WCPN
The Sound of Ideas:
Reflections on Regionalism
in Northeast Ohio
An Interview with Ed Morrison
Purdue Center for Regional Development
December 31, 2007

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Regions are responding to globalization pressures
by developing stronger alliances to compete

Building regional innovation is becoming the
centerpiece of national economic
development policy
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The Cleveland+ Brand is not on most regional web sites
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The Detroit region is moving quickly on its strategy
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Field trips are a common practice for civic leaders
involved in regional economic development
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Northeast Ohio missed the opportunity to
participate in WIRED -- One of the most innovative
federal programs in the last 20 years
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Bricktown is one initiative in a series of initiatives that
Oklahoma City has been deploying for the past ten years...
The initiatives are anchored by metrics
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Regions that innovate in brainpower will have the
inside track in building prosperity
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The educational attainment is a key
driver of regional prosperity
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Educational attainment is a key driver of incomes, but
there is little focus on this issue in NEO
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Regional Strategies are about Alignment
and a Continuous Discipline of “Strategic
Doing”: Converting transformative ideas
into action quickly
Innovative Businesses
Strategic Doing in a Nutshell
Strategic Doing is a discipline. Here are the steps: Collaboration leads to
Strategic Doing is a civic discipline to guide open innovation innovation: Converting
Brainpower Innovation 1. Exploring our assets to find new fresh ideas into
Develop ideas about what we opportunities; something valuable.
21 Century Talent Entrepreneurship can do together 2. Focusing on one opportunity at a time and Innovation improves our
defining as clearly as possible the \"strategic productivity and our
Find
outcomes\" we want. prosperity.
3. Launching new initiatives by aligning our
resources with \"link and leverage\" strategies; and
Evaluations Insights 4. Learning what works by executing and
measuring what happens.
The discipline of strategic doing seems simple,
Choose
Execute and but it's hard. We are collaborating with people
Learn Focus what we will
measure outside our organization. No one can tell anyone
Dynamic Clusters
do
results else what to do. We are only together in face-to-
Creative People
face meetings for a short time. We must learn to
use Web tools for on-line collaboration to keep
organized and focused. Leadership is a shared
Initiatives
Action Plans
responsibility, distributed within the group.
Civic
Collaboration “If your actions inspire others to dream
Launch more, learn more, do more and become
more, you are a leader.”
Identify and align resources to
John Quincy Adams
specific initiatives
With strategic planning, the process is Here's one of the key
often controlled by a handful of people. If properties of networks:
the process is weak, the commitment to As the number of
implementation withers quickly. trusted relatioships
increases, the value of
Networked approaches to strategy are the network goes up
more fluid, adaptive and flexible. They exponentially. More
Quality, combine open participation and leadership opportunities arise
direction. with stronger
Connected Branding networks. Companies
The goal is to articulate a clear direction like Google have built
Places Experiences and then to define initiatives that align their business model
with this direction. Leadership keeps on this basic principle.
people focused and the process open.
Thick, trusted networks evolve that are Strategic Doing helps
strategic. They help us learn faster, make us build our networks.
decisions faster, and act faster.
Source: Ed Morrison, Purdue Center for Regional Development and I-Open (www.i-open.org), Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License
edmorrison@purdue.edu; edmorrison@i-open.org
Engaging Spaces
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A Suggested Agenda for Civic Leaders
1. Learn what other regions are doing...take
regular field trips with big delegations
2. Focus on education innovation and
educational attainment
3. Create innovation zones around our colleges
and universities in our multiple downtowns
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Accelerate the development of innovation zones
around our colleges and universities
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Questions?
Contact Ed Morrison at
edmorrison@purdue.edu
Learn more about what other regions are
doing by reading the EDPro Weblog:
http://edpro-weblog.net
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