Cluster
Project
Action
Southwest has spent the last three years working on building
an environment driven by regional thinking and acting. The southwest,
though seen as a leader, is still very much in the infancy stages
of moving beyond the silos of operation we have grown so comfortable
with.
We
must continue our focus on what is driving our economy. Yes,
it is understood that our four leading economic drivers are
agriculture, energy, manufacturing and tourism but we must delve
deeper. Are there cross-linkages within these sectors, are their
challenges that are hindering their potential for sustainability
or expansion, and if so, is there something we as a region can
do to facility their future growth and prosperity.
To
compliment and extend the work that has been done thus far,
Action Southwest has now expanded its analysis of the region's
industry sectors by developing a Southwest regional economic
performance framework. In addition, it is looking to develop
a cluster-based regional competitiveness strategy.
This will involve an industry cluster analysis of the
region, a competitiveness strategy for each cluster, a set of
cross-cutting regional "flagship initiatives to enhance overall
regional advantage and a new organizational capacity to support
continuous improvement of the entire regional economy.
In
an effort to build awareness and support for such a large undertaking,
key stakeholders of two of the regions leading industries (manufacturing
and agriculture) were brought together to participate in a one
day workshop entitled "Competition and Collaboration -
Businesses Can Have Both".
The
workshop was attended by 65 regional stakeholders and provided
a forum for manufacturing and agriculture businesses and support
agencies to learn about cluster development with some of what
is produced in the Southwest and what is being done to add value
to it.
The
session was very well received and attendees voted that this
is definitely a strategy that should advance in the Southwest.
Current
Status: Proposals
have been circulated to secure funding to advance the project.
Partial funding has been secured, remaining funding is still
pending.
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