The National Science Foundation has already adopted such a policy, providing no more than two months’ salary for a P.I. per year.

Clearly, if adopted by the NIH, such a policy would reduce the number of positions offered by universities and research institutions, slow down the growth in the number of available P.I. positions, and further increase the pressure on the academic job market.

But the upside is that universities and research institutions, if forced to bear the financial burden of hiring and paying investigators themselves, would plan their hiring strategies far more carefully. Because an investigator without funds for materials and research assistants is of little use, home institutions would also be forced to consider the present and future availability of research grants. That extra consideration, in turn, would ensure a better balance between the aspirations of universities and research institutions, and the ability of the NIH to subsidize those ambitions.

Young Entrepreneurial Stories, Starting in College

This article talks about paying attention to budding entrepreneurs early–in college. This is one of the compelling reasons why Snohomish County must land or create a four-year university in the future.

New York University seniors Katie Shea and Susie Levitt were interning at Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup-Smith Barney when their sore feet inspired them to start a $10,000 dorm-room company selling foldable flat shoes that come in their own tote bag. A year later they have imported 70,000 pairs from China that retail for between $10 and $25. Women can don the slipper-like footwear to hike or drive to the office in comfort, then switch back to their high heels when they arrive at work.

Inspired by Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook as a sophomore at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., and stymied by the shortage of jobs in the recession, college students are launching businesses before they graduate. They’re entering industries that previously required large investments, thanks to websites that offer help with manufacturing, inventory management, and accounting, says Dane Stangler, a project manager with the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City (Mo.) nonprofit organization that promotes entrepreneurship. Read the article here.

Great Lakes Region Can Become the National Leader in the Next Economy

Brookings’ researchers contend that the U.S. region worst hit by the Great Recession has the potential to spearhead the U.S. towards a Next Economy. Unlike the U.S.’ old economy, which was driven by highly-leveraged, domestic consumption, the Great Lakes region can build an export-oriented economy, powered by a low-carbon energy strategy and driven by innovation that benefits all Americans. The report outlines the many resources that can position the Great Lakes region as an economic leader. They include global trade networks, clean energy/low carbon capacity and innovation infrastructure. The report also highlights the challenges faced by the region due to its declining economic health. To achieve this economic transformation, the region will have to address the deficient transportation infrastructure for trade, the concentration of energy-intensive industries, the lack of seed capital and the low educational attainment levels. The report provides three key Next economy drivers that will help federal, state and metropolitan leaders to maximize the region’s promise.

The report outlines the many resources that can position the Great Lakes region as an economic leader. They include:

Global trade networks: Many of region’s cities rank among the top cities in terms of the share of their metro output that is exported;

Clean energy/low carbon capacity: Their blue-green potential due to the Great Lakes, waterways and abundant natural wind/solar resources position the region well in renewable energy generation; and

Innovation infrastructure: The region’s metros are home to 21 of the 32 major public and private research universities, which attract substantial federal research investment. Each year almost 36% of all U.S. science and engineering degrees come from schools in the region. The region also registers almost 33% of all U.S. patents.

These strengths provide the region with opportunities that are necessary to achieve success in the Next Economy. However, the research indicates that these strengths must work in a coordinated effort to achieve that success.

The report also highlights the challenges faced by the region due to its declining economic health. To achieve this economic transformation, the region will have to address the deficient transportation infrastructure for trade, the concentration of energy-intensive industries, the lack of seed capital and the low educational attainment levels. To resolve these challenges, the report provides three key Next Economy drivers that will help federal, state and metropolitan leaders to maximize the region’s promise:

• Invest in the assets that matter: innovation, human capital, and infrastructure: Even though budget cuts have become a regular occurrence, the researchers argue, Long-range economic health is not just a matter of spending less, but spending and investing to spur growth. The region should concentrate its efforts on developing regional innovation clusters, instituting workforce development at community colleges and smart spending on infrastructure to facilitate trade.
• Devise new public-private institutions that are market-oriented and performance-driven: Government leaders should be prepared to go to voters to support bond issues or dedicated tax sources for these institutions. They also can consider reorganizing money from programs and systems that are underperforming. These institutions include new infrastructure banks, advanced manufacturing labs, regional energy research and innovation centers and a venture capital fund of funds.
• Reimagine metros’ form and governance structures to set the right conditions for economic growth: To achieve growth and innovation, cities and states must overhaul their physical redevelopment strategies and local governance structures in the Great Lakes region due to their significant population and economic declines. They must focus on right-sizing communities, green development and infrastructure and governance reform.

Read the Report

Canadian Government Launches $50M Entrepreneurship Initiative

Recent graduates and grad students will have access to new resources aimed at helping them launch high-tech businesses and commercialize new technologies under the Government of Canada’s new Scientists and Engineers in Business Initiative. The program will award $50 million over four years to nonprofit organizations, including postsecondary institutions, to provide business skills development, such as training workshops, and seed financing or advisory support services to entrepreneurs pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics endeavors. The idea is to improve the success rate of startup companies in southern Ontario by helping entrepreneurs develop business and management skills. Read the press announcement. Maybe Concentrus Inc. should offer to work with these Canadian companies in getting a foothold in the U.S. market. Read more here.

Our Times, Our Demographics

With large numbers of 20-somethings moving back in with their parents, taking unpaid internships, or bouncing from job to job seemingly without direction, psychologists, sociologists, journalists and parents have been asking the question, “Why are 20-somethings taking so long to grow up?” The New York Times Magazine recently devoted an 8,000-word cover article to this question. It used to be that by the time they reached their early twenties, Americans were beginning to settle down, work a steady job, and lead a relatively stable life, but that is no longer the case.

