Success Stories

Agriculture in California is more than just vineyards and avocado groves. According to data from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, farmers in the Golden State produce more than one-third of the United States’ vegetables, two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, and manage more dairy cows than any other place in the United States. In fact California is the largest food-producing state in the country, and a critical lynchpin in the nation’s agricultural ecosystem. It is also globally competitive, producing 80 percent of the world’s almonds and one-third of the world’s processed tomatoes, while remaining a significant exporter of citrus, sushi rice, and other crops. But issues of workforce, water, and land availability are coalescing to challenge the future of food in California.

Whether it’s developing a business incubator, building new broadband infrastructure, or expanding a wastewater management system, economic development is often a heavy-lifting activity. Sometimes, though, no challenge is as great as bridging the divide between academia and practice. At the University of Oregon, the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement (IPRE) is helping Oregon’s economic development community remove the barriers that separate research from action.

In 1965, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) was established and the sport of pickleball invented. Created by former U.S. Representative Joel Pritchard (WA-02) at his Bainbridge Island, Washington cabin, pickleball has since been named the state sport of Washington. Recently, it has seen a surge in popularity, becoming the fastest-growing athletic pastime in the United States. Now, these two children of 1965 — EDA and pickleball — are being reunited through a Port Angeles, Washington, nonprofit.

Over the last decade, Spokane, Washington has experienced a boom in growth. Much of the Lilac City’s recent economic success can be organically attributed to an innovative business landscape driven by a local sense of creativity and industry — the city’s motto, in fact, is “Creative by Nature.” But a large portion of that success is also creditable to the work done by a burgeoning, local economic development ecosystem. A major component of that ecosystem is Washington State University’s (WSU) Center for Innovation.

About 10 years ago, the city of Savanna, Illinois, faced two economic development hurdles.

The first was a three-quarter-mile, pot-holed-filled street, called Wacker Road, that rumbled as trucks passed a school and homes to get to industrial businesses. The second was a dilapidated wastewater treatment plant that was built so close to the Mississippi River that it flooded frequently and caused back-ups across the city.

The landscape and opportunities for entrepreneurs in Wyoming are growing. IMPACT 307, a business incubator program at the University of Wyoming, is now expanding statewide.

With a focus on rural communities, a venture fund in western Colorado is helping to create new opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses. The Greater Colorado Venture Fund (GCVF) started in 2018 and focuses on supporting early-stage startups.

The name St. Petersburg conjures up visions of warm, sandy beaches, a variety of theme parks, and two-time Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Like many cities today however, St. Petersburg is looking to redefine itself, with an eye on technology and the innovation that drives it.

An EDA grant to Indianapolis-based venture development firm Elevate Ventures has provided free entrepreneurship training to more than 500 entrepreneurs from across Indiana since 2019 – more than twice what was projected.

As home to the fifth largest seaport in the United States and a maritime industry valued at $38 billion, Washington state may not seem like a place that needs additional resources to support maritime-directed economic development. But four-year-old Seattle-based nonprofit Washington Maritime Blue is helping fill a very specific gap in the region’s economic landscape.