Regionalities

Slide Presentations from Regional Competitiveness Workshop:
Regional Competitiveness Project: Agenda and Selection of Clusters
Making Sense of Clusters: Keynote Address by Joseph Cortright

On October 21, Metro-area Mayors met at the Humphrey Institute to select industry clusters that will be the focus of an effort to improve the economic competitiveness of the Twin Cities. The Regional Competitiveness Project is a two-year project funded by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and conducted by the Humphrey Institute's State and Local Policy Program for the Regional Council of Mayors in partnership with Urban Land Institute (ULI) Minnesota.

The purpose of the project is to implement a regional economic and workforce development competitiveness strategy for short and long-term economic growth. This strategy will build a regional model, effectively connecting economic and workforce development efforts of business leaders, the Regional Council of Mayors, Workforce Investment Boards, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Minnesota State College and University System, and the University of Minnesota

Joseph Cortright of Impresa in Portland, Oregon, gave the keynote address on "Making Sense of Clusters." Cortright summed up industry clusters in three words. "Clusters are about ideas, relationships, and place," according to Cortright. Cortright emphasized the importance of traded clusters that bring wealth into a region and draw upon specialized skills of a region's workforce.

The Humphrey Institute identified ten traded industry clusters in which the Twin Cities region is competitive nationally and internationally. The clusters were evaluated based on six criteria:

• Strength of competitive advantage (existing or emerging)
• Potential gain for industry cluster from private-public collaboration
• Degree of geographic distribution in the region
• Potential to spur innovation
• Potential to spur entrepreneurship
• International strength

The Mayors selected three clusters that will be the initial focus of the project--medical devices, financial services, and distribution services. In future phases of the project, the Mayors plan to work with other clusters as well.

PA 8081(7)
STATE AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
An Economic Development Workshop for Humphrey Institute and Carlson School Graduate Students
Spring Semester 2010 • 3 Credits
Thursdays, 6:00 to 8:30 p. m.

Course Syllabus 2010

Instructors: Lee Munnich, Senior Fellow, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; Kris Nelson, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA); Burke Murphy, Metro Administrator, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)

This capstone workshop course is part of a Regional Competitiveness Project being conducted for the Twin Cities Regional Council of Mayors and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Three teams of graduate students will prepare economic development strategy reports for the Regional Council of Mayors, and two teams will prepare strategy reports for regional clients in Greater Minnesota. Each strategy report will focus on a regional industry cluster and consist of three parts: 1) a diagnosis of a regional industry cluster, 2) a vision for the future, and 3) an action plan in accord with that vision.

While this workshop is designed as a capstone workshop to meet Humphrey Institute requirements, graduate students from the Carlson School of Management are strongly encouraged to participate in this workshop. The Regional Council of Mayors and DEED are particularly interested in drawing from the joint business, planning and public policy talents of the two graduate programs in developing a regional investment strategy for the Twin Cities and linking that strategy to Greater Minnesota.

The topic for the Spring 2010 capstone workshop course is Microeconomics of Competitiveness: Firms, Clusters, and Economic Development. This workshop is based on a case-study course developed by Professor Michael Porter and a team of his colleagues at the Harvard Business School. The course explores the determinants of national and regional competitiveness building from the perspective of firms, clusters, sub-national units, nations, and groups of neighboring countries. It focuses on the sources of national or regional productivity, which are rooted in the strategies and operating practices of locally based firms, the vitality of clusters, and the quality of the business environment in which competition takes place.

The course examines both advanced and developing economies and addresses competitiveness at multiple levels - nations, sub-national units such as states or provinces, particular cluster, and neighboring countries. The course is concerned not only with government policy, but also with the roles that firms, industry, associations, universities, and other institutions play in competitiveness. In modern competition, each of these institutions has an important and evolving role in economic development. Moreover, the process of creating and sustaining an economic strategy for a nation, state or region is a daunting challenge. The course explores not only theory and policy but also the organizational structures, institutional structures, and change processes required for sustained improvements in competitiveness.

The course is taught using case studies drawn from all major regions of the world. Part of the purpose of the course is to expose students to some of the most successful countries and regions. In addition to cases, there are readings, a series of video lectures by Michael Porter, and videotaped appearances by guests who are national, regional, or business leaders involved in the cases studied.

For further information contact: Lee Munnich, lmunnich@umn.edu or (612) 625-7357