October 10, 2006
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successful alignment and leveraging of our region’s technology assets and the
re
-creation of aglobally-competitive economy based here in Northeast Ohio. The specific tactics and actions for achieving our goal may change—and may change frequently at that—but our focus and our progress towards that goal will remain constant and true.In order to achieve these goals, however, we must focus our efforts in three key areas:
Talent,Investment,
and the region’s
Innovation Infrastructure.
Talent
We need to increase the level of educational attainment of the region’s workforce throughdevelopment, retention and attraction especially with respect to science, technology, engineering,and mathematics (STEM) at all levels—from pre-school through post-graduate. The tie betweeneducational attainment and per capita income is undeniable, and increasingly important intoday’s information-based economy. We also recognize the need to develop, retain andattraction more entrepreneurial skills and approaches to problem-solving in the region.
Investment
If we want to keep our existing highly educated workers in the region, we have to give themexciting opportunities worth staying for. Similarly, if we hope to attract new highly educatedworkers to the region, we need to be seen as a place where exciting new opportunities areemerging every day.To achieve this, we must increase the amount of pre-seed, seed, and early-stage investmentcapital to match the amount of deal flow and new company formation that is occurring in theregion. We also believe a supporting “tipping point” will be reached when more than $1B innon-corporate research is conducted in the region annually along side these investments in newcompanies in emerging markets. And, we must ensure that the region’s investments in new skilldevelopment and workforce training are being appropriately focused to prepare our citizens for our 21
st
century economy.
Innovation Infrastructure
Finally, we need to build connections and support boundaryless networks within and betweenkey technology and industry sectors, so that new ideas can be shared and new opportunitiesnurtured until they become the industries of tomorrow. Here, the region’s established firms havea critical role to play. As new products and services in emerging industries begin to achievecritical mass, the marketing, engineering know-how, manufacturing, distribution, and back officeexpertise of our larger firms become critical components for the continued success and growth inthe new markets of the 21
st
century.
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