For most of the 20-somethings I know, which is an admittedly small group of graduates from some of the country’s best four-year colleges and universities, life’s third decade offers a disquieting mix of uncertainty and promise. Faced with friends scattering across the globe after graduation, the high stakes and complexity of modern life, a tough job market, admonitions to enjoy youth to the fullest, and a dearth of self-knowledge, many 20-somethings find themselves asking, “Now what?” For the first time the life script that so many have followed does not have a next page. Read it all here.

Reliable State Tax Comparison Data

Washington State is considering changes in its state tax policy to create a personal income tax. Is it the right or wrong thing to do? Voters will decide soon.

The Federation of Tax Administrators is a good source of comparative information on state taxes. Click here to see what is available.

Economics of Ending the Bush-Era Tax Cuts

This is from the Tax Foundation.

The fight is heating up in Washington over how to handle the approaching expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. A great deal continues to be said both in support of and in opposition to various features of the Bush-era tax policies. Some of this information is accurate and helpful, but much of it is buried deep in political rhetoric, obscuring the facts and making an often perplexing topic even more difficult to grasp.

Read the analysis here.

Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner

This is a great resource for ideas on stimulating and supporting entrepreneurship. Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner provides a free collection of over 1600 videos and podcasts, featuring lectures by today’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders. Stop by and test drive the site.

Increasing Community Visibility for Economic Development

Here is straightforward and useful advice on increasing community visibility for economic development.

Communities leaders are working hard to make their community known to site selectors, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and existing stakeholders. This task can seem overwhelming in the face of social media, print advertising, web sites, radio spots, brochure, and limited staff and time.  So how can an economic development staff or economic development leader improve their community’s exposure?  Where should a community leader start?  Start simple and just accomplish a couple tasks and the momentum will build.

1. Encourage the community leaders to spread the word on Facebook. Members of your community are already using Facebook. They connect to family, friends, and their customers. Ask them to connect to your community Facebook page and to post comments and to “like” your Facebook posts. Don’t have a community Facebook page? Create one today. They are easy to create and the content is picked up by the search engines easily. If you are uncomfortable creating a community Facebook page, search out someone in your community or office that has created one. Keeping it up to date does require someone’s attention.  But overall it is an easy way to spread the word.

2. Set up your Linked In account. Linked In is a powerful social media site that allows people to connect to other professionals. It is intended to help people organize and follow their network of people. It is a great place to find other community leaders, give and get recommendations, and to build up your personal and community brand. It is free and very powerful.

3. Participate in the blogoshere. Do a search for blogs that relate to your community development efforts. You will find a long list of blogs about economic development and community growth. Some of these blogs come with academic credentials, some are put together by economic development leaders, some are just interested individuals sharing their ideas. In any case, find a couple you like and read and comment on their posts. Not only do you learn new ideas, but you will increase your personal and community exposure.

4. Make your economic development website visible. Do an economic development Google search for the surrounding communities in your area.  You will find many communities bury their existing economic development site into a city or county website with only a small reference to the site. If your community is really serious about letting people know you have a great community for business growth, you need to advertise that message.  Just a website or a page on an existing website is not enough to stand out on the Internet. Site selectors, businesses, and entrepreneurs review many communities and only stop on compelling sites. If your story is buried in the recesses of a city website, the story will be safely locked away for no one to see.

5. Set aside one hour a week to promote your site online. Too often economic developers are multi-tasking, attending meetings, and trying to keep up with the demands of the job and they try to squeeze in some time for their online promotion. Instead of finding time for your community, take an hour a week and dedicate it to updating your Facebook, reading and commenting on a blog, or promoting an existing business in your community on your webpage. Spotlight the success of your community and the word will get out. Be diligent and don’t neglect the most important asset of your community–its story!  Tell your story online or someone else may tell it for you.

Source: Golden Shovel

Witchita: Air Capital?

The latest round of aviation changes has left Wichita’s economic future in limbo. Some local leaders are looking to solve that with an aviation innovation. With recent layoffs, lost jobs and the chances of a company like Hawker Beechcraft heading South, some say a different kind of development would be the best way to keep Wichita the Air Capital.  Taking off on a runway just outside your back door is reality today.

If James Wiebe has any say, the innovation of smaller, easy-to-fly aircraft, could be the key to Wichita’s future. “We’re always looking at finding ways to produce more innovative flight to provide people things they want. They want to be able to fly inexpensively and safely, and they really want to be able to enjoy it,” said Wiebe, owner of belite Aircraft.

Innovative flight could take individuals and local businesses to the skies. “What these companies have done is proven that there’s a marketable, desirable concepts that people want to buy. We’ve been concentrating on what we already have and not paying attention to what we could have in addition to it,” said Wiebe. For the past year, belite Aircraft has been thinking about the future, creating one-seat planes for ultra-light flight, giving nearly anyone the handling and control of a real airplane. Wiebe said the business is taking off, and could be expanded in Wichita.

“There is more brain talent in Wichita when it comes to aerospace engineering in Wichita, than about any other place on the planet. These things should be happening here, and a lot of the innovation has not been happening here. It’s been happening in other parts of the country, and in other parts of the world,” said Wiebe. With the right product, Wichita could be in charge of the future of flight. (So the locals say).

Read the source article.

Economic Sting Will Linger in Hard-Hit Places

Those communities hardest-hit during the recession and slow recovery could continue to fall behind the rest of the country for decades.

Nearly three decades after the 1980s recession, those areas most damaged are still lagging behind. A similar fate could be in store for those localities that faced the deepest housing and employment shocks in the latest downturn.

In regions that suffered disproportionately in the 1980s recession, average earnings have risen at a quarter of the rate of the rest of the U.S. Employment grew more slowly, young people left the region, the population grew more slowly and, as a result, demand for housing weakened. To avoid repeating that scenario, a series of targeted revitalization efforts should be used to help the most distressed communities, according to a set of papers released Wednesday at an event by the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project. The proposals focus on attracting new business, helping displaced workers and matching workers to new jobs in those areas where the economy won’t simply snap back.

