Gain Work Experience
You must obtain at least 2 years of paid full-time economic development and/or entrepreneurial support work experience. To confirm your work experience meets this requirement, please submit your current resume to ccolan@iedconline.org for review.
Complete Coursework
The coursework for the EDP certification program is divided into 2 categories: Core Competency and Elective Competency.
You must have successfully completed all 3 Core Competency training courses listed below.
• Entrepreneurship-Led Economic Development***
• Economic Development Credit Analysis
• Entrepreneurial & Small Business Development Strategies
You must have successfully completed any 1 Elective Competency training course listed below.
• Business Retention & Expansion
• Economic Development Finance Programs
• Neighborhood Development Strategies
• Technology-Led Economic Development
***Before 2025, this 3-day course was offered as two standalone courses: "Introduction to Entrepreneurship-Led Economic Development" and "Accelerating Growth Through Entrepreneurship-Led Economic Development." IEDC will continue to accept both formats to meet the EDP certification coursework requirement. However, if you have completed only one of the standalone courses, you must take the 3-day course to fulfill the requirement.
For all training courses, you can register for them through IEDC here or the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute (OU EDI). If you have taken any of these courses previously while pursuing the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) credential, then IEDC will count them towards the EDP requirements.
Attend EDP Exam Essentials Workshop
This optional, free workshop provides an overview of the EDP Exam process—from the application through the oral interview. You can register for this workshop through IEDC.
Exceptions
You may be able to waive or substitute some of the above requirements based on the exceptions offered by IEDC. Please review the specifications below and email ccolan@iedconline.org to confirm if you are eligible for any of these exceptions.
1. Professionals who have attended the ED101 course with Grow America (formerly NDC) or have obtained the Economic Development Financial Professional (EDFP) credential may waive attending the Economic Development Credit Analysis training course.
2. Professionals that attend the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute (OU EDI) may substitute their participation at that program for the equivalent Core and/or Elective Competency training courses. These individuals must take 16 hours of instruction at OU EDI in Business Retention & Expansion and 24 hours of instruction in Economic Development Credit Analysis.
The Initial Application and Retake Form for 2025 exam dates will be available here by the end of the month.
Along with your application or form, you must submit a fee to IEDC based on this chart.
| Application Type | Member Fee | Non-Member Fee |
| Initial Application | $610.00 | $850.00 |
| Retake Form | $385.00 | $490.00 |
Cancellation - If a candidate no longer plans to sit for the exam, they must send an email to [email protected]. If the email is received at least 15 business days in advance of the scheduled exam, then the candidate will only forfeit their fee to IEDC. If the email is received within 15 business days of the scheduled exam, then the candidate will forfeit their fee to IEDC and be charged an additional $130.00 by IEDC.
Transfer Option - If a candidate wants to sit for the exam at a different time than what they had originally scheduled, they must send an email to [email protected]. If the email is received at least 15 business days in advance of the originally scheduled exam, then the candidate will not incur any additional fee. If the email is received within 15 business days of the originally scheduled exam, then the candidate will be charged $130.00 by IEDC. A candidate is only able to use this transfer option once, and they must sit for the next exam offered by IEDC.
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EDP Exam - Summer |
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Location: Online Application Deadline: July 18, 2025 |
The EDP Exam is made up of 2 sections:
Multiple Choice - The questions come directly from the training manuals for the 4 Core Competency courses and 1 Elective Competency course, which is chosen by the candidate.
Oral Interview - The candidate must pass the Multiple Choice section in order to move on to the Oral Interview. In this section, the candidate will be interviewed by a panel of current EDPs about the project plan they previously submitted with their exam application. If the candidate passes this section, then they will be a newly minted EDP with IEDC!
If you have any questions about the EDP program, please reach out to [email protected] for assistance.