It’s been over 10 years since RTS identified, analyzed and mapped Montana’s emerging bioscience cluster as part of a larger industrial cluster project for the Governor’s Office and Economic Development. This effort led to the creation of the Montana BioScience Alliance (MBSA) to support the growth and continued development of the cluster.

In 2012, RTS was commissioned to update its analysis of the composition and structure of Montana’s bioscience cluster and to survey the MBSA membership base to pinpoint its most pressing business issues and identify what services MBSA should offer its member companies going forward. The results of the bioscience cluster composition update and of the membership needs assessment are summarized in this edition of the MBSA directory along with a message from Montana’s new governor, Steve Bullock, a story on this year’s inductee into the Montana BioScience Hall of Fame and a review of MBSA and cluster developments by MBSA Executive Director, Sharon Peterson.

The 2013 Montana BioScience Directory and can be downloaded here.

The Mississippi Economic Council in cooperation with the state’s citizens and private sector is building a collaborative vision for moving the state’s economy and community forward.  The process, known as Blueprint Mississippi 2011, has led to the development of a series of goals and recommendations on education, the economy, diversity, financial resources, health, infrastructure and other key areas.

A top focus is the creative economy.  The following creative economy strategies are based in large part on the study we completed with the Mississippi Development Authority and the Mississippi Arts Commission Development. The reports are available here and more on the effort is on the Mississippi Creative economy website.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Support the goals in the report, Mississippi’s Creative Economy, released by the Mississippi Arts Commission with the Mississippi Development Authority:
  • Facilitate efforts that make communities throughout the state more creative and vibrant.
  • Promote entrepreneurship and small business growth among creative firms.
  • Help communities preserve and generate added value from cultural and historic heritage.
  • Enhance the competitiveness of the state’s businesses and industries through increased use of art and design.
  • Enhance the support and networking infrastructure for creative talent across the state.
  • Build capacity to grow and retain creative talent living and working in Mississippi.
• Develop tools and strategies to support growth throughout the tourism industry.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger has an interesting article on the work we recently completed for the State of Mississippi.  We are presently preparing additional vignettes and updating the data in a follow-on contract with the state.

RTS is working as part of a team, led by Senior Associate David Dodd of DADCO, Inc., with the St. Bernard Parish Economic Development Foundation on a Strategic Workforce Contingency Plan for Fishing and Related Industries in Coastal Louisiana. The team, which also includes The Johnson Group of New Orleans and Ann Guissinger & Associates of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is examining impacts and developing strategies to help Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes deal with the cumulative impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the BP oil spill. The focus is on the fishing industry and the devastated livelihoods of the fishermen but we are also looking more broadly at issues of strategic economic targets and relevant workforce development strategies to help the region. The project, funded by the US Economic Development Administration, will be completed in early fall of this year.

In 1999 RTS developed Kentucky’s very first Science & Technology (S&E) plan. The strategies focused on People, Enterprise Development, Technological Infrastructure and Modern Manufacturing. A series of strategies were designed and most implemented to build a stronger S&E economy.  A bit more than a decade later, RTS has been asked to look back at the initial plan and develop a new, 21st century plan that takes into account the vast changes we’ve seen in technology and the world economy.  We are working with the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation and its partners to both evaluate the past investments that have been made and recommend modifications and new strategies that reflect the new reality.

The new year finds us embarking on an exciting new project with North Carolina’s Southeast Partnership.  NC’s Southeast is one of the seven established economic development partnerships within the state and includes 11 counties.  They have brought together all of the workforce boards, community colleges, local economic developers and other stakeholders into a process to look at the region’s workforce and its ability to support it’s existing and emerging clusters.  RTS will be working with NC’s Southeast throughout 2011 to analyze the workforce needs across this diverse region that includes Wilmington and its port, Fayetteville and the expanding Fort Bragg Army post and several counties with long-term economic challenges.  The Partnership and RTS expect to end the project with a compelling strategic vision and a number of short- and medium-term practical and implementable projects to build the workforce and economy of the region.

The Wilmington Business Journal has an interesting article describing the project.

One of the most dynamic cities in the South, Charleston, South Carolina, has asked RTS to examine its creative economy. We will take a look at a three county region’s creative enterprises, workers and assets and help develop strategies to enhance the creative economy’s impact in the Low Country. The project will also benchmark Charleston’s creative economy against selected communities in the Southeast.

Helping communities act more collaboratively in regional approaches has long been a hallmark of RTS’ work. A new effort in South Dakota will allow us to work with a group of counties and municipalities looking to create a new regional growth strategy. The strategy will include an analysis of the region’s clusters and a plan designed to build and support the research enterprise and educational assets at the region’s universities and link them to the private sector as economic development drivers.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded RTS a grant to assess the workforce trends and training requirements necessary to meet the needs of the ARC region’s increasingly important energy sector.  We will be working with colleagues at Penn State to project energy workforce growth, particularly in light of new green energy legislation. We’ll also be looking at the ability of the region’s community colleges and universities to train workers to meet the expected need.  Finally, we’ll take a look at best practices at these institutions.

Working with a group of business leaders in the Shreveport, Louisiana region, RTS is looking at ways to increase the ability of minority entrepreneurs and small business owners to compete and prosper.  In 2008, RTS reported back to the  Strategic Action Council of Northwest Louisiana on the most important economic development challenges and opportunities facing the region, identifying issues relating to the numbers and capacity of minority-owned businesses as critical. The SAC agreed with that assessment and has asked RTS to further investigate the challenges facing these firms and to develop a plan to begin to ensure their success.  RTS staff will conduct extensive on-the-ground interviews and focus groups with entrepreneurs and owners in the region to find out what exactly they see are the most important barriers to their success and how the region can help them grow.