From Today's Crain's, we see the Cleveland Clinic continuing to dominate local news and the world healthcare economy as they attract to this area $5 million in state funding, contributing to a $300 million development budget for a one million square foot project building the world's largest and leading heart center, resulting in 5,000 local jobs and a $1.2 billion annual impact on our economy. At the Cleveland City Club, on January 21, 2005, new Clinic CEO "Toby" Cosgrove laid out his vision for the future of the Clinic, and the Heart Center is an exciting part of their plan for NEO. Read notes from the City Club and related insight to appreciate the scope of opportunties offered ahead!

At the January 21, 2005 City Club forum, Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove ended his presentation with his vision for the Cleveland Clinic leading the inevitable "socialization" of healthcare in America - he declared the age of private and small medical practices and hospitals has ended and large, efficient world-class healthcare providers like the Clinic will create a universal umbrella of coverage. He is correct, and Cleveland is very fortunate to have a world-leader of this movement here - the Clinic is just as able to be a world-hub of socialized healthcare as any other provider, and Cosgrove is clearly capable of leading NEO to the forefront of this global transition - NEO should be center of global healthcare industry and excellence - read the notes from Cosgrove's presentation to better understand how and why!

But the socialized provider aspect of the healthcare revolution is just one opportunity now before NEO - another was surfaced a week later with President Bush's 02.28.05 visit to the Clinic to praise their use of information systems to streamline and automate patient records - featuring before the world the Clinic's successes standardizing how patient records are maintained and communicated. To highlight this transformation, mentioned by Cosgrove the prior week at the City Club, the Clinic was not only able to use excellent medical information management to be the first providers to identify health risks of the pain-killer Vioxx but was then able to notify their 11,000 patients using Vioxx that they must stop taking the medication, literally real-time. Thus, effective medical information systems reduce healthcare problems, saving money and lives.

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development

 Awareness: Session; One February 1, 2005, 4:00-6:00PM, Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval in University Circle

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There is no experience to compare to hearing a genius present the future of the world's most complex situation, realizing that genius is leading NEO's most important institution, and is a leader of the world's most important industry, and will save our local economy.

Cleveland Clinic's incoming CEO Delos Cosgrove M.D. presented a full house at the Cleveland City Club with a clear vision on the current and future state of the healthcare industry that is critical to understanding global quality of life, economic development, and our region's national and global potentials - there will be no more important discussions initiated in this region this year.

Bottom line, while it is awesome the Clinic represents over 5% of our area economy, what is remarkable is they are a global leader in the largest and fastest growing industry in the world, and positioned to play a dramatically greater and changing role in our economy and their global industry. They offer much more than their $2.5 billion contribution to the 2004 regional economy, their 29,000 NEO jobs (65,000, with trickle-down), their $310 million in NEO taxes paid, and their $250 million in uncompensated services for area residents in need - the Clinic is our world-class leader in the industry most responsible for improving people's quality of life, and global productivity, at the time when the potentials of the greatest breakthroughs and innovations in the history of healthcare are just becoming apparent, and while more centralized and socialized policy is inevitable. While the fact is the Clinic is a world-class hospital, the true excitement today is not that the Clinic saves lives but that the Clinic is positioned to save the region's life, making Cleveland one of very few true healthcare capitals of the world.

Those companies with diverse board (of directors) representation benefit from having executives who "get away from group-think" and "challenge the prevailing way of thinking," promotes The Greater Cleveland Roundtable in their weekly e-news on trends in diversity and inclusion. They further quote the CEO of diversity award winner Pitney Bowes as saying diverse directors "pay more attention to moral issues and how the frontline employees feel...They're more challenging of the orthodox ways of thinking." That is the kind of thinking we need in NEO - go to the Roundtable site and subscribe to their eNews for such insight in your box weekly.

A Community of Interest committed to the understanding North East Ohio's greatest strength is our cultural diversity, and that is the key to our sustainability as a community, society and economy

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development

 Awareness: Session; One February 1, 2005, 4:00-6:00PM, Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval in University Circle

 Alignment and Action: Session Two, February 14, 9AM to 12PM, Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development in Shaker Heights

Who cares about open source? The world's teachers, and countries, for example. Today on ZDNet UK there's a headline that could be about NEO college students, but is not - it's about some students in the UK, who developed an open source Linux operating system package for schools, which is also being embraced by nations and industry (and they're seeking US distributors, if anyone here wants a good second tier opportunity - see http://SchoolLINUX.com. How many open source savvy students are we nurturing here to be such innovators? And how soon will we at least use such open source innovations to transform our schools here, so they may better serve our students, so we'll have effective global innovators in the future. These are the brainpower challenges for our region to become a quality connected place for new economy development in the future. Time for NEO leaders to push these issues to the very top of the agenda to drive economic development here. Read how it's happening beyond our island...

There is a fascinating article in the 01/16/05 NY Times on the challenges outstanding international students have finding jobs in the US. Considering the US is an immigrant-based economy and, except for Native Americans, we're all relatively recent transplants, the current "lock the gates" federal policy is probably the most harmful to the US economy of any of the current administration - we are not importing knowledge workers, at a time when the world is eclipsing us in brainpower. As you read on you'll see, there's Ivy League brainpower all over the world and some of it wants to work in America - foolish US policy is keeping it out, driving US companies to send work abroad, as other economies gain competitive advantages over the US. Perhaps smart leaders in NEO can excel as world-experts in bringing global brainpower here, as a unique value of NEO. Tell me, why not! Read on...

Topic: "Regional Economic Development in Indiana: An Update on Best Practices"

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Here's an organic interpretation on the interconnections of TOPSOIL - Technology Optimization Platform for Social Organization, Innovation and Learning - REALNEO - Regional Economic Action Links (North East Ohio) - OSED - Open Source Economic Development - and IP - Intellectual Property - being the ecosystem enabling and nurturing Entrepreneurship and unique value creation and growth.

