Jim Damicis presented on the futures thinking for economic development at the 2019 IEDC Economic Future Forum in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1. Futures Thinking for Economic Development:
Navigating to an Economy that Doesn’t Exist - Yet!
Prepared for: IEDC Economic Future Forum– Pioneers in a New Global Market -June 9-11, 2019
Presented by: Jim Damicis, Senior Vice President

2. Jim Damicis
Senior Vice President, Camoin Associates
• I Past President, Northeastern Economic Developers Association
(NEDA)
• IEDC, Economic Development Research Program, International
Economic Development Council & Course Instructor
• Collaborator – Communities of the Future
• 25+ Years Experience in Economic and Community Development
Email: jim@camoinassociates.com
Website: www.camoinassociates.com
Twitter: @jdamicis
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jdamicis
Blog: www.camoinassociates.com/navigator

3. The significant problems we face today
cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we used when we created them
-Albert Einstein

4. My Premise for Economic Development
Today:
For economic developers preparing for and
succeeding in the future economy is not about the
next “killer” tool, technique, or app. It requires a
new, fresh way of thinking, speaking, planning,
organizing, and acting. In sum, it requires new
culture.

5. New Forms
of
Leadership
Core Concepts: Futures
Thinking for Economic
Development
Networks
within
Meta-
Networks Parallel
Processes –
And/Both
Thinking
New
Metrics
Strategic
Action -
Doing
Complex
Adaptive
Systems
Trust as
the New
Currency
Future
Forward
Workforce:
Unlearning
and
Uplearning
Entrepreneur
ship Culture-
Continuous
Innovation
Weak
Signals –
Emerging
Trends

6. Core Concepts: Futures
Thinking for Economic
Development
Complex
Adaptive
Systems
Networks
within
Meta-
Networks
Trust as
the New
Currency
Eship
Culture-
Continuous
Innovation
Framework

7. Economic development operates within a complex,
dynamic system of:
People Networks Organizations
Key functions: Interactions, relationships, communications, collaboration

8. Economic Development: A Holistic System
Workforce Business
Attraction,
Retention &
Expansion
Local & Regional
Economic
Development
Quality of
Place
Innovation
Entrepreneurship
Incubation
Acceleration
Real Estate
Sites
Infrastructure
& Planning
Land and Site
Development
Redevelopment
Downtown
Corridor &
District
Development
Land Use
Regs
Zoning Planning Marketing
Place-
making
Elements a Municipality can Affect

9. Ecosystems
The strength of an economy
depends on not only what assets
it has, but how those assets
connect and interact internally
and externally.
• Innovation & entrepreneurship
• Building trust within networks
• Creative collisions
ESHIP Summit 2017: Ecosystem Builders 2025 Vision

10. Economic Framework
• Agriculture-Industrial-
Knowledge
• Mechanical
• Clusters
• Efficiency , Lean
• Predictable
• Fueled by Capital, $, Venture
• Either/Or Thinking
Traditional Emerging – Future
Tools: ecosystem mapping, network analysis, ecosystem
building, And/Both Thinking
• Creative Molecular
• Entrepreneurship as culture
Biological, Digital, Social
• Networks, Meta-Networks
• Preparing for Un-known,
Rapid-Continuous Innovation
• Fueled by Trust

11. New Forms
of
Leadership
Core Concepts: Futures
Thinking for Economic
Development
Parallel
Processes –
And/Both
Thinking
Unlearning
&
Uplearning
Thinking, learning, leading

12. Economic Developer
as a Point Guard
• Primary role is assessing the environment around
them (the system) and making decisions to create
opportunities for others – connections, collisions,
synthesis.
• Understanding the motivations, talents, and skills of
individuals in networks and continually distributing
and sharing resources and information so informed
strategies can emerge and be implemented

13. Leadership
Traditional Emerging – Future
Tools: Master Capacity Builder, Ecosystem Builder, Spiral
Dynamics
• Command and Control
• Hierarchical
• Titles, Formal, Power
• Never Show Weakness
• Maintaining Repetitive
Processes, Rules, Consistency,
Quality Control, Uniformity
• Distributive, Connector
• Success through System
Performance
• Support from Diverse Talent –
does not need to be smartest
• Comfortable Making Decisions
without Perfect Knowledge
• Comfort with Complexity
• Adaptable
• And/Both Thinking

14. Learning, Training, Talent
Traditional Emerging – Future
Tools: Apprenticeships, Peer Networks, Reverse Mentoring,
Communities of Practice
• Training for One Lifetime
Career/Job
• Degrees
• Formal
• Decision of Labor –
Specialization
• Organization Thinking
• Continuous Un-learning and Up-
learning
• Stackable Credentials, Micro-
credentialing
• Blended: Formal, Informal,
Online, In-Person, On the Job,
Peer Networks
• Technical but also Social,
Thinking, Creative Skills
• Systems Thinking
• New Language for New Concepts

15. Core Concepts: Futures
Thinking for Economic
Development
New
Metrics
Strategic
Action -
Doing
Weak
Signals –
Emerging
Trends
Planning

16. Planning
Traditional Emerging – Future
Tools: Strategic Doing, Adaptive Planning, Innovation Engineering, Design
Thinking, Futures Generative Dialogues, Hacking
• Strategic Planning
• Linear Process
• Data to Predict
• Return on Investment
• Long-Term Plans
• Stakeholders for Buy-In
• Adaptive Planning
• No-Linear, continuous/parallel
cycles: analyze, synthesize,
implement
• Data to Inform – Data to Think
and Engage – Strategic
Foresight – Weak Signals
• Collective Impact
• Short-to-Medium Term
• Engagement for Join-in

17. Examples from the Field:
This is Not All Talk - You Can Get to Work
Wake Tech Community College – Future Forward College –
Gamification www.waketech.edu/about-wake-tech/administrative-
offices/effectiveness-and-innovation/future-forward
Focus Greater Syracuse – Citizens Academy, Community Forums -
www.focussyracuse.org/
Davidson College Alumni – Learn from the Past, Think for the Future
http://davidsonjournal.davidson.edu/2018/02/ensuring-a-vital-future-
for-our-grandchildren/
Civic Hacking - www.codeforamerica.org/national-day-of-civic-hacking

18. Resources
 Communities of the Future - http://communitiesofthefuture.org/
 Shaping Tomorrow - www.shapingtomorrow.com
 The Rainforest - http://therainforestbook.com/
 ESHIP (Kauffman Foundation) - Ecosystem Building
www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurial-ecosystem-building-
playbook-draft-3/entrepreneurial-ecosystems
 Simon Anderson – Simon Speaks - www.simonspeaks.com
 Santa Fe Institute - www.santafe.edu
 Strategic Doing - https://strategicdoing.net/
 Innovation Engineering - https://innovationengineering.org/

19. Questions/Comments/Discussion?

20. www.camoinassociates.com/navigator
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