“This is a structural change,” Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, said at the event. “The economy is just not going to come back the way it has before.” Michigan, a longtime auto industry state that now suffers from 13.1% unemployment and 15.7% joblessness in the Detroit area, is something of a poster child of a distressed community. The state has been working to diversify its economy, bolster manufacturing and retrain its work force.

Manufacturing has suffered acutely during the recession, and in one proposal to help spur business productivity and employment in the sector, Timothy Bartik of the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, suggested an expansion of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The program advises small and medium-sized manufacturers on how to improve competitiveness.

Job training has been a prominent issue during a recession that’s led to massive declines in employment, particularly in sectors such as construction where hiring isn’t likely to rebound to pre-recession levels. For those who’ve been laid off, the effects can be long-lasting. Workers unemployed in the early 1980s suffered a 30% drop in income in the year after losing a job. A decade later their earnings were still 20% lower than their peers who managed to keep their jobs.

Retraining can help mitigate these losses, the University of Chicago’s Robert LaLonde and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Daniel Sullivan argue. They proposed extending Pell Grants to reemployed workers who’ve accepted jobs at lower wages and ramping up federal funding for community colleges, a move the Obama administration has committed to.

The catch is that retraining doesn’t hold the same benefits for all workers. Those who are younger, female and have had some experience in post-secondary education are most likely to benefit. Vocational technical programs tend to be most effective. But that doesn’t solve the problem of the 2.6 million unemployed men age 45 and up.

For some workers, moving to an area with a healthier job market may be the best option. Slowing migration has been a concern during the recession and some experts argue that improving mobility could help improve employment. To increase mobility, the University of Chicago’s Jens Ludwig and the University of California, Berkeley’s Steven Raphael proposed a mobility bank that would provide loans of up to $10,000 to unemployed people looking to move. The cost would run the government between $500 and $800 million annually, they estimate.

But in the current economic climate it’s not clear such a loan could inspire a big change. Roughly a fifth of unemployed workers are underwater homeowners, according to the report. For someone in that case, $10,000 likely isn’t enough to free them from their homes.

“Can I guarantee that the mobility bank will work? Absolutely not,” Mr. Ludwig said, but because the program cost mainly depends on demand, there’s relatively little to lose.

A key to the Hamilton proposals is to target only the most distressed areas; for example, only the 20% with the highest unemployment rates. But that could also be their downfall. Practically speaking, Congress may not be willing to get behind programs that benefit states unequally.

Cost is another factor. In many of these programs, their creators say, the benefits exceed the expenses to fund them — and the price tags are relatively small. But Congress has shied away from spending more money to boost the economy amid a rising tide of deficit concerns. That could mean that, for these programs to come to fruition, state and local governments would have to make space in their already strained budgets.

Most Innovative Cities….The Winners Are…

Innovation analysts at 2thinknow released a list of the most innovative cities in the world. They evaluated 289 cities based on three factors: cultural assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets.

Cities were ranked on a one to ten scale in each category for a total possible index score of 30. Once index numbers were determined, cities were given the label of “node,” “nexus,” or “hub.”

Christopher Hire, executive director of 2thinknow, explains the process:

“Cities that have a high index score are nexus cities, followed by hub then node cities. A node city is a globally “competitive” score, so all cities should aim to be node cities. Node means they are hooked into global networks and connected to the backbone of the global innovation economy.

“Nexus and hub cities are the critical junctures of the innovation economy across multiple segments. We divide the urban economy into a pie, and assess the slices. A nexus city scores well in multiple segments of the urban innovation economy.”

How does your city rank? Did Seattle make the list???

Read more

Best Business Websites

Today,  business websites are often responsible for originating a major share of their companies turnover. This trend can only continue, with more and more organizations depending on the internet for a significant proportion of their sales enquiries and revenue. Business websites are more than equal to the challenges of this fast-changing environment, where the internet plays a vital part of the marketing, order-taking and customer support strategy.

If you’re preparing for a career in the business world, you’re undoubtedly devoting a lot of time and effort to your schoolwork, internships and networking. But keeping up with business news is equally important, and these websites can help you apply what you learn in class to real-world situations, from the stock market, to international business, to starting up your own company to social media marketing. As and entrepreneur or maybe future entrepreneur you should read the same magazines as the CEOs. Read the whole article here.

Our Economy Needs a Stronger Private Sector

Late last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its preliminary budget tallies for fiscal year 2010, and the news is that the U.S. government had another fabulous year—in spending your money. Spending rolled in for the year that ended September 30 at $3.45 trillion, second only to 2009′s $3.52 trillion in the record books. But don’t think this means Washington was relatively less spendthrift. CBO reports that the modest overall spending decline results from three one-time events. Somehow we must effect a shift from government spending to private sector investment and job creation if our wobbly economy is to gain “real’ steam. Read the story here.

Clusters and the Scale of Innovation

Concerning economic development and economic globalization, better cooperation between a group of states is a fools errand. The megaregion might help you sell a boondoggle (e.g. high-speed rail), but it won’t solve prosperity problems. Brookings delineates the proper scale for innovation. Download the report here.

US Jobs Continue to Flow Offshore

Though some American firms are bringing overseas work back home, evidence is growing that companies are moving more jobs than ever to China and other countries — a trend that could exacerbate efforts to bring down the nation’s stubbornly high unemployment rate.

