Impacts

RTS' work continues to have an impact in communities and regions long after our engagement ends. The following are just some of the ways in which RTS impacted economic and workforce development efforts around the country.

• RTS developed the strategic plan that led to the creation of the North Carolina BioNetwork, the community college system's effort to serve the growing biotechnology industry.
• RTS designed the Louisiana Board of Regents' Research Competitiveness and Research Enhancement Program, helping that state emerge from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina with a technology-focused economic development effort.
• RTS created a series of community college networks that allow these vital institutions develop innovative programs and share experiences with similar colleges around the country and even across the Atlantic Ocean.
• RTS helped regions around the country develop effective economic development strategies that embrace diverse approaches. Among the efforts are creating a series of new strategic plans to help the Region 2000 of Central Virginia move to an emphasis on advanced manufacturing, and helping create the first organization in Central Louisiana that addressed economic development from a multi-parish perspective.
• RTS pioneered efforts around collaborative economic development, working with fifteen states through the USNet initiative to create manufacturing networks that allow small and medium sized businesses to compete effectively.
• RTS' work in the creative economy in Arkansas is already showing results. Through the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, RTS helped fund efforts such as a youth-oriented film camp in the Ozarks and a new artist trail in the western part of the state.