New Tools for Regional Development:
Open Source Economic Development &
Strategic Doing
PCRD Conference:
Regional Innovation During Boom & Bust
South Bend, Indiana
June 26, 2009
Scott Hutcheson
Purdue Center for Regional Development
Purdue Extension

Our Grandfather’s Economy
First Curve – Wealth
driven by vertical business
models
Wealth was built at a rate the world had
never before experienced

The S Curve Caught Up with Our
Grandfather’s Economy
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

The First and Second Curves
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Movies in the 1st & 2nd Curves
MGM 56 Companies

Telecommunications in the 2nd Curve

From Hierarchies to Networks

Economic Development in the 2nd Curve
Our job is to manage the
transition between our
grandfather’s economy and
our grandchildren’s economy
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

An “Open-Source” Approach
2nd Curve economic development strategies
involve linking and leveraging assets in five
“asset networks:”
– Talent & Brainpower
– Entrepreneurship & Innovation
– Quality Connected Places
– Branding & Storytelling
– Regional Civic Leadership
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Integration of Perspectives
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Success in the 2nd Curve
In the 2nd Curve, prosperous communities will
be the ones with strategies that…
• Build world-class brainpower
• Translate brainpower into wealth through innovation
and entrepreneurship networks
• Create quality, connected places where “hot spots”
can develop
• Create a buzz with a new set of stories
• Continuously strengthen habits of civic collaboration

Talent & Brainpower during the
Recession
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Align, Link, and Leveraging Talent
& Brainpower Assets
Workforce Development
Economic Development
Universities
Community College
Industry
Social Services
SBDC

Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Source: Ed Morrison, Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

A Culture of Innovation
• An innovative business is one that launches
new products or services each year (15% of
businesses are typically innovators)
• Innovative businesses usually have high
growth trajectory
• When 50% of business are innovators you
have an innovation culture

Innovation Isn’t Always High Tech
• A BBQ restaurant starts bottling and selling
sauce
• A dry cleaners develops a new “green”
process and licenses the new process
• A beauty shop develops a new way to train
stylists and goes nationwide
http://www.acenetworks.org/upload_files/file/Regional%20Flavor%20June.pdf

Quality Connected Places
Infrastructure that allows people and
ideas to move freely and cluster easily
– Vibrant public spaces and third places
– Accessible broadband
– Multi-mode transportation
– Innovation hubs

Branding & Storytelling
Tell Positive Stories & Create a Brand
with a Buzz (internally & externally)

Linking & Leveraging Assets Requires
Civic Collaboration
• No single person,
organization, or
institution has all the
answers
• No one is in charge
• Mass participation
AND strong
leadership is
needed

Civic Network Continuum
Trust Co‐
Creation
Co‐
Execution
Turf Sharing
Resources
Sharing
Information
Mutual
Awareness
Acknowledging Exploring Cooperating Collaborating Innovating
TIME
You have to walk before you run
Adapted from Collaboration Continuum from ACT for Youth

We need to move our thinking from events
and “programs” to processes….
Communities are moving toward civic process that focus on
Strategic Doing

Strategic Doing Helps
Build Networks

Strategic Doing
1. What could we be doing together?
– Exploring our assets to find new opportunities
2. What should we do together?
– Focusing on one opportunity at a time and defining, as clearly
as possible, the “strategic outcomes” we want.
3. What will we do together?
– Launching new initiatives by aligning our resources with “link
and leverage” strategies.
4. What are we learning together?
– Learning what works by executing and measuring what
happens

Civic Networks…
• Spot opportunities
quickly
• Mobilize assets
strategically
• Use resources
effectively
• Learn efficiently

What Does Success Look Like?
No Single Big Strategy Many Modest Strategies

Contact
Scott Hutcheson
Assistant Program Leader, Economic & Community Development
Purdue University
Purdue Extension & Purdue Center for Regional Development
Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship
1207 W. State Street, Room 227
765-494-7273 (office)
765-494-3200 (fax)
765-479-7704 (mobile)
hutcheson@purdue.edu
http://pcrd.typepad.com/ecd (blog)
http://www.twitter.com/jshutch64 (Twitter)