One sign of increased offshoring is the rising number of applications for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance, which usually goes to factory workers who lost their jobs because their work was sent overseas or was undercut by cheaper imports. For the six months that ended Sept. 30, workers at about 1,200 offices and plants nationwide were approved for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance. That’s about 20% more approvals than in the same six-month period last year, according to the U.S. Labor Department. In addition, the most recent Commerce Department data show that employment at the foreign subsidiaries and affiliates of U.S. multinational firms grew by 729,000 in two years, to 11.9 million in 2008 from 2006. Over that same period, domestic employment by such firms slipped by 500,000 jobs, to 21.1 million. Read the whole story here.

Boeing and Microsoft: No to Proposed Washington State Income Tax

Washington’s two most influential companies are now officially opposing Initiative 1098, which would establish an income tax for wealthier Washingtonians. In a statement released Wednesday, executives for the Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp. say I-1098 would harm businesses by raising costs for suppliers and making it harder to attract talent. Other Washington businesses also signed on to the statement. But the campaign for I-1098 says that doesn’t reflect all of Washington’s business community, and contradicts business demands for a better education system. I-1098 would institute state income taxes on couples making more than $400,000, or $200,000 for individuals. The money would be directed toward state education and health programs. Read more here.

Cost of College Dropouts

Dropping out of college after a year can mean lost time, burdensome debt and an uncertain future for students. Now there’s an estimate of what it costs taxpayers. And it runs in the billions. States appropriated almost $6.2 billion for four-year colleges and universities between 2003 and 2008 to help pay for the education of students who did not return for year two, a report released Monday says. In addition, the federal government spent $1.5 billion and states spent $1.4 billion on grants for students who didn’t start their sophomore years, according to “Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America’s Four-Year Colleges and Universities.” The dollar figures, based on government data and gathered by the nonprofit American Institutes for Research, are meant to put an economic exclamation point on the argument that college completion rates need improvement. Read the whole story here.

Where the Jobs Are and Aren’t

Where the Jobs Are and Aren’t

By Nick Schulz, DeWitt Wallace Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Editor-in-Chief, American.com

Arnold Kling has an interesting post about whether or not corporations should threaten to exit jurisdictions and relocate to places with a more favorable tax and regulatory climate. It is often difficult for firms to relocate headquarters because the costs of moving are high and might outweigh the benefits. As Kling notes, however, the effect of imprudent tax and regulatory policies manifests itself in all sorts of ways.

This is an interesting read.

Temporary Hiring Up

When temporary hiring picks up, full-time jobs are soon to follow. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. But so far, that hasn’t happened this time. Read the story here.

Brookings Institute on Clusters

Regional innovation clusters can be a useful framework in understanding the high-tech economy, but only if local leaders recognize the limits of cluster-based strategies, according to a recent study by the Brookings Institution. Authors Mark Muro and Bruce Katz suggest that research has confirmed the positive impact clusters can have for local workers, firms and regions, but that effective policy interventions must focus on targeted initiatives to foster existing clusters. Clusters cannot be created out of nothing, and regional efforts should instead help to develop clusters where there is evidence of under-performance. The Brooking’s paper finds that:

1. Clusters and cluster approaches hold out substantial attractions as the nation seeks to rebuild a damaged economy. Clusters, in this respect, have emerged as a major focus of economic and policy discussion just now by dint of their demonstrated practical impact, their value in paradigm discussions, and their potential utility in policy reform. Most notably:

• • Pointing to impact, new research confirms that strong clusters tend to deliver positive benefits to workers, firms, and regions. It is now broadly affirmed that strong clusters foster innovation through dense knowledge flows and spillovers; strengthen entrepreneurship by boosting new enterprise formation and start-up survival; enhance productivity, income-levels, and employment growth in industries; and positively influence regional economic performance
  • As a matter of paradigm, clusters reflect the nature of the real economy. Cluster frameworks, in this respect, highlight the real-world interactions, connections, transactions, and dealings of real firms after a period of delusion and over-simplification.  For example, the cluster paradigm emphasizes the regional underpinnings of the national economy; highlights the unique variations and specializations that define productive local economies; and focuses attention on the myriad actors and the dynamics of their exchanges and interactions that give rise to new innovations and jobs.  Clusters, in short, provide a timely and useful lens through which to clarify what matters in economic affairs
  • As a matter of policymaking, clusters provide a framework for rethinking and refocusing economic policy .  The cluster paradigm, finally, yields practical insights that can help policymakers get their priorities right and maximize the impacts of their efforts at a time of constrained resources.  Along these lines, cluster thinking appeals because it: puts the policy focus on regions; draws attention to the grainy, real-world dynamics of regional economies; takes into account the need for local discretion across regions and industries; and provides a vehicle for coordinating fragmented policy offerings to improve efficiency

2. When it comes to policymaking leaders at all levels should adhere to a set of core general principles when pursuing cluster-based economic development strategies.  Regional innovation clusters are a fact of economic life, but their promotion through government or quasi-government initiatives must be pursued judiciously—through data-disciplined, targeted interventions.  To guide such effort going forward at least six general watchwords bear consideration.  Namely:

