They also help communicate what successful regions are doing to strengthen their economy. Civic entrepreneurs help their region understand its economic potential, including new insights about current and emerging industry clusters. Important relationships within and between clusters are made clear, and emerging opportunities are defined and targeted for support. Civic entrepreneurs reach across traditional boundaries to build regional teams that can take action. Leadership is critical in creating a high-performance economy, but so too is broad participation across the community.
Civic entrepreneurs help their regions set priorities.
Choosing the right mix of strategies is critical for success. Collaborative Economics works with civic entrepreneurs to make decisions grounded in an analysis of real opportunities, resources, and constraints. From broad strategies, specific action initiatives are defined with measurable objectives, timetables, and staffing and financial requirements. Just as firms must continuously identify new competitive strengths and weaknesses, and address them with the aid of their customers and suppliers, so must a community's leaders continuously benchmark the competitiveness of their economy and be prepared to make corrections or embark on new initiatives. Collaborative Economics works with civic entrepreneurs to create new forums for ongoing collaborative problem solving, refocusing of community resources, and benchmarking of progress over time.