Aerotropolis recognized by IEDC

Wayne County has been awarded the International Economic Development Council‘s (IEDC) top achievement award in Regionalism and Cross-Border Collaboration for the Detroit Region Aerotropolis Plan. The IEDC recognized the continuing work of Wayne County’s EDGE at the award ceremony held during its Annual 2010 Conference in September at the Hyatt Place Columbus/OSU in Columbus, OH. In addition to Aerotropolis, Wayne County EDGE earned honorable mention in Multi-Year Economic Development in areas of populations greater than 500,000.

The Conference program was designed to engage and offer continuing education for North American economic development practitioners and professional consultants from the United States and Canada.  Many nationally and internationally known government and business leaders were featured throughout the four-day event. This list of notable attendees and speakers included the Honorable Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio; the Honorable John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development – United States Department of Commerce; E. Gordon Gee, J.D., Ed.D., President of Ohio State University; Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institute; the Honorable Ronald O. Loveridge, Mayor of  Riverside, CA and President of the National League of Cities; the Honorable Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana; and Michael G. Morris, Chairman, President & CEO of American Electric Power Co., Inc.

Breakout session topics addressed the hard reality of current national and international economic conditions. Focusing on the road back to prosperity, panel-type forums were conducted by industry professionals who offered detailed analyses of economic development strategies and provided a range of economic development implementation plans. Subject matter included worker training resources, using the internet as an effective advertising medium, branding & communication, public-private partnership, regional collaboration, access to capital, and site selection marketing.

The consistent message that played over and over again is that sustained growth of our regional, national and international economies is achieved when forward-thinking entrepreneurs and public sector leaders join forces to share intellectual and financial resources. Here in Wayne County and Southeast Michigan, we are acutely focused on the road to recovery through public-private and regional cooperation. EDGE is forming new partnerships with the business community, including the Wayne County Business Development Corporation. Other large scale organizations have committed resources to efforts like the Kauffman Foundation’s New Economy Initiative. Furthermore, Wayne County continues to support and facilitate the expansion of business incubators with Washtenaw County, TechTown, and the NEI/Kauffman Foundation’s Urban Entrepreneurship Partnership (UEP).

Perhaps one of the most discussed issues at the IEDC Conference was that support for existing companies in the region is invisible on a policy level. Wayne County is engaging labor, business, and government leaders on multiple levels to correct this deficit. We believe that it is just as important to be aggressive in attracting new business as it is to support companies and workers based in Wayne County.

According to the findings of leading economists, economic recovery is underway, but at a much slower pace than seen in the past. As our country and the rest of the world emerge from the perfect storms of 2008 and 2009, we will undoubtedly encounter a business and government landscape vastly altered by new policies and best management practices.

On the last day of the IEDC Conference, Dean Foote, CEO of 2010 Foote Consulting Group (Tucson, AZ), summed up the road back to prosperity in a social/economic formula, a formula Wayne County and our partners know and practice: Education + Health + Jobs = Prosperity. Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Wayne County EDGE are committed to the creation of quality jobs so that our citizens can provide for themselves and their families. We believe that through job creation, our citizens will be less dependent on the social safety net to ensure their economic well-being.

I am proud of the recognition EDGE received at the IEDC Conference and those who worked hard to earn us this recognition.