• • Don’t try to create clusters. Clusters can’t be created out of nothing and cluster initiatives should only be attempted where clusters already exist.  The preexistence of a cluster means that an industry hotspot has passed the market test.  By contrast, efforts at wholesale invention will likely be fraught with selection issues, inefficiency, and probable failure and waste
  • Use data and analysis to target interventions, drive design, and track performance. Cluster strategies or policy interventions—when attempted—should be grounded in rigorous empirical information and analysis so that decisionmakers can make objective assessments about the nature, competitive prospects, and specific needs of different regional industry concentrations. Cluster strategies also need to be held accountable so performance measurement is critical
  • Focus cluster initiatives on clusters where there is objectively measured evidence of under-capacity . Work to upgrade an identified cluster should be tightly focused on attacking specific, documented constraints, institutional deficiencies, or resource shortcomings
  • Maximize impact by leveraging cluster-relevant preexisting approaches, programs and initiatives. Specific, targeted cluster-oriented initiatives are clearly justifiable, but equal value and added impact may well come from drawing other, more generally relevant programs into the cluster orbit. For example, at the federal level programs like the R&D tax credit as well as SBI and SBTT grants, workforce training programs, and small business finance may all be rightly viewed as “cluster” programs, just as banking regulations, tax credits for venture capital, and education policy may be at the state level. In this way, “clusters” and cluster strategies are less a specific program than a framework through which to shape and coordinate disparate policies
  • Align efforts “vertically” as well as horizontally. The cluster paradigm can—and should—be used to organize the disconnected policy offerings of any one level of government in service of clusters’ needs in a region, but it also provides a framework for coordinating them up and down the tiers of federalism to avoid policy conflict, redundancy, or missed opportunities for synergy
  • Let the private sector lead. Clustering is a dynamic of the private economy in the presence of public goods.  Cluster strategy should be pursued with humility as a matter of supporting, connecting, filling gaps, and removing obstacles to private enterprise while making sure certain public and quasi-public goods are available

3. While keeping these principles in mind, all tiers of the nation’s federalist system have roles to play in advancing the co-development a new cluster-informed stance in U.S. economic policy.  At a time of near- and longer-term economic crisis, a rough division of labor among the levels of government can be envisioned:

• • Federal policymakers can provide a rich base of information and related foundational resources for cluster practitioners nationwide. Going forward, the federal government should move aggressively to build the information base necessary for cluster activity and policymaking; create effective forums for best practice sharing; enhance the capacity of regional cluster intermediaries with planning and other assistance; employ cluster paradigms on major national challenges; coordinate disparate cluster-relevant programs; and ensure the overarching cluster effort is visibly prominent
  • State policymakers should strategically invest their own resources in cluster-led economic development. States can make clusters a central component of economic development planning; target investments strategically to clusters of state significance; and adjust metropolitan governance to ease regional collaboration
  • Regional leaders should identify cluster challenges and coordinate cluster actors. Regional intermediaries should work to identify and describe local clusters, identify their binding constraints, and facilitate regional joint action to implement needed exchanges and initiatives
  • Local policymakers should bring to tools to influence on-the-ground implementation of cluster-oriented economic development. They should manage zoning and permitting issues to benefit the physical infrastructure in which clusters exist, and they should keep an eye out for the broader demographic and social context in which new industry clusters might form and to which existing ones must adjust

In sum, cluster thinking and cluster strategies have the potential to accelerate regional economic growth and assist with the nation’s needed economic restructuring, but they are more a paradigm than a single program. In that sense, the opportunities that a cluster policy framework provides for delivering impact, clarifying economic priorities, and coordinating disparate programmatic efforts will only grow more important in the coming era of intensified competitive pressures and tightened resources.

Green California

What can Snohomish County leaders learn from California? Be green, not green with envy!

New statistics released in the 2010 California Green Innovation Index, document California’s increasing global leadership in green innovation, cleantech venture capital investment, and energy productivity. Based on this research we can conclude that California’s green economy is one of the few areas of the economy that is growing in the current downturn. New data also show that more businesses are opening in California than are closing or leaving.

The Index, produced by Next 10 and prepared by Collaborative Economics, tracks California’s history of policy and technology innovation and resulting economic and environmental gains or losses. Top findings include:

California Is A Global Leader In Green Innovation

• California has attracted $11.6 billion in cleanteach venture capital (VC) since 2006, accounting for 24 percent of total global investment.

• In the first half of 2010, the state attracted 40 percent of global cleantech VC exceeding the first half of 2009 by two-and-a-half times.

• California is the top state in patent registrations in green technology outpacing second-ranked New York by 150 patents between 2007 and 2009.

California Continues To Raise Its Energy Productivity Freeing Up Dollars For Businesses And Households To Spend in The Economy, Which Creates New Jobs

• Between 2002 and 2007, electricity productivity of manufacturers improved by 13 percent in California and dropped by ten percent in the rest of the nation.

• As a result of efficiency improvements, each Californian used 20 percent less energy in 2008 than in 1970 while little progress has been made in the rest of the country.

California’s Economy Is Reducing Its Dependence On Carbon As Total Emissions Level Off And Per Capita Emissions Drop

• For every dollar of GDP generated in 2008, the state’s economy required 32 percent less carbon than it did in 1990.

Download the California Green Innovation Index Here.

Global Entrepreneurship

The SBA just released a new study that analyzes entrepreneurship at the global level using a new index called the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI). This index captures the contextual (qualitative and quantitative) features of entrepreneurship in 71 countries.

Unstoppable Green Economy

Over the next ten years the green economy is going to change virtually every major aspect of our lives for the better. These changes are as sexy and irresistible as new technology. In fact, when we talk about designing scalable solutions for sustainable communities much of it IS new technology. But it’s also new business, better design, increased efficiency, stronger community, and old-fashioned common sense.

The green economy is unstoppable because sustainable solutions are also smart, effective solutions. It’s clear from our inability to pass climate legislation that we’re not going green because it’s the right thing to do. We’re going green because it’s simply the smart thing to do. Read the article here.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Song by Iron Butterfly

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby,
don’t you know that I want you?
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey,
don’t you know that I’ll always be true?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and take my hand?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and walk this land?

Please take my hand!

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby,
don’t you know that I want you?
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey
don’t you know that I’ll always be true?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and take my hand?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and walk this land?

Please take my hand!

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby,
don’t you know that I want you?
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey
don’t you know that I’ll always be true?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and take my hand?

Oh, won’t you come with me
and walk this land?

