Prospectus

Background and Justification

Existing development initiatives, programs, and services—including those in the economic development arena— nearly all focus on individual communities, firms, and governmental jurisdictions. At the same time, the scholarly literature and real world observations make it abundantly clear that today's problems and tomorrow's opportunities transcend this narrow, compartmentalized approach.

Evidence shows that sustainable prosperity, wages, and productivity in advanced economies are determined by regional factors and characteristics. Networks of companies, input suppliers, service providers, and public institutions all contribute to innovation capacity on a regional basis. In knowledge-driven economies it is this regional ability to create, develop, and commercialize new technology that drives economic activity. These regional capacities often overshadow attributes and features of individual firms, communities and governmental jurisdictions.

Regional approaches cannot be successfully mandated. Some federal and state agencies have established regional commissions and districts and these approaches have worked to regionalize provision of services. However, these approaches have often fallen short in creating a fundamental shift in thinking among local public and private sector leaders. A successful approach must build on the power of information, dialogue, networking and high-level collaboration to form partnerships across and within both the public and private sectors. The Purdue University Center for Regional Development will be the catalyst that supports this sort of transformational thinking and leadership.

This is no small task. It is not easy for businesses that have always thought of themselves as competitors to also think of themselves as collaborators. It is not easy for communities that have been fierce rivals for decades to develop the trust and find the common ground necessary to identify and capitalize on win-win regional situations. It is not easy for public institutions/agencies and units of local government to go beyond sharing newsletter information to achieve higher levels of cooperation such as integrated plans of work and service delivery, pooling and sharing of resources and staff, and collaborative decision-making across agencies and organizations. However, if effective regional cooperation can be achieved, Indiana can be a national model, and the dream of Indiana leading the nation in economic growth can become a reality.

top

Vision

The vision for the Purdue University Center for Regional Development is the following:

The Purdue Center for Regional Development will foster Indiana becoming the nation's leader in supporting creative, regional approaches to development, that build on three core values:

a voluntary approach;
the power of data, analysis, ideas and information; and
the importance of dialogue, social capital development, and collaborative partnerships.

Mission

The Center for Regional Development, working with its partners, will serve its external stakeholders by:

Conducting objective and timely applied research and policy analysis (both descriptive and analytical) that addresses high priority regional needs and policy issues
Serving as a catalyst and by providing organizational capacity to convene, nurture and facilitate regional dialogue around issues and opportunities
Fostering and brokering networks and partnerships among the various stakeholders
Assisting with strategic planning on a regional basis
Providing a port of entry to Purdue University 's (and other universities') research, technology and expertise in regional development.

The Center will serve internal stakeholders by:

Providing support for applied research
Serving as a conduit for faculty and staff to become involved in community and regional engagement activities
Providing learning opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students
Facilitating relationships that bring external funding for projects and programs
Providing publication outlets for faculty and students
Bringing visiting scholars and other experts to campus
Linking the commercialization and innovation potential of Discovery Park and Purdue Research Park to various regions across Indiana

top

Relationships with other Organizations

The Center will need to have relationships with other universities, agencies and private entities to be successful. These partners will likely include, but not necessarily be limited to:

Several Purdue centers and existing entities will be associated or partner with the Center for Regional Development. Each entity will contribute to its capabilities. These include:

Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurship Center, Richard Cosier; School of Management, Director
School of Technology Statewide Program, Michael O'Hair, Director
Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, David Petritz, Director
Social Research Institute, John Stahura, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Director
Center for Advanced Applications in Geographic Information Systems; Bernard Engel, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Director
Innovation and Commercialization Center; Joan Fulton, Department of Agricultural Economics, Director
Tourism and Hospitality Research Center; Liping A. Cai, School of Consumer and Family Sciences, Director

Other centers and programs may be associated with the Center for Regional Development as it becomes established and grows.

top

Organization and Management

The Center for Regional Development will be administratively located in the Office of Engagement and will be one of the centers associated with Discovery Park. It will be physically located in the Burton D. Morgan Building. The Center will be Co-Directed by Vic Lechtenberg, Vice Provost for Engagement and Sam Cordes, Assistant Director of Cooperative Extension.

Core staff support will include normal operational support (clerical, travel etc.). Professional staff will be needed to provide capacity for GIS, data management/analysis, graphics, survey research, website development, and communications. Some of this support can come from graduate and undergraduate students. Additionally, site licenses for critical analytical and economic models will be needed.

In addition to the core professional staff, faculty will be involved at two levels. First, a small number of faculty will likely have a specific amount of time dedicated to the work of the Center on an ongoing basis. Additionally, the Center will create a larger network of “faculty affiliates” who will become involved in specific time-bound projects and who will also contribute to a stimulating intellectual dynamic through seminars and project activities.

Users Advisory Board and a National Consultancy

An Advisory Board will be established to insure that the agenda of the Center is externally driven and that the agenda addresses critical regional and state-wide needs. This group will also assist with establishing good working relationships with other agencies and institutions and help identify areas of work and resources that can be pursued jointly. Membership on this Users Advisory Board will come primarily from two groups: clients; and customers and partners (recognizing that in some cases an entity might be both a client/customer and a partner).

In addition to the Users Advisory Board, a small national consultancy group will be created to help provide guidance and counsel to the Board and the Director. This group will meet with the Advisory Board and Co-Directors at least once per year and will be available at other times to help provide an outside perspective on critical needs, issues, and opportunities.

Funding

Initial core funding support will be provided to launch the Center. The Center also will be expected to generate external funding. Some of this will be on a fee-for-service basis, e.g., special data analysis for a specific locale or industry. Broader scopes of study, outreach and experimentation might be funded by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana Rural Development Council, along with the U. S. Departments of Commerce, Agriculture and HUD.

top

Background
Vision
Mission
Relationships
Organization

[ Purdue Homepage ] | [ Purdue Search ] | [ Purdue Visit ] | [ Purdue Giving ]