Economic Development 2010
01.02.2010
2009 is a goner. So it seems only appropriate to start a new decade thinking about the state of economic development and where we’re headed as the economy kicks into recovery mode and activity picks up. Here are a few questions I’m thinking about as 2010 gets started.
1. Is interest in economic development declining?
I used Google Trends to graph search activity for “economic development” in the US during the last five years. The results are not promising. Google searches for economic development are down 50 percent from 2004. So either Bing is doing much better than I realized, or we need to work harder on the communications front.
2. How will state and local budget cuts affect economic development?
This question relates directly to #1 in some ways. Economic development is inherently difficult to understand unless you are actively involved in it. Does your community understand what you do and how your work benefits them? If interest in economic development is indeed declining, and people struggle to understand the return on investment they are getting on economic development, we’re in trouble. Sales tax revenues here in Texas were down about 15 percent in November compared to 2008, and from what I’ve seen reported in other states, we’re in good shape.
3. How will technology change the way we do business?
I’m a data junkie, so this is an area near and dear to me. The pace of innovation is picking up in both the public sector and the private sector when it comes to new tools available for economic development. My last blog discussed the improvements Census has made to OnTheMap, and be sure to check out STATS America as well. Companies like EDsuite, EMSI, ESRI, and GIS Planning are announcing new tools all the time. ESRI has even made some of their mapping products free via Mapping for Everyone. And free is good in this budget climate.
How long will it be before we see the first iPhone or Android app for economic development? Site selectors are always on the go, so I can’t imagine it will be all that long before we see companies moving in that direction.
4. Will 2010 be the year for regions?
The stars seem to be aligning for regional economic development. Budget cuts will force cities to think about new ways of doing business, and hopefully collaboration with neighbors will be on the menu. In addition, I think we’re going to see a serious push from Washington DC toward connecting community and economic development funding programs. Here’s a primer from The New Republic on recent budget action for regional innovation clusters.
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About Civic Analytics
Brian Kelsey is an Austin-based economic development consultant and former senior policy advisor at the U.S. Economic Development Administration in Washington, DC. Civic Analytics is his blog about data-driven analysis for understanding community and economic trends. Views expressed here are his own.
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