Please Take my Hand

Celebrate

Celebrate
Song by Three Dog Night

Slippin’ away, sittin’ on a pillow
Waitin’ for night to fall
A girl and a dream, sittin’ on a pillow
This is the night to go to the celebrity ball

Satin and lace, isn’t it a pity
Didn’t find time to call
Ready or not, gonna make it to the city
This is the night to go to the celebrity ball

Dress up tonight, why be lonely?
You’ll stay at home and you’ll be alone
So why be lonely?
Sittin’ alone, sittin’ on a pillow
Waitin’ to climb the walls
Maybe tonight, depending how your dream goes
She’ll open her eyes when she goes to the celebrity ball

Dress up tonight, why be lonely?
You’ll stay at home and you’ll be alone
So why be lonely?
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music

Long and Winding Road…

The Long And Winding Road lyrics
Song by the Beatles

That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to you door

The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way

Many times I’ve been alone
And many times I’ve cried
Anyway you’ll never know
The many ways I’ve tried

And still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door

But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting here
Lead me to your door
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

PWC on Clusters by 2040: The Shift to Emerging/Developing Nations

Here is what PWC expects will happen to clusters in the next 30 years:

• We expect to see a general shift of the world’s largest clusters from developed to emerging and developing nations as the centre of global economic gravity continues to shift towards these countries. This shift is unlikely to be uniform across the five industries we examine here. For automotive assembly, it is already well underway and set to continue apace. For pharmaceuticals, asset management and filmed entertainment, Asian clusters in particular are rising – but we expect developed economy clusters to retain top position. While for industries such as tertiary education, we expect clusters in today’s developed economies to remain significantly ahead of those in developing economies in the medium to long term.
• The large increase in the share of world GDP represented by Asia over the next 30 years, helped by the expected rapid growth of economies such as China and India, should aid the development of dominant clusters in the region. This is likely to be especially apparent in industries that can benefit from large economies of scale. The top locations within Asia of some of these clusters have not yet come to light. Our expectations are that for filmed entertainment Mumbai may beat Shanghai, while for asset management we expect Singapore to beat Hong Kong and for pharmaceuticals we expect to see Shanghai emerging as the regional centre. The automotive sector currently tends to be somewhat more dispersed than the others – but we expect to see key hubs develop in China around the Nanjing/Shanghai area and Tianjin/Beijing.
• In the pharmaceutical industry we expect that the cluster in Shanghai will grow to become one of the world’s most significant. However, we also expect the current leading clusters in New York and London to remain the largest. The increased affluence and aging populations in emerging markets will benefit centres such as Shanghai through boosting demand for healthcare. However, developed market centres such as London and New York benefit from their proximity and linkages with world class academic institutions which will support their continued function as major clusters in the sector.
• Growing automotive assembly clusters around Tianjin, Nanjing and Sao Paulo may rise to be amongst the world’s largest by 2040. The growth of the middle classes in China, India and South America will add hundreds of millions of potential car owners to the world market between now and 2040. This will require an enormous increase in production capacity in these regions.
• In asset management we expect the existing large clusters in New York, London and Boston to be joined by Singapore, which may become the leading cluster in the Asian region. Tighter regulation and higher taxes are currently working against clusters in the United States and Europe but the key factor will be the increase in public and private capital available in Asia – which will fuel growth in asset management in the region.
• In the filmed entertainment sector Los Angeles, or Hollywood, has been the dominant cluster for many years and is the most globally recognised centre for film and television production. We expect Hollywood to retain this position up to 2040, however, it will face growing competition from rising film production clusters around Mumbai and Shanghai which are increasingly moving into mainstream productions.
• We expect that New York, London and Boston will remain the principal tertiary education clusters over the next 30 years due to the depth of quality universities they currently host, as well as offering environments in which these clusters can flourish. Many emerging and developing nations are investing heavily in tertiary education clusters, which are likely to improve significantly over the next 30 years. However, we do not expect them to surpass the existing top tertiary clusters in this timeframe.

Snohomish County: The Case for Clusters and Onshoring

Some have raised the question whether Concentrus Inc. should work on clusters. I say yes it does and gave my reasons in the plan we just delivered. For those who still doubt, read what the Chairman of Intel just wrote in a recent article, urging American companies to step-up onshoring activities wherever possible. He describes a role for “clusters.”

“Heeding that lesson, American CEOs should start applying a new analytical framework as they consider where in the world to invest. Whatever precise model of innovation prevails here, U.S. clusters are going to become increasingly important in a world in which the most innovative companies win and all the others lose.

It continues to make sense to expand in emerging markets and it continues to make sense to manufacture in many of those markets to serve those customers. Some R&D there may be necessary. But a company risks losing the soul of its innovative capability if it is too dispersed and unfocused. And to serve its leading- edge U.S. customers—where competitive advantage resides—it is best to manufacture the most advanced products in a place that allows it to maintain the feedback loops among internal and external constituencies.

That implies a rebalancing of strategy, a rethinking of the impulse to offshore and outsource at the drop of a hat and to rely on supply chains reaching around the world. When local, regional and state clusters function well in the U.S., they are very powerful. As competition from China and India intensifies today, it’s increasingly clear that companies not supported by a home national ecosystem are at a distinct disadvantage against competitors that are backed by friendly governments, banks, university systems and sovereign wealth funds. As Intel has found, being fully invested in America’s innovation machine can be in a company’s raw self-interest.”

Read the entire article here.

Post-Industrial America

Sobering news in this article. One for Snohomish County to think about because manufacturing IS important to your economic base. The U.S. is rapidly becoming the very first “post-industrial” nation on the globe.  All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing.  It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution.  Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/deindustrialization-factory-closing-2010-9#ixzz116bIFWJQ

This Year Not as Bad for Startups as Formerly Thought

On the face of it, 2010 looks like a bad time to start a new business. Early stage capital, whether it is venture funds, angel investors or bank loans, remains tight. And while technically the recession has passed, consumers and businesses are still keeping a tight hand on their wallets. Despite the obstacles, however, start-up formation has increased recently, possibly due to laid-off workers deciding to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. At the same time, high unemployment has expanded the talent pool for start-ups looking to hire. For those who can find creative solutions to the financing challenge, starting a new business now may turn out to be perfect timing. “The recession is a great time to start a company,” says David Wessels, an adjunct professor of finance at Wharton.

