News & Updates

One of the biggest challenges in implementing regional development efforts is recruiting business leaders who lend their insight, influence and financial resources to these projects. The Council believes that having actively engaged business executives is critical to almost any regional effort, be it focused on talent development, transportation, energy sustainability or comprehensive efforts to build regional […]

In Retooling for Growth, experts present new frameworks, cutting-edge analysis, and innovative policy solutions through which the nation's government, business, civic and community leaders can sculpt a sustainable and supportable economy for older industrial areas. The unique focus on rehabilitating weak market cities outlines ideas for reshaping the role of public agencies, the workforce, business […]

The future of national and regional competitiveness will depend on our ability to compete in the conceptual economy where the most important contest is being fought in the arenas of ideas, learning and delivering new kinds of value to the marketplace. In the conceptual economy, higher education is more important for America's regions than ever. […]

The Mid-Michigan Innovation Team, through a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant from the Department of Labor, has made significant progress in addressing the challenges facing the Mid-Michigan region. This assessment was presented by Randall Kempner, vice president for regional innovation at the Council, at the Mid-Michigan Innovation Team Town Hall Meeting in […]

The Council on Competitiveness and the National Governors Association (NGA) co-published the Governor's Guide to Cluster-Based Strategies for Growing State Economies under Arizona Governor and NGA Chair Janet Napolitano's Chair's Initiative on innovation to provide economic development practitioners with a fresh perspective on cluster strategies. This Governor's Guide examines the changing economic environment in which […]

Asset Mapping Roadmap: A Guide to Assessing Regional Development Resources At its most basic level, asset mapping provides leaders with an inventory of key resources utilized in development efforts. Comprehensive asset mapping enables deep insights into key networks and cultural attitudes that shape the regional economy, indicates gap areas that require further investment, and shows […]

The Mexican Life Sciences Initiative was launched by the Council on Competitiveness in the spring of 2005 to foster the development of the life sciences sector in Mexico and facilitate partnerships between U.S. and Mexican institutions. It was initially conceived at the U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity meeting in Guadalajara in June 2004. The Regional Innovation […]

Measuring Regional Innovation has been created to help regions assess their regional innovation environment. It outlines a process for collecting data on key measures of innovation that can then be used to drive regional economic development policies and programs. In addition, the guidebook metrics can be used to develop an ongoing evaluation tool for regions […]

Regional Innovation, National Prosperity is a summary of the Regional Competitiveness Initiative as well as the proceedings of the National Summit on Regional Innovation, held in April 2005. Integrating the Council's findings from the past two years and the conference discussions, this report identifies five key cross-cutting issues faced by regions seeking to build innovation-based […]

A cluster, as defined by Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard University, is a geographic concentration of competing and cooperating companies, suppliers, service providers and associated institutions. Clusters of Innovation, an initiative of the Council from 1998 to 2001, developed a definitive framework to evaluate cluster development and innovative performance at the regional level. It […]