Economic development is a profession built on continuous learning. The challenges change, the tools evolve, and the decisions become more complex but you do not have to navigate that growth alone.

IEDC is the professional home and leading authority for economic development. Through Professional Development, we help practitioners connect, grow, and lead throughout their careers with learning experiences, professional credentials, practical tools, and standards designed around the work economic developers do every day.

Whether you are entering the field, building a specific competency, tackling a complex challenge, pursuing professional certification, or leading an organization, there is an entry point and a next step for you.

Connect

Learn alongside practitioners, instructors, and peers from across roles, regions, and communities. IEDC creates recurring opportunities to exchange ideas, test approaches, and build professional relationships that extend beyond a single course or event.

Grow

Build the capabilities you need for the work in front of you.

Start with foundational learning, deepen your expertise through specialized courses, apply established knowledge through advanced Masterclasses, or stay current through timely Learning Exchanges. When you are ready to demonstrate your professional knowledge and judgment, the CEcD and EDP credential pathways provide an opportunity to make that capability visible.

The goal is not simply to learn about economic development. It is to help you interpret information, make sound decisions, use the right tools, engage stakeholders, manage trade-offs, and apply what you learn in your community.

Lead

Learning strengthens more than individual capability. It strengthens organizations and the profession.

IEDC’s professional credentials recognize individual expertise. AEDO provides independent review and recognition for high-performing economic development organizations. BEDC accreditation helps ensure that professionals entering the field receive a consistent foundation in economic development practice.

Together, these learning pathways, credentials, and standards help practitioners lead with greater confidence, credibility, and professional judgment.