In fact, the numbers show that the pace of start-up formation has picked up despite — or even because of — the recession. According to a report released in May by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit focused on entrepreneurship, the number of new businesses created between 2007 and 2009 was the highest level in 14 years, even exceeding the start-up boom of 1999-2000. In 2009, 340 adults out of every 100,000 started a business each month, up 4% from the pace in 2008.

The uptick in entrepreneurial activity might seem “counterintuitive to some,” says Thom Ruhe, director of entrepreneurship at Kauffman. “But the economic situation of the last few years has shattered the image of job security and economic stability. And it is a natural progression for some people to see entrepreneurship as an avenue for economic determination. People are saying, ‘I will control my own destiny.’”

Yet if more people are willing to make that leap to start their own business, the challenges in keeping that enterprise alive are steep. Angel investments, funds from wealthy individuals that are a source of capital for many start-ups, fell sharply in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. According to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, angel investing declined 8.3% in 2009 to $17.6 billion, a drop that came on the heels of a 26.2% falloff in 2008. Because deals were slightly smaller in size last year, however, there was actually a 3% increase in the total number of firms that got financing.

At the same time, 2009 saw angels put a greater share of their money into later stage firms, with just 35% going to start-ups. That’s down from 45% going to seed-stage companies in 2008. “We need start-up capital,” notes Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for New Venture Research. “If that [35%] figure stays low, then we have problems.”

Read more here.

Word Gets Out: Concentrus, Inc. Looks Like a Reality

From Heraldnet.com:

Three distinct organizations are looking to see how they can create a stronger bond with their common interests.

The Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce and the Snohomish County Economic Development Council have completed a study dubbed Project Concentrus. The goal is to “reinvent our systems” to increase economic vitality across the county.

The work of economic development councils and chambers of commerce has fundamentally changed over time, said Rick Cooper, EDC board chairman and CEO of The Everett Clinic.

“The consensus was a new approach was needed,” he said. “This recognizes that collaboration is better than going it alone.”

On Sept. 15, a 25-member oversight committee comprised of board members from the three groups met for the first time to review the recommendation of Cleveland, Ohio, consultant Donald T. Iannone & Associates: Find a way to create a single entity from your three organizations.

The committee agreed and voted unanimously to forward the recommendation to the three boards for action.

Click here to read the whole story.

Next Generation Activity Idea for Concentrus, Inc.

Concentrus Inc. needs to move economic vitality-stimulating activities to the next level in both Snohomish County and the Puget Sound region. It needs to be on the “innovating edge” with new ideas. It’s a big jump from the current business model being followed within the County. Here is an example of the type next generation idea Concentrus should go with.

To support high-growth clean energy businesses in America, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) and Arizona State University (ASU) will co-host the Southwest Energy Innovation Forum at ASU’s SkySong Innovation Center on October 18, 2010. This regional forum is part of a national effort to drive clean energy innovation and propel economic development and job creation in the United States. Read the article here.

You ask “What’s so innovative and next generation about this example?” Look at the players at this table. For one, the Kauffman Foundation, the leading private foundation supporting research and advancements in entrepreneurship nationally. Look at the other players — big time university and energy folks. Look at the focus — Clean tech business, which is something Snohomish County has its sights set on. Now, look at the national and international attention Phoenix will get from this event.

So you say “Snohomish County isn’t Greater Phoenix.” True enough, BUT Greater Seattle IS like Greater Phoenix. Concentrus Inc. should be an active, contributing, leading edge partner in advancing ideas like this one unfolding in Phoenix in October.

You say ‘We can’t do that because Seattle and UW must drive this.” True enough, BUT Concentrus can come up with the idea and set itself up as a testing ground for new ideas rolling out of a conference like this.

Here is a question to think about: “Which professors at University of Washington live in Snohomish County? Are any of these professors doing leading edge research? Do any big names live in the County? How can you engage them and get them and their STUDENTS involved in starting up new ventures WITHIN the County?

Snohomish County will need to strengthen its muscle and brainpower to play in this “higher arena” in the future. The conversation about “small business” needs to shift from “small business in the abstract” to “small business in the specific.” Move past this discussion about “doing enough for small business and getting them engaged” and move to a discussion about how do you create an innovative, exciting, customer-driven organization that is so cool that every small business in the County will feel compelled to join! What is the new focus with small business? It’s working to advance small businesses in specific industry sectors, including hospitality and tourism, the aerospace supply chain, the clean tech sector, advanced manufacturing, government contracting, etc. Build advocacy initiatives that work with smaller firms in emerging and established industries. Create financing pools to help smaller companies grow in specific industries. By the way, this is not the usual discussion about clusters, but it is about breeding small business success within specific sectors that matter to the County and region’s economic bases.

This type of thinking marks a truly advanced economic vitality organization.  It requires a deliberate move away from “me too” programs that every county in Washington State has to next generation programs that most counties in Washington State haven’t even conceived of. To do this, Concentrus Inc. must be led by a CEO who understands this and knows how to raise the bar with new ideas and action initiatives. This CEO must have a leadership board that understands and supports this type of thinking.

Do these things, and every community in the County will become a paying investor!

NE Indiana EDOs Merge

The Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council and Region III-A have announced plans to merge. The two organizations will form the Northeast Indiana Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee over the next month. The Northeast Indiana Fund says the move has been a priority of Vision 2020 to strengthen infrastructure planning and better coordinated across county lines. Read the story here.

