10 Principles in Economic Development - Regional Collaboration
- To what extent is your economic development
strategy regionally based (either by substate regions or economic
regions that cross state or international borders)?
- What is the level of cooperation and collaboration
among economic development organizations within your region?
- How do you make the most effective use of
resources within your region?
The strength of a single local economy depends on
the economic strength of surrounding areas. Economic strategies
need to achieve economies of scale by being directed to regional
areas.
During the past decade there has been an increasing
emphasis among economic development professionals on regional
strategies. Substate regional planning organizations are becoming
more important in a range of policy areas, including transportation,
social services, and economic development. While competition for
business development among local governments continues, there
is an increasing awareness that regional cooperation may be a
more effective approach in the long run.
Minnesota has seen a resurgence of substate regional
groups after a decline in the 1970s and early 1980s. Several factors
have contributed to this resurgence: economic dislocations in
rural areas, which have encouraged agricultural areas in southwestern
Minnesota and mining areas in northeastern Minnesota to band together;
creation and continued support of regional initiative funds by
the McKnight Foundation; shrinkage of federal and state categorical
funds, which has forced regions to work together in setting priorities;
federal legislation, such as the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act, which transfers greater authority to metropolitan
planning organizations in setting priorities for transportation
funding; and state legislation, which increases the responsibilities
of the Metropolitan Council to include operating as well as planning
functions. Regionalization is occurring as a result of both top-down
actions and bottom-up recognition by local areas that regional
cooperation makes sense.
Several states have incorporated a regional approach
in the organization of their economic development activities.
Oregon and Massachusetts have both tailored their economic development
strategies to a substate regional approach. Massachusetts' plan
calls for regional offices that can provide access on a "one-stop
shopping" basis to Commonwealth agencies and services that
are relevant to business growth.
Another trend in regional cooperation has been collaboration
across state and even international boundaries. One example of
multistate-province regional cooperation is the Red River Trade
Corridor, which involves the states of Minnesota and North Dakota
and the Canadian province of Manitoba. The Red River Trade Corridor
Council works with regional businesses and existing organizations,
networks, and institutions to increase trade within the region
and between the region and the rest of the world.
Another example is the Pacific NorthWest Economic
Region, which includes the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
and Washington and the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
The focus areas for this regional organization are marketing environmental
technology and services, building a global tourism market, adding
value to regional forest resources, developing new markets for
regional recycling, training world-class workers, and using telecommunications
to link institutions of higher learning.
One benefit of increased cooperation across state
boundaries may be a reduction in zero-sum-game competition for
businesses among states. In the past, compacts between states
to avoid raiding each other's businesses have been generally unsuccessful.
A regional economic development strategy that covers a range of
public policy issues and is based on cooperation and collaboration
may increase the potential to reduce this type of nonproductive
competition.
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