In early December the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) convened a Working Group to develop a State-wide Strategic Plan and Implementation Plan for the state’s manufacturing sector. The following information describing the process is either taken directly or paraphrased slightly from OEDIT communications about that effort.
The Strategic Plan will be created by chief executives from businesses across the state (Steering Committee) and the Implementation Plan will be created by government, economic development organizations, academia, non-profits and trade associations (Tactical Team).
In mid-December the Steering Committee met for 3 hours with a facilitator to create the vision, mission statement, and the major goals for the core objectives in the Colorado Blueprint. A follow up meeting may be needed in January.
The Tactical Team met for 5 hours to identify the tactics and action items necessary to achieve each of the goals identified by the Steering Committee in order to create a 1, 2 and 3 year Implementation Plan.
The work of the Steering Committee and the Tactical Team will provide a basis for retaining and growing existing Colorado companies and increasing the global competitiveness of Colorado’s industries.
The six core objectives are included below.
Business Environment refers to the government-driven factors that affect a company’s operations, including:
[1] local, state, and federal government regulations;
[2] local, state, and federal tax environment (sales and use, property tax, tax exemptions, and incentives); and
[3] any other Colorado business environment issues, such as utility or labor costs.
Business Development refers to the retention and expansion of existing Colorado operations and the recruitment and attraction of business prospects that:
[1] consist of national and global companies that are primary competitors and/or collaborators within the industry and would deepen the industry if brought to Colorado;
[2] consist of national and global companies critical to the value chain, supply chain and/or distribution chain for the industry in Colorado and would increase competitiveness if brought to Colorado; and
[3] provide access to international markets for export of products or services provided by companies within the industry.
Business Funding refers to:
[1] the lending climate between banks and companies in the industry in Colorado;
[2] activity level of private investors (angel and venture) with companies in the industry in Colorado; and
[3] access to other types of financing, including foreign direct investment.
Industry Branding refers to:
[1] the reputation that the industry in Colorado has on a national and global level—what level of “awareness in the marketplace” does the industry posses;
[2] the awareness of the industry locally and the affect on the ability of companies to attract potential employees, entrepreneurs or investors;
[3] the reputation that the industry has among the general public and policy-makers in Colorado and the associated effect on policy.
Education & Workforce refers to:
[1] the current talent pool—availability of qualified and high quality talent to grow the companies in the industry;
[2] the development of the future talent pool—availability of high quality and dynamic post secondary programs (universities, colleges, applied technical colleges, workforce centers) preparing and/or retraining students and workers to participate in the industry workforce;
[3] entrepreneurial training focused on developing new ventures within the industry.
Innovation & Technology will be addressed uniquely by all industry, but in general refers to:
[1] research and development activity within the industry within Colorado at universities, private research labs, or federal labs;
[2] activity in technology transfer and commercialization of products within the industry in Colorado and associated entrepreneurial activity;
[3] the impact of technology on increasing productivity of companies within the industry in Colorado.
Updates will be available on the OEDIT website.
©Copyright 2011 by CBER.