Hospitals Outlook

The US hospital industry includes about 6,500 hospitals with combined annual revenue of about $700 billion. Major companies include Kaiser Permanente, HCA (Hospital Corporation of America), Ascension Health, Tenet Healthcare, and Catholic Health Initiatives. The industry is fragmenrtd: the top 50 organizations generate less than 30 percent of revenue.

Hospitals provide inpatient and outpatient services using specialized equipment. This industry doesn’t include residential care facilities, outpatient care centers, or doctors’ offices.

Competition

Demand for hospital services is driven by demographics and advances in medical care and technology. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations, since many hospitals offer similar services, and customer perception, since in many cities hospitals compete for patients. Hospitals also compete for physicians, and seek to attract doctors with state-of-the-art equipment and an attractive work environment. Large companies have advantages in buying supplies, sharing best practices, and negotiating contracts with health insurers. Large hospitals may offer a wider variety of services. Small hospitals can compete successfully by serving a limited geographical area or offering specialized services. Hospitals are labor-intensive: annual revenue per employee is around $125,000. Business Trends Consolidation – Cost and revenue pressures have caused many hospitals, both non- and for-profit, to merge with competing institutions to provide more cost-effective care. After mergers, hospital administrators often eliminate duplicate services, administrative costs, and excess beds; adopt “best practices;” and improve purchasing efficiencies. Healthcare IT – Healthcare IT is the most pressing technology issue facing hospitals. Developing electronic patient records is a priority for many companies. Government regulations and incentives are also pushing hospitals to come up with electronic patient records that protect privacy while allowing doctors and hospitals to transfer healthcare information and prevent insurance fraud. Reduced Patient Hospital Stay – In response to cost and revenue pressures, the medical industry has reduced the average hospital stay from seven days in 1980 to 4.6 in 2007. Surgical patients who can be treated and released quickly are more profitable for hospitals than medical cases that involve lengthy hospital stays. Medical Tourism – US hospitals face competition from medical providers in other nations. Hospitals in Singapore, India, and Mexico are marketing routine medical procedures, elective surgery, and cancer treatment to American “tourists” who want to avoid the high cost of US healthcare. According to the India Tourism Department, medical tourism in India grows at a 25 percent annual rate and is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2012. Growth of Outpatient Services – Outpatient services comprise a growing portion of hospital revenue, up to 40 percent industrywide. Since patients are sent home after surgery or other procedures, outpatient care is less expensive than inpatient care. Hospitals and managed care organizations see outpatient care as a way to cut costs while still providing quality care. Physician-owned Hospitals – Physician-owned hospitals are a growing segment of the hospital industry. In 2009, there were around 235 such hospitals, with more than 100 other facilities in development. The majority of physician-owned hospitals are a joint venture with a for-profit or nonprofit hospital operator, but a few are 100 percent owned by doctors. Proponents say that physician-owned hospitals offer better patient care because doctors understand what patients need; critics say doctors with a financial stake in a hospital may order more expensive tests or procedures to boost revenues.

U.S. Department of Energy Funds Innovation Ecosystems

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last week announced the selection of five projects to build and strengthen “innovation ecosystems” meant to accelerate the movement of cutting-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies from university laboratories into the market. Perhaps Concentrus Inc. should be thinking of a grant from DOE for something innovative in the energy field.

This is the first time the DOE is funding this type of university-based commercialization effort.

The ecosystems are designed to foster collaborative environments, bringing together key players from universities, the private sector, the federal government and Department of Energy National Laboratories to identify and develop new clean energy technologies and help them succeed in the marketplace.

To read the full, original article click on this link: DOE Funds Five Technology Commercialization ‘Ecosystems’

Small Business, Just the Facts Please…

What is a small business? How many small businesses are there? What share of net
new jobs do small businesses create? These are questions the Office of
Advocacy receives on a daily basis. To respond to these and other pressing
queries, Advocacy has updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). 
The one-pager, front and back, is begging to be push-pinned to
workspaces for anyone who wants a quick reference guide on the
status and role of small businesses in America. But not
to leave you hanging. . . Advocacy usually defines a firm 
as small if it has fewer than 500 employees;
27.5 million businesses were estimated
for 2009 and almost all were small; and smalls 
create 65 percent of the net new jobs.

Download the FAQ document here. (PDF document)

Tax Foundation State to State Migration Analysis Tool

This is worth a look. How is Washington State doing in the migration game? Click here to find out.

Liars, the Whole Damn Lot of ‘Em

This is a prime example of how industry and government collude and delude each other. They both blow–with the wind.

Recent article says: “The offshore outsourcing of American manufacturing and services jobs went into high gear over the past two years, as the economy fell into recession and companies continued to shift their production offshore. Despite the occasional anecdote in the press about companies “insourcing” jobs back to the United States from abroad, the number of direct job losses due to outsourcing and cheap imports picked up considerably in 2009.” This is Manufacturing and Technology News talking. Like this is some new insight…give me a break.

Guess what? Offshoring has been bad for US jobs from Day One. George Bush lied between his teeth and said the business strategy would create jobs and it killed hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now we are living with a virtually jobless recovery in part because the Federal Government gave tax breaks to US companies to send work offshore.Hopefully the Obama Administration will have the guts to stick up for American jobs.

Historically, offshoring of work has been pretty good for US companies, BUT it has always been bad for US jobs and economic development.

I hate liars.

Military MBA’s New Leaders to Lawyers Program

Possibly one for the leaders at the Everett Naval Station to look into.

After building a successful education resource network in business, Military MBA is once again leading the way to help military officers and enlisted leaders become lawyers by launching LeaderstoLawyers.net. Using a website and collateral information in targeted distribution channels, Leaders to Lawyers will meet the growing demand among military students to identify programs, funding and resources for those most interested in pursuing a law degree.

Read the complete article here.