Devise Strategies

Strategies for regional economic and workforce development should be "SMART" - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and with a Timeline. Additionally, a region's strategy should account for a region's: infrastructure (including roads, buildings, and technology such as broadband); investment (availability of risk capital); and available talent.

In developing strategies that spur transformation, regions should focus on:

• Building innovation (through R & D and intellectual property formation)
• Bringing innovation to market
• Identifying new industries
• Developing new markets
• Creating new initiatives for capital creation.

Tools to assist you:

• Workforce³One Quick Start Action Planner - This self-assessment tool allows system stakeholders to analyze current strengths, and develop an action plan for advancing demand-driven principles. View a Quick Start Action Planner interactive tool.
• Asset Mapping Roadmap Guide - Find information about asset mapping, and the links to several asset mapping tools.
• Cooperate: A Practitioner's Guide for Effective Alignment of Regional Development and Higher Education - This guide is the result of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative, and the Council of Competitiveness.