The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration is holding a conference call today (Wednesday, February 15, 2012) to discuss President Obama’s FY13 Budget Blueprint for an Economy Built to Last.The FY2013 Budget proposes more than $350 billion in short-term measures for job growth starting this year. The Department of Commerce’s $8 billion request includes a nearly 5 percent increase, reflecting President Obama and Commerce Secretary Bryson’s commitment to an economic agenda with critical investments in advanced manufacturing, innovation, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and trade promotion.

EDA’s FY 2013 budget, which is built on two key pillars – innovation and regional collaboration – aligns with the goals of the Administration and will allow the agency to continue to build on the success of its Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge and i6 competitions, while drawing on its long history of supporting bottom-up, place-based investments to foster economic and job growth across America’s regions. The Department’s budget for the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is $219.7 million, which Includes $25 million to the new Regional Innovation Strategies Program, $60 million for the Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) and $40.5 million for the 21st Century Innovation Infrastructure Program.

EDA Budget Conference Call
Wednesday, February 15, 2012,
4:00 PM E ST
Call in: 877-546-1570
Passcode: 3560885
RSVP to cmesidor@doc.gov

February 13-16, 2012. Mellon Auditorium, Washington DC

American Competitiveness: What Works is a four-day conference that will feature in-depth conversations with business, political and thought leaders, including GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt, on what’s working right now, and what must be done to grow manufacturing, foster innovation, compete globally, and create jobs.

Panels will be hosted and moderated by a variety of partner organizations including Washington Post Live, the Center for American Progress, National Association of Manufacturers, Bipartisan Policy Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Strategic and International Studies, American Action Network, Ohio State Fisher College of Business, and The Peterson Institute.

Each day will be organized around a theme:
Monday: American Manufacturing Sessions will focus on strengthening American competitiveness, creating an environment that fosters manufacturing growth and growing middle market investment.

Tuesday: Innovation Topics will include leading edge innovation in medical research, transportation infrastructure, energy and the role of innovation in successful businesses and countries.

Wednesday: Global Competitiveness Speakers will focus on the opportunities and challenges in emerging markets and will analyze the policy conditions needed to support a robust global economy. Panelists also will discuss the international trade and export agenda and the global supply chain, and how they can support the domestic economy.

Thursday: Workforce, Veterans and Reservists The final day of the summit will focus on job creation in America and how to best create opportunities for veterans rejoining the civilian workforce.

Look for summaries on the presentations in future Know Your Region posts.

Agenda

The Washington Post will be streaming some of the sessions live. Click on the links in the agenda to view the session.

The webinar also featured three case studies from Denny Coleman, Tish Hass Williams, and Janet Thigpen, and an overview of available post-disaster recovery resources from IEDC and RestoreYourEconomy.org.

Click Here to watch the entire presentation. (Windows Media Player)

Speaker Powerpoints:

• Joshua Barnes, Disaster Recovery Coordinator, EDA  (pdf)
• Denny Coleman, President & CEO, St. Louis County Economic Council (pdf)
• Tish Hass Williams, Executive Director, Hancock County Chamber of Commerce (pdf)
• Janet Thigpen, Flood Mitigation Specialist, Southern Tier Central Planning & Development Board (pdf)
• Carrie Mulcaire, Senior Economic Development Associate, IEDC 

GE commissioned innovation consulting firm StrategyOne to identify drivers and deterrents of innovation and analyze perceptions around innovation opportunities and challenges. Their Global Innovation Barometer 2012 is the result of data collected from nearly 3,000 senior executives in 22 countries. The Barometer explores various dimensions of:

1.  Government’s success at allocating the right policies and resources;

2.  Innovation in the 21st Centurty; Factors that encourage successful innovation;

3.  The current culture of innovation;

4.  People and organizations that are driving innovation; and

5.  How innovation will improve lives in the next 10 years.

These dimensions can be viewed by both geographic region and by country. The barometer is a valuable tool for representing the multi-dimensional nature of modern innovation.

To find out more about the article and see how your state ranks click HERE.

(Source: Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc.)

The 2012 index highlights 10 communities that are ideally positioned to attract modern investment and managed economic growth. The index is intended to serve as a dashboard for community to gauge their capacity to attract and retain investment. The article can be found here: 4th Economy Index.

The 10 Ten Communities (score out of 5):

1. Fayette County, Kentucy (4.5)
2. New Hanover County, North Carolina (4.4)
3. Sarpy County, Nebraska (3.1)
4. Brown County, Wisconsin(2.3)
5. Greene County, Missouri (2.1)
6. Greene County, Ohio (2.0)
7. Brazos County, Texas (1.9)
8. Lancaster County, Nebraska (1.8)
9. Lubbock County, Texas (1.8)
10. Pitt County, North Carolina (1.7)

(Source: fourtheconomy.com)

The final report for the ‘Renewable Energy/Clean Technology Supply Chain Pre-Assessment Program’is available online. The project assisted the south central Kansas region in developing a better understanding of the interest, capabilities and capacity of regional manufacturing companies in terms of their readiness to pursue renewable energy markets. The study provides business development pre-assessments to manufacturing companies seeking to 1) increase their connectedness to emerging renewable energy markets, 2) improve their operations and 3) increase their competitive advantage. For the full report click here.

(Source: InnovateKansas.org)

(Source: http://www.nyba.org/news/newsDetail/1280)

The  U.S. Department of Commerce’s Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States report addresses a diverse range of topics and policy options, including: tax policy; the general business climate in the U.S.; barriers to setting up new firms; trade policy, including export promotion; the effectiveness of Federal Research and Development policy; intellectual property regimes in the U.S. and abroad; the health of the manufacturing sector; and science and technology education. The report makes three important findings:

• Federal investments in research, education and infrastructure were critical building blocks for American economic competitiveness, business expansion and job creation in the last century;
• Failures to properly invest in, and have comprehensive strategies for, those areas eroded America’s competitive position; and,
• In a constrained budgetary environment, prioritizing support for these pillars are imperative for America’s economic future and provide a strong return on investment for the U.S. taxpayer.

The report can be found at the U.S. Department of Commerce America COMPETES website:http://www.commerce.gov/americacompetes

Or by clicking here!

(source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation)

The Edward Lowe Foundation in partnership with Chris Gibbons, who pioneered economic gardening in Littleton, Colorado in 1989, and the National Center for Economic Gardening recently launched an Economic Gardening Certification program. The program consists of online learning (6 weeks), a retreat (4 days), and post retreat peer leaning (2-6 months) and can be catered towards economic gardening program administrators, technical assistance team leaders, or GIS, SEO, or market researchers. Those interested can find contacts and more information about the certification program here and can apply for registration for the spring program here.