Smarter All Around – Links to Resources

Presentation to Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County
Ken Atkins, Wake County Economic Development
January 24, 2006

Wake County is the place where business innovators create competitive advantage by capitalizing on an established innovation infrastructure – superior knowledge-based resources and the quality-of-life assets that are the hallmarks of an ascending market.

For more information:

Council on Competitiveness – Clusters of Innovation Initiative
www.compete.org
In the mid 1980s, a two-dozen member council of industrial, university, and labor leaders joined together to meet the mounting challenge of increased global competition. They founded the Council on Competitiveness, a forum for elevating national competitiveness to the forefront of national consciousness. To learn more, please visit the link above.

Dr. Michael Porter, Harvard University
www.isc.hbs.edu
Dr. Porter is a Bishop William Lawrence Harvard University Professor and a member of the Council on Competitiveness. He leads The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. The Institute studies competition and its implications for company strategy; the competitiveness of nations, regions and cities; and solutions to social problems. Dr. Porter is the author of the Clusters of Innovation Initiative study. For more information about Dr. Porter and the Institute, please visit the link above.

Research Triangle Regional Partnership
www.researchtriangle.org
In response to Michael Porter’s study, the Research Triangle Regional Partnership developed the “Staying on Top: Winning the Job Wars of the Future” action agenda. This is a 5-year plan aiming to create 100,000 new jobs in the 13-county region. To read the full case study or to learn more about the Research Triangle Region, please visit the link above.

The Creative Class
www.creativeclass.org
Richard Florida is the author of the best-selling book, The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida argues that every human being is creative and for the first time in human history, our economic growth depends on the further development of a wide spectrum of human capabilities. To learn more, please visit the link above.

Wake County Economic Development
www.raleigh-wake.org
Wake County Economic Development recently completed a re-branding process to capitalize on our strengths and reposition ourselves to stand out in a global economy. Our niche rests at the intersection of Smart Street and Pleasant Avenue. “Smarter all around” was born from this concept. To learn more about Wake County and Wake County Economic Development, please visit the link above.