Here's an interesting article on the growth of the Internet. Read more.

Note the listing of the top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2006.

Georgia is trying to move to the front edge of sustainable business development with events like Sustainable Businesss Day. Learn more.

First Curve thinking leads you to strategies that achieve scale through consolidation and merger. (One problem with this approach: as an Indiana business executive told me this week, "I have never seen a company 'cost cut' its way to greatness.")

Midtown Wednesday Notes: Jack Ricchiuto, NEO leader in appreciative leadership, has created a new way to think about building strategic networks.

Open economic networks accelerate information to build transparent environments. Jack talks about the importance of introductions to building networks within communities. Rich relationships build trust and levels of sustainable open networks.

 

The Detroit Superior Veterans Bridge in Cleveland has had a facelift recently with the addition of  “public art” objects – including this complicated heliotropic photovoltaic powered “sunflower” by Don Harvey - but the artists don’t have their names anywhere in sight  along the sidewalk across the bridge.  That’s an oversight which needs correcting. 

 

 "Opportunity Corridor" has the same level of candor as the phrase "destroy to protect" did during the Vietnam War.  "Opportunity Corridor" is the latest hypocritical corporate spin on the resuscitation of the extension of the Clark Freeway – put to bed at E55th in the 60’s.  The BIG question is:  for whom  will the proposed new highway be an “opportunity”?   The Cleveland Clinic and the University Circle Inc. constituents? or the people who have held their own for years along the proposed route and who stand threatened with eminent domain and removal?

 

 

After about a bit more than a century Cleveland will soon have its second (*see the first here: http://www.windpower.org/en/pictures/brush.htm ) substantial wind powered electrical generator.

Nobel laureate James Heckman wrote an important opinion column for the Wall Street Journal. In it, he emphasizes the importance of investing in early child care for disadvantaged families as an economic development strategy. He notes:

Date: Wednesday, January 18

Time: 5:00 P.M. to 6:45 P.M.

Place: Myers University, Chester Campus

3921 Chester Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114

Map Link

Join us to learn about leadership, networking and business innovation. Visit the Midtown Wednesdays Blog here to learn more.

We’ll explore the connections between what we do, the seven levels of networking and just how close you are to building strong collaborations. Learn more here.

People on REALNEO’s website are used to thinking about new ideas and the way we can help create the city and region we want to live in. Rather than passive acceptance, readers at REALNEO are active shapers of the community.  Our area is increasingly considering the importance of health activities, lifestyle and the comfort and attractiveness of the region.  As a region, we are focusing on regional assets, including our parks and lake.  With that in mind, I want to discuss ClevelandBikes, a two year-old nonprofit, and our project to develop an asset to meet these goals…a bike station, a new piece of the transportation infrastructure.

Here's an dynamic innovation from Akron: Possibly the first partnership of its kind between an Israeli incubator and a U.S. city. Read more.

 What do you think of the last 40 years of &quo

Time Magazine has an interesting interview with Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, author of a new book, < ahref="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195161645/sr=1-1/qid=1137371171/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4262859-7362514?%5Fencoding=UTF8">Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation

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Tim Stearns, Director, Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, passed this note on to a network of economic development professionals to which I belong:

In an important partnership, the Babson College and London Business School are conducing a valuable line of research into global entrepreneurship: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).

Some interesting articles appeared this week on the consequences of globalization and the opportunities of innovation.

Max Baucus, an influential U.S. Senator was over in India telling his audiences that the outsourcing of white collar jobs is inevitable. Read more.

Regions are moving ahead with their own ambitious economic development plans. Reviewing these plans can give civic leaders in Northeast Ohio some insights into how others are meeting the challenges of globalization.

 

When I have been on the rim of the Cuyahoga Valley at E30th and Broadway (between the prison and the post office) for the last year with the prevailing SW winds there is a usually a strong sickly obnoxious sweet smell - not the steel mills smell but rather the same smell described by James Renner in the Free Times article here:

Last week's forum was lead by Valdis Krebs, Cleveland based software developer and network mapping global guru. Valdis reminds us of the necessity of leaping invisible cognitive fences to accelerate regional innovation and entrepreneurship. Read more at: http://www.orgnet.com

Picking away at the carcass – an aerial feat off Woodland @ Broadway.  But all around NEO you’ll see this taking place.  First the low hanging fruit is plucked – off the  houses and garages.  The highest fruit is left ‘til last. Still a little green aluminum left for the next picker here.

 I was truly inspired to write this entry by a photograph provided by one concerned citizen, Jeff Buster, which you can find here.  We need to reach out those functioning in such grey markets, driven by desperate circumstances to cross ethical lines to generate revenue.  We cannot fault the individual for his entrepreneurial moxie but we certainly need to prevent the vandalism, trespassing or other criminal activity often incorporated into these grey-market / black-market processes.   In short, the entrepreneurial energy needs to be channeled into completely legal venture opportunities.

Here I am in NORTH EAST OHIO, concerned about the civic situation, but, as is true for all of us, with a limited amount of time and energy.   When the muse strikes me, and I am ready to post to the web, what is the most efficacious web site on which to post?  Fresh brewed daily?,  Hotel Bruce? Cppl Cleveland?

 

Is it healthy to be asking these questions? or is it sacrilegious to be asking?  

 

Louis Branscomb has long been a strong voice on the state of the innovation economy in the US. In this commentary, he outlines the decline of the U. S. relative position in innovation. He suggests how the state and local governments can combine with the private sector to help provide a national response to our innovation challenge.

Midtown Wednesdays: Accelerating Innovation on the Euclid Corridor

 I-Open and Myers University are building the Midtown Innovation Zone!

 "Midtown Wednesdays" are weekly forums hosted in partnership with Myers University, 3921 Chester Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114, 5:00 P.M. to 6:45 P.M. Free parking is available in the adjacent National City Bank lot.

 I-Open Civic Forums build networks to connect innovation, research and business. We begin with a simple rule: We will behave toward one another in ways that build mutual respect and trust. Trusted networks accelerate access to knowledge and resources.

Rob Grunwald, an economic and public policy analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, promotes the idea that early child care investments are good economic development investments.

A simple message: invest one dollar in early childhood development and foreign at risk child, and you'll get back as much is $18 over the child's lifetime.