On any continent, regional sustainability depends on getting next-generation commerce in place and next generation commerce needs to have next-generation infrastructure as a platform to build upon.
It doesn’t matter what city or state politicians you talk to, everyone wants to create jobs and a better economic environment for their constituents. Good jobs create a good economy that can grow and diversify.
Before you have good jobs that solidify the economy, you must have an infrastructure that can support all these new businesses.
Moving away from single-focus economies
Depending on what city or region you are looking at, there is a difference in what is good for the regional economy and what has lost its impact.
In the United States, many cities grew up with a single-focus industrial base and some of those cities have paid the price as far as losing their economic stability throughout the years. Some cities are in a steep decline because they did not diversify or get synergistic businesses to locate within their area.
If we take a look at two cities, Detroit (The Motor City) and Seattle (at one time, the Jet City), we can see how one never got beyond one industry and the other diversified to a point of having several different industries within its economic base.
Detroit was, and still is, heavily focused in the automobile industry and its wealth as well as its regional economic health has been dependent on car manufacturers and their related suppliers.
They did not look into the future and get any synergistic industry to locate there which would have added some diversity to their economy. Detroit is in dire need of new development and a new major direction for expanding their economy as well as their industrial base.
On the other hand, Seattle, which was always looked at as the headquarters for Boeing, had the same problem years ago and was viewed as a “single industry town”. They diversified and were fortunate to get Microsoft’s headquarters nearby in Redmond. By having Microsoft close by as well as Boeing’s plants, along with some smaller Fortune 500 corporate headquarters like, Amazon, Starbuck’s and Nordstrom’s, the region is very solid when it comes to their economy.
Seattle also became more important when its port started getting most of the Japanese cars coming into the United States for distribution. This has also added to Seattle’s importance in the national economy by utilising the layers of its infrastructure: its port as well as its connecting rail lines.
What to emphasise for the future?
Many cities and metropolitan areas are looking at re-inventing themselves as industries and market sectors evolve. This means rebuilding and developing new infrastructure to provide the correct platform for commerce to support the regional economic theme that will attract new organisations into the region.
Some cities like to have a theme or specific focus, but that can sometimes backfire. For example, New York is viewed as the financial capital of the United States although other cities have large segments of financial districts. New York was also viewed as the financial capital of the world, but now it seems London is overshadowing them depending on who you talk to. New York is still diversified enough to have a vibrant economy.
Los Angeles was the “entertainment capital of the world” but now Las Vegas seems to use that label more exclusively. Las Vegas does a lot of promotion to keep that title out in the public’s eye.
In the Midwest, Cleveland, Ohio and its surrounding areas are trying to promote themselves as “the medical capital of the world”. They are even developing a major Medical Mart and Convention Center to support this new economic direction. They are trying to capitalise on the significant base of hospitals, research centers, schools and related manufacturers that they have within the region.
From
their website, the numbers are significant:
• More than 600 medical-related organizations including 60 hospitals
• 27 colleges and universities which house more than 20 academic programs in medical education
• Home to 12 of the top 18 medical device manufacturers in the nation
• 16 cardiovascular companies moved to the region in the past 2 years
• More than $835 million in venture funding for 90 companies since 2003
• Attracts more than $100 million annually in healthcare start-ups
• Over $35 billion impact on the local economy
• 67 per cent of capital investment goes to healthcare companies.
This focusing on one vertical industry seems to be working for Cleveland. The same area has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs and needed to re-invent itself.
At this time, what they should also be looking at is the infrastructure needed to support a world-class medical region. That means insuring broadband connectivity for communications and the transport of complex medical data including MRIs, X-Rays, and other related video imagery is all in place.
They should be looking at a combination of fiber optics as well as high-speed wireless infrastructure that would be beneficial in supporting all the institutions as well as their operations. With the research being done in the region, having high-speed connectivity to other research hospitals and universities is a must have, and not a hoped for. They won’t be considered world-class unless the infrastructure really supports the business.
Metropolitan regions have to re-evaluate what they need when it comes to infrastructure for the next century. Those that don’t will find themselves in a long demise. Those who do will be better positioned to attract and maintain new corporate facilities that create jobs and a stronger tax base.
CARLINI-ISM : What you build out today dictates what will be built next. Plan the supporting infrastructure ahead to create the correct platform for commerce.
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