OSED consists of (B)rainpower, (I)nnovation and (Q)uality atoms, held interconnected with the magnetism of REALink Dialogue and Inclusion. These atoms combine in infinite combinations of Intellectual property molecules, which combine in organic structures forming more complex elements like schools, universities, companies and governments within a community ecosystem, in North East Ohio called NEO. The more supportive the ecosystem, the stronger the elements, and more elements to thrive. At the foundation of the ecosystem is TOPSOIL - the healthier and more nutritious the better. Branding and Marketing promote elements and ecosystems versus others, completing the OSED framework.

Bodwin Theater Company Director Kevin Cronin contributes to
the Cleveland Plain Dealer "Voices in the Arts" series of guest
columns on arts and culture in NEO with a compelling business case for
encouraging more filmmaking and related industry in Ohio. In his analysis, he
explains how this industry "cluster" can generate greater unique
value and economic benefits for this region than may casinos and convention
centers, which tend to monopolize the local development mindspace. To
illustrate the potentials, Kevin highlights data on benefits of the film
industry in Canada and the states of Louisiana, Illinois, Alabama, Oregon, New
Mexico and New Jersey, totaling $ billions... concluding "If Ohio wants
film, commercial, TV and digital-media jobs and income, it needs to take the
legislative steps to compete effectively. They are sensible, cost-effective, necessary
tools to compete with other states and countries to generate employment and
business growth." With elections coming up for Cleveland Mayor (for which
current Film Commissioner Carmody is apparently running) and for Ohio Governor, both of which will
focus on workforce and economic growth, it is timely now to push for the benefits Kevin proposes this creative cluster offers in
the future - make the candidates address these opportunities before they get our votes.

City of Phoenix offers support for local artists via ICE - Information Community Effectiveness. The following eNews from City Hall highlights "a new pilot grants program designed to assist individual artists living in Phoenix and working in all artistic disciplines." The focus is quite basic and low-level and low-cost - one could say negligible, in the big picture... $10,000 total... yet for individual artists this is a sign the city cares about their development and success. As NEO's Community Partnership for the Arts is now planning how to allocate $100,000s of dollars to artists, it is worth thinking so small with some of that money, to spread the wealth like in Phoenix...

If you for some reason like Microsoft you will not like this news, or the fact the world's progressive governments are mandating or expressing preferences for eGov development with open source applications and technologies - mandates include in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy and Peru - preferences include in Bahrain, Belgium, China and Hong Kong, Costa Rica, France, Germany,
Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Philippines and South
Africa - noteworthy is that "The Venezuelan government has founded an Open Source academy in the city of Merida in an effort to provide a supply of capable staff." Hello America, Ohio, and regional governments... are you serious about participating in the global economy? Better get open about using IT, and developing our workforce...

Cool local artist and creative entrepreneur Bridget Ginley - founder W. 25th Street Buzz Gallery - has posted to her lake of consciousness blog, erie.effusion, some great concepts for better integrating and socializing regional brainpower to make NEO a more sustainable, quality place.

An intellectual social reformer from Tribe shared the following posting that will have significant impact across America, because Martha Stewart is speaking out about legal process reform (from prison), and she knows the power of the Internet, uses it well, and is know and loved by untold millions, despite her legal problems. I post this message here because it surfaces issues we need to address to improve our regional economy - many of our unemployed are in fact unemployable for the reasons Martha highlights, and many of our more effective workforce development and reentry programs address this challenge - NEO must become world-class in addressing these issues, and use that distinctive competency to get ahead of the curve with social reform for this region, as America moves toward rebuilding our society as opposed to building prisons. Martha Stewart's Christmas Message: Prison Reform Now!

REI Director Ed Morrison sent me a link to an excellent
case study that well demonstrates the value of ECHO - East Cleveland Homes
Online... this article highlights a Philadelphia program that is helping bridge
the digital divide isolating some of the most troubled households in that
region, and we need to do exactly the same types of things to gain exactly the
same types of benefits here - read this story and case study!

This issue is about to become explosive in this state as,
like in Pennsylvania, Ohio politicians are trying to legislate
protections for special telco interests that will take many options away from
communities trying to bridge their digital divides. Ohio is about to become the
battle ground (and joke) for the national digital divide war because a State Representative from Mount Vernon (near Columbus), Thom Collier, has
introduced a bill in the Ohio state legislature that amends existing Ohio cable
competition law by restricting political subdivisions from providing
"telecommunications service using telecommunications equipment".

Today's Tuesday@REI session was organized and moderated by James Harris, Partner with H/L Communications, who brought together an innovative panel of proactive experts addressing workforce development issues, challenges and successes in NEO. For context, James starts the discussion by illustrating that between 2000-2004 Cuyahoga County has had a 22% drop in manufacturing jobs and a 8.1% in all sectors - a report on the state of poverty in Ohio is attached. In talking about eliminating impoverishment in a context like that, it is clear it is very difficult actually having measurable impacts - you need innovative approaches to create work opportunities providing a living wage, to get people thinking about employment in sophisticated ways, and helping employees to keep their jobs once they are placed in them. James starts the discussion on innovative approaches to workforce development with Walter Ginn.

· 12.21.04 "Eliminating Impoverishment: Innovative Models to
Improving Job Placement and Retention" with Walter Ginn, Executive
Director, Towards Employment and its new national model ACHIEVE; Yvonne Tufts
Jeans, Workforce Manager, ShoreBank Cleveland/Jobs Partnership in Cleveland, an
innovative faith-based model first developed in North Carolina with Moderator,
James Harris, HL/Communications

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