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IEDC is now accepting submissions for the 2023 Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards. Take advantage of early-bird pricing and submit your entry by April 14. The Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards recognize the world’s best economic development programs, partnerships, and marketing materials, and the year’s most influential economic development leaders. These prestigious awards honor organizations and individuals for their efforts in creating positive change in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Receiving an award showcases your achievements and impact in the field, and winners are recognized at IEDC's Annual Conference. Please email [email protected] with any questions. The ...

As National Manufacturing Day 2022 approaches, the manufacturing industry is preparing to connect with a new generation of manufacturing workers. The holiday, celebrated on the first Friday of October, was launched by the Manufacturing Institute in 2011 and has since expanded into a week of celebrations. On Manufacturing Day, manufacturers, EDOs, and chambers of commerce host workforce development events open to students, parents, and educators in their communities. These events have included facility tours, job fairs, and product expos. This year, more than 200 Manufacturing Day events are already scheduled across the United States. This year’s Manufacturing Day is coming at a time when American manufacturers face major challenges ...

The U.S. Economic Development Administration’s 2019 Regional Innovation Strategies grant competition is now open for proposals. The Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program invests in projects that support entrepreneurs and increase access to risk capital, and offers funding through two competitions: FY19 i6 Challenge Catalyzing high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the country, the i6 Challenge awards up to $750,000 for projects that increase regional capacity to accelerate the translation of innovations, ideas, intellectual property, and research into products, services, companies, and jobs. FY19 Seed Fund Support (SFS) Grant Competition Unlocking risk capital for entrepreneurs and startups to grow, SFS grants provide ...

Economic development organizations increasingly bring together competing cities, counties, and states to grow their economies as a region. We now can add neighboring countries to that list. EDOs on the Canada and Mexico borders are cooperating with their foreign neighbors, and with a new urgency in light of NAFTA renegotiations.

“We encourage states, provinces and metro areas to coordinate with relevant jurisdictions to submit one (1) RFP for your MSA,” reads the third sentence of the RFP that set off a frenzy among cities vying for Amazon’s second headquarters. Many of the 238 bids Amazon received for HQ2 last week took this directive to heart, coming from cities and their suburbs under a unified proposal. Some places went even further by teaming up with cities outside their immediate MSAs to leverage the power of the broader region. Buffalo and Rochester, separated by 75 miles of interstate, worked together to submit a more competitive bid for upstate New York. “With over 2.2 million people, a very talented labor pool, and an extremely ...

More and more, EDOs are forming regional partnerships to present unified marketing messages, leverage labor sheds, and enhance collective strengths. This report, the latest from IEDC’s Economic Development Research Partners, explores the advantages of working regionally, how to overcome challenges, and describes various organizational structures.

The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange is a featured case study in IEDC’s Economic Development Research Partners’ report “Critical Condition: Infrastructure for Economic Development.” The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange is an innovative program model that funds projects across California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. This nonprofit entity works with communities to broker relationships between public and private bodies, thus making private funds easier to access for smaller, primarily water-related infrastructure projects. The exchange aggregates smaller water infrastructure projects in proximity to each other into a single, long-term (design-build-finance-maintain) contract. This ...

Through strong business retention and expansion fundamentals, Northern Kentucky Tri-ED has facilitated a rapid succession of expansion projects. Read about the two-time Excellence in Economic Development Awards winner’s secrets to success.