We have the opportunity to be forward-thinking and leverage the momentum of our market.
Without continued innovation, industries eventually become susceptible to competition, disruption, and globalization. Many mature industries are eventually supplanted by new industries and new technology, while many others gradually shift to lower cost markets overseas.
Without intentional planning, regions can become locked into a similar life cycle. By building on local strengths and assets to allow innovative industries to succeed, regional economies become resilient.
Regions can avoid complacency and decline through intentional strategies to invest in emerging industries and build an innovation economy.
To create a reputable brand and equitable development, we need to focus on the key pillars of an innovation economy.
Resilient infrastructure – power, water, transportation, broadband – will ensure people and businesses have the solid foundation they need to thrive in the innovation-driven economy.
Innovation thrives in regions with equitable access to education and job training. Flexible, alternative education pathways focused on closing skills gaps produce talent and workforce of the future.
Innovative economies adopt non-traditional and agile land use strategies that maximize the economic potential of the region. Municipalities lead developing land use, reuse and zoning strategies that create quantifiable impact on factors like natural resource consumption, employment density and housing affordability.
Entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses are engines of innovation-driven growth. Forward looking regions cultivate a robust ecosystem that streamlines access to information and resources for entrepreneurs and incentivizes innovation.
Innovative industries of the future gain competitive advantage by anchoring in places where localized assets – talent, a capital friendly environment, infrastructure and smart land use – enable them to develop next generation of products and dominate new markets. Arizona faces headwinds against the dynamics of agglomeration that concentrate innovative industries in few select regions capable of addressing big challenges.