Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Bioeconomy Cluster Development

Headed by Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), a coalition with Michgan State University and other partners is making up a group called  larger “Mid-Michigan Innovation Team.” In 2006, the coalition was a among 13 regions who received funding under the US Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative.

The purpose of the BioEconomy Cluster Development Initiative is to accelerate the creation, retention, expansion and attraction of a BioEconomy industry in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

As a part of the initiative, the “Mid Michigan Innovation Team” has organized several cluster development workshops, attracting 100-150 participants with the objective to foster networking, discuss opportunities and supply chain improvements.

Next workshop is scheduled for January 14th 2010.

Gaming and electronic media cluster growing in Ontario, Canada

The province of Toronto expects to create 800 jobs over the next 10 years by providing the French game developer Ubisoft with contribution of CAD$ 263 million.

The total investment by Ubisoft (including the provincial contribution) will be CAD$ 800 million.

The new Ubisoft studios will be a part of what is called the Ontario Technology Corridor, and spans five urban regions.

The Ontario Technology Corridor has been quite successful, and over the past decade alone it has the creative cluster has created more than 80,000 new jobs.

More information

BusinessWeek: How to Take Advantage of Business Clusters

In a column under its small business section BusinessWeek’s online edition today has a write-up of possible benefits for small businesses to be identified with industry clusters. The column is written by Richard Mammone, Ph.D. with Rutgers University.

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President Obama’s request for funding to industry clusters meets resistance

Earlier this year, President Obama requested US$50 million for Economic Development Administration (EDA) that should be matched 50% by regional economic development authorities towards cluster development - totaling the dedicated funding for cluster development to US$ 100 million . This funding is further detailed in  ’A Strategy for American Innovation‘ a white paper published in August of this year.

Currently, both the House and Senate are refusing the funding, where the House only allocates US$ 10 million to the dedicated cluster program.

In these dire economic times, a fresh take on innovation and economic development in the US would likely have been a breath of fresh air.  A dedicated cluster development effort from EDA will be a great opportunity to test a new approach to engage regional stakeholders to drive local/regional innovation and economic development

Even the proposed  US$ 50 million by itself seems like a measly amount for US nation-wide cluster development effort. If this is reduced to as little as US $10 proposed by the House of Representatives it is one step forward and two steps backward in an effort to bring a new cluster driven innovation policy forward.

We will keep our eyes open.

North Carolina Aerospace Cluster

In 1903 the Wright Brothers took the first flight in North Carolina. Today the state has a booming aerospace cluster, much thanks to Governor Bev Perdue’s foresight  during her tenure as lieutenant governor a few years back.

Thanks to the the expertise of personnel leaving the military, strong academic R&D as well as the dedicated effort from the Governor’s office, the North Carolina Aerospace cluster today counts 160 companies and is growing. This in a time where economic downturn is hampering growth elsewhere in the aerospace industry.

Site Selection magazine as an informative write-up of the cluster.