Economic Development America
Competing Globally - Growing Regional Economies - Creating Jobs Winter 2005
In this issue:

A Message from Carlos Gutierrez

Building Innovation-Driven Regional Economies in Small and Mid-Sized Metro Centers

Creating Systems for Entrepreneur Support

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Rural America

Kentucky’s Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program: An In-Depth Look at How It Works


Special Section: Technology Transfer

The Importance of Networks and Capacity Building in Technology Transfer and Commercialization

Best Practices in University Technology Transfer

A 21st Century Model for Engineering Education


Turning the Corner: Trends in Angel Investing

Growing Ohio’s High Performance Economy

Replanting the Economic Forest in Northeast Ohio



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Building Innovation-Driven Regional Economies in Small and Mid-Sized Metro Centers

by Walter H. Plosila, Vice President, Technology Partnership Practice, Battelle




In biosciences alone, genomics, bioinformatics, and proteomics present new research, technology, and market opportunities
Over the past 40 years, we have witnessed an evolution in thought about America’s changing economic landscape. This evolution has included a shift regarding the role that innovation plays in the nation’s overall economic prosperity. Today, it is widely understood that innovation is a means by which to overcome the seemingly unending tide of structural economic transitions that occur as various industrial sectors become obsolete or fundamentally change their products and processes – with some evaporating, others becoming reinvented and others moving their mass production facilities off shore in an attempt to gain competitive advantages.

Innovation in America is not a bicoastal phenomenon. Many small- and mid-sized U.S. regions are addressing the factors critical to innovation, namely technology, talent, and capital. Furthermore, these regions are diligently working to marry the private and public sectors through coalitions composed of industrial, academic, philanthropic and government leadership.

Some, but not all regions encompassed by the traditional “rust belt” image are emerging to show that their economic future is not based on their past, an economy of durable manufacturing, brawn-based aptitudes and skills, mass production, closed markets and decades-old products. Instead, these regions’ economic futures will be based on their ability to capture and retain the required technology, talent and capital to fuel their emerging industrial sectors. The same is true of smaller metropolitan areas, such as Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Peoria, Des Moines and Wichita.

While these regions’ efforts are not yet completed, early progress in a number of these communities shows innovation is driving the efforts to address their economic futures. For instance:

  • Pittsburgh, with its downtown physical infrastructure, integration of waterways with the community, and rapidly blooming medical and research universities (Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh), has become one of America’s major rebirths. No longer a major player in steel and power supply industries, Pittsburgh already has transformed itself into an intellectual center in information and the biosciences through Digital and Life Sciences Greenhouses, capital mechanisms and workforce efforts.

  • St Louis Plant/Life Sciences Strategy:

    • Raised $400 million in venture capital from private and philanthropic sources.
    • Formed a technology commercialization vehicle – BioGenerator.
    • Two plant/life sciences incubators (NIDUS and CET) filled at capacity.
    • Initiated research park district and planning for private research space adjacent to Washington and St. Louis Universities (CORTEX).
    • “Biobelt” brand name identity established.
    • Completed building of Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center.
    • Broad community mobilization through St. Louis Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences and St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association.
    St. Louis, whose civic leadership has embraced a new sector for economic growth, the plant sciences, based on the recognition that it had underutilized assets (i.e., Botanical Gardens, Washington University) and new assets (i.e., Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center) that have created a unique technology niche for the region. At the same time, there is increased recognition of its strengths in biomedical sciences that is helping to transform the region’s universities-health services-community relations. At one time America’s second largest city in automobile assembly manufacturing, today St. Louis is focusing on entrepreneurship by investing in infrastructure (i.e., BioGenerator, NIDUS, and the Center for Emerging Technology) and financial capital mechanisms, both of which are positioning the region for new knowledge industries while retaining and expanding its major ag/biotech, drug and pharmaceutical base.


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