About TIP Strategies

TIP Strategies Featured at the Buenos Aires Global Summit: Economic Development Districts

TIP senior partner, Jeff Marcell, was invited to participate in the City of Buenos Aires’s Global Districts Summit in Argentina. The summit, held in September, was driven by the city’s motivation to share best practices in the creation and sustainability of economic development districts with a focus on public policy, entrepreneurship, and international business development. Jeff joined a delegation from the US that included leaders from the Research Triangle Park, Ann Arbor SPARK, Creative Oklahoma, the University of South Carolina, IAE Business School, and the Center for Strategic International Studies out of DC. In a TIP blog post Jeff shares his thoughts on the conference and the lessons learned from Buenos Aires’s innovation districts. He also shares recommendations for the future of the districts, made by himself and the rest of the US delegation.

TIP Clients Creating Paths to Prosperity

The recent Politico article, " A Real Path to Shared Prosperity in America," addresses a central concern for many of our clients, “How can our nation continue to grow while also providing a path to prosperity for more Americans?”

We at TIP have seen our clients bring together coalitions of partners to address this question and strengthen what the article’s authors refer to as "the Commons." Some of our clients’ efforts focused on tackling this problem include Greater Houston Partnership’s UpSkill Houston Initiative; Fargo, North Dakota’s regional workforce strategy; and Minneapolis-Saint Paul’s center cities initiative. More information about these projects is available on our blog.

Recap of Inner City Economic Summit in Detroit

Jeff Marcell (senior partner) and John Karras (senior consultant) of TIP Strategies attended the Inner City Economic Summit in Detroit, September 15-16. The event was sponsored by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a Harvard University-based think tank focused on inner city economic development. During the two days, Jeff and John engaged with dozens of other business, community, and academic leaders from urban markets across the US to discuss leading edge research and best practices in urban economic development. The Inner City Economic Summit was filled with high-quality presentations, panel discussions, and conversations among urbanist thought leaders. But three presentations rose to the top as the most insightful and relevant to the challenges and opportunities facing urban economic development. To read more about these presentation and the insights Jeff and John gained at the summit, visit our blog.

Image credit: Detroit Skyline (HDR) by Bryan Debus via Flickr

A Measure of Success

Metrics are an increasingly important part of economic development strategic planning. In addition to traditional measures of job growth, income, and tax base, TIP has been working with our clients to establish broader metrics associated with challenges including sustainability, social equity, and other community development issues. Two recent clients—Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA)—have garnered attention for their efforts in this area. Read more about how Fort Collins and LVGEA are building on the metrics established during our work with them.

Image credit: Pedestrian Mall View - Old Town Fort Collins, CO by Joe Wolf via Flickr

Finally, a Single Data Point for Measuring Your City’s Quality of Place

In a recent post for his urbanSCALE blog, TIP consultant, John Karras, addresses a common problem for economic developers: finding a reliable way to gauge a community’s quality of place. As John explains, “The internet is littered with hundreds of lists claiming to measure a city’s quality of life…and most of them are basically worthless.” To illustrate this bold statement, John pulls apart the methodology behind WalletHub’s rating for the Best & Worst Cities to Start a Career. The ranking caught John’s attention, because it listed TIP client Irving, Texas, as number one. What John discovered were the problems inherent in many lists—rating systems relying on conflicting and problematic data points. Fortunately for Irving’s case, WalletHub broke their rating into two separate scales: Professional Opportunities and Quality of Life. Their Quality of Life scale suffers from the same problems of many similar lists, but the Professional Opportunities scale, where Irving ranks number one among the 150 largest cities, is a legitimate measure of the city’s economic strength. So, if the numerous rankings floating around the web aren’t reliable, what metric does John suggest we use to measure quality of place? Surprisingly, a single data point is the best indicator. While John takes his time to make the big reveal, his analysis is worth the read.

Image credit: img_9319 by Steve Rainwater via Flickr

Not Just the 1%: Upper Middle Class Income Separation

The Brookings series, " The American Upper Middle Class," examines the many ways in which the upper middle class (the top fifth in income) is experiencing greater prosperity while the majority of the nation falls behind. In the latest installment, Brookings debunks the idea that it is only the wealthiest 1% who are pulling far ahead of lower income groups. Their data analysis reveals the upper middle class is also faring better than the lower-earning majority. This revelation not only complicates our perception of the oft-vilified 1%, it raises new questions about the nature and extent of inequality in America.

Image credit: Occupy Wall Street by Paul Stein via Flickr

TIP Completes Strategic Plan for Newport, RI

TIP recently completed an economic development strategic planning project for the Greater Newport, Rhode Island, region (including Newport County and Bristol County). Newport has a rich history and global brand as a sought after tourist destination, in addition to being recognized as a center for the military and defense industry. It is home to advanced defense companies like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, research and development assets like the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and national defense installations like the Naval War College. The region also has strong educational institutions and medical service providers. Yet despite these strengths, the region is not meeting its full potential. Recent data indicate that the area is suffering from stagnant population growth and a shrinking employment base. To overcome these challenges, TIP led a process that brought together civic and government leaders to establish the first public–private partnership focused on economic development in the State of Rhode Island. The resulting work plan is a detailed roadmap that will guide economic development efforts for the Newport County and Bristol County region over the next five years.

Image credit: Newport sailing 2009b by chensiyuan via Wikimedia Commons

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