(Left to right:) Hunter Morrison, Director, NEOSCC; Doreen Gonzalez-Gaboyan, Community Development & Outreach, Purdue Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation; David Leucinger, Economic Development Analyst, WisDOT.
On March 25, the Alliance for Regional Development welcomed more than 60 high-level leaders in business, government, and academia from across Chicago’s tri-state region to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to begin identifying opportunities for collaboration that will help grow the regional economy. The workshop served as the kickoff event for the Alliance’s yearlong foundational project to implement the recommendations of the OECD Territorial Review of Chicago’s metropolitan area, including northeast Illinois, southeast Wisconsin, and northwest Indiana. The daylong workshop was facilitated by Purdue Center for Regional Development advisor Ed Morrison using Strategic Doing as a process for outcomes.
The leaders formed themselves into four Working Teams and immediately began examining challenges and opportunities for regional economic competitiveness in the key areas of Human Capital, Innovation, Transportation and Logistics, and Green Growth. The event was well-received by all in attendance, many of whom remarked at how much work they accomplished in a short time and how eager they were to help move forward the work of their individual Teams.
In the early afternoon, each team presented its initial ideas to members of the Alliance Management Team in a “Shark Tank” forum. Mike Mullen, Dr. Carmel Ruffolo and David Terrell served as “Sharks” and provided insightful comments and critique for each of the four presentations. The day concluded with concrete next steps for each Team to continue its work.
The Working Teams will meet independently over the next 12 months with the support of Alliance staff to draft implementation plans including projects that are scalable, replicable, and sustainable. All four Teams will come together quarterly to share progress and ideas. Working Team participants are asked to save the date of June 3, 2014 for the first quarterly follow-up workshop, to be hosted by Purdue University Calumet in northwestern Indiana.
The Alliance Working Teams effort is a first-of-its kind project to explore the potential for large urban areas to cooperate across jursidictional lines to further the goal of regionwide economic development. Upon completion in 2015, the work of the Alliance and the Working Teams may serve as a pilot for other regions facing similar challenges.