Corporate incentive packages have long been a standard economic development tool, but regional leaders are giving them increasing scrutiny following well-publicized reports of incentive deals gone bad (see, for example, the regular “Incentive Watch” entries on Ed Morrison’s EDPro blog).

Now Bob Orr, a North Carolina gubernatorial candidate, is promising to slash generous tax and cash incentives (especially involving intra-state competition for businesses), increase the transparency of the incentive process, and divert more state funding specifically to employer-customized workforce training.

RALEIGH, N.C. — An end to economic incentives programs and more money for worker training are among the goals of Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

Orr, who is leading a lawsuit challenging economic incentives for Dell Inc., said Monday that if elected he’ll work to bar local governments from using special payments or tax breaks to lure existing companies elsewhere in the state to relocate. County and city officials also would have to make public more details about incentive deals before they are considered, he said.

Link to article.

The State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) is holding their annual conference on October 18-19 in Baltimore. The mission of SSTI is to support professionals in technology-based economic development (TBED).

Interesting  sessions include “Community Colleges’ Role in TBED,” “The Future of University Tech Transfer,” “What’s Exciting about Manufacturing,” and more. The 2007 Excellence in TBED Awards will also be presented.

EMSI will be there to demonstrate its integrated tools and data, which support strategic partnerships among colleges, workforce boards, and economic development groups.

Clusters are one of the hottest topics in economic and workforce development. The concept of industry cluster analysis, however, can be somewhat ambiguous. This document walks through the industry and industry cluster gap analysis reports available in EMSI’s Strategic Advantage (specifically the Economic Impact module). These tools allow economic development professionals to identify “missing links” in a regional economy so that they can target recruitment efforts on businesses that will complement existing industries and clusters, thus maximizing return on investment.

Read the full document (PDF): Introduction to the Industry and Cluster Gap Analysis Tools in Strategic Advantage

Upcoming symposium on entrepreneurship sponsored by the U.S. Economic Development Administration: September 26th in Kansas City. This is just one of several regional symposia of the same kind.

EDPro Blog: Maintained by Ed Morrison of the Center for Regional Development at Purdue University, this news and analysis site is an excellent resource for economic development professionals.

Because individual businesses and entire industries are connected in a complex web of interdependent relationships, regional planners can never afford to make decisions based solely on changes affecting a single employer or industry sector. Any changes in one will have very real ripple effects not only on suppliers but also indirectly on local businesses that depend on the spending of affected employees. How will these indirect effects be addressed by the region’s government agencies, economic development council, workforce board, and community college?

Download the full document (PDF): Practical Input-Output Modeling

International Economic Development Council: The mission of the IEDC is to promote economic development worldwide through professional development resources and public awareness.

Every region must periodically assess its most important industries in order to ensure that policy priorities are aligned with the realities and needs of the region’s economy. However, determining which regional industries are important can be challenging, since the definition of “important” is not always agreed upon by regional stakeholders. To avoid resorting to multiple surveys or word-of-mouth evidence, hard data is a necessary component of this planning process. Quantitative methods are also much faster and cheaper than qualitative methods, and also less prone to be affected by political pressures.

Read the full document (PDF): Identifying Important Regional Industries

The definition of a region is the first key step in an economic impact or economic base analysis. Which sub-areas (counties, ZIPs, or MSAs) should be included or excluded? What principles guide region definition? This short document is intended to answer these questions and help our users create regions that are appropriate for such analysis.

Download the full document (PDF): Defining a Functional Economic Region

The Northern Virgina Workforce Investment Board’s SkillSource Group, in partnership with Dr. Kenneth Poole of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (affiliated with C2ER), has completed an 18-month BRAC impact study for the area in and around Fort Belvoir and Quantico Marine Base.

EMSI’s Strategic Advantage provided the “heavy-lifting” economic modeling, including the estimates of workforce impacts. Strategic Advantage was selected for the project after an extensive evaluation and comparison with the RIMS II model, because EMSI’s model “provided more extensive estimates of likely industry- and occupation-specific impacts.”

Read the SkillSource press release and the C2ER newsletter article.