Last week I spoke at an Economic Development Conference. Here is a video of the presentation.
My chief takeaway was that every village, town and city has a strong desire to support innovation and be a growing place for its present and future citizens. However there is little understanding of the radical changes that are underway now and in the future and how they will affect them. Unless the trends are embraced the village, town or city will find itself in decline.
The following video outlines the major trends affecting economic development and a pathway forward.
What each village, town and city needs is very similar to a startup seeking funding. They need to have a very clear picture and ability to articulate their Story, Team and Supporters.
Story: What is the compelling, credible story that will put this village, town or city on the map.
Team: Does the team have the capability and credibility to implement the Story
Supporters: Who believes enough in the story and team behind the village, town or city to write out a cheque
Each location needs to sit around the table and work out what the pitch will be for their locality. Economic development will come from a compelling and credible story. If their story is that they will become a town where server farms are welcomed and have enormous advantages compared to other places then they will attract people that make the most of this positioning. This means cooling specialists, cabling people, technicians etc etc. As time moves on and they are truly the leader in this field all sorts of support infrastructure will develop.
Any village, town, city or state that wants to get a grip of this is welcome to run one of our “Discovery Workshops“.
