Peer-to-peer lending has grown dramatically since the mid 2000s. Accessible through social media, peer-to-peer lending has become a common alternative financial resource for many small businesses. This presentation will discuss the growth of this practice and the types of firms engaged in it. The presentation will raise issues concerning the quality, conditions, and costs associated with these types of peer-to-peer loans.
 

Speaker

• Wesley Brooks, Director of Special Projects at The Center for Working Families and Green and Healthy Homes Initiative Coordinator for the City of Atlanta, will share practices from a series of programs and projects that involve workforce training and sustainable development.  Information about how local residents have been trained in remediation of lead based paint, asbestos, and other residential safety hazards and how this training has resulted in new skills, green jobs, and housing rehabilitation will be discussed. Dr. Sheri Davis-Faulkner, Georgia Tech Community Liaison with the Westside Community Alliance, will serve as moderator and discussant.

Press ‘play’ below to watch a video of the forum.

Wesley Brooks – People Power in Economic Development from Mike Parks on Vimeo.

Speakers

Alicia Robb, Kauffman Foundation

Jen Bonnett, Start-Up Chicks
 

Press ‘play’ below to watch a video of the forum.

Speakers

Tom Guevara, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Regional Affairs, EDA.

Dr. Eloisa Klementich, Director, Business Development in Atlanta

Moderator: Stephen Fleming, Vice President, Enterprise Innovation, Georgia Institute of Technology

This year’s group will bring the total number of graduate student participants in the summer intern program to 30. Now in its eighth year, the summer intern program has supported graduate student ideas to promote Georgia economic development in a range of topical areas, from biofuels and Hispanic business growth to nanotechnology and the expansion of the Brunswick port. Since the internship started in summer 2005, many of the students have graduated and found jobs in various industries. For example,

• Jonas Titus (2005 intern, Masters in City and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech), who worked with another intern, Phaedra Tucker, on the digital media industry, is working for the Texas Economic Development Council of Tyler, TX.
• Wenben Xiao (2005 intern, PhD in Public Policy in the Georgia State/Georgia Tech joint program) examined IPO’s in Georgia and is now a venture manager with the Shanghai Pudong Software Park Company in Shanghai, China.
• Mark Farmer (2006 intern, Masters in Public Policy at Georgia Tech) project was titled “”Creative Work in Savannah Georgia: Assessing the Technical and Artistic Climate in a Coastal City” and he is now the director of entrepreneurship and information services at the Gwinnett Chamber in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
• Miguel Granier (2006 intern, Masters in City and Regional Planning, Georgia Tech) studied Hispanic entrepreneurship and has himself become an entrepreneur by founding Invested Development, a Boston-based, impact-focused, seed-stage investment firm launched in July 2009.
• Alexa Stephens (2006 intern, Masters in City and Regional Planning and Public Policy, Georgia Tech) profiled the digital music industry in Georgia, served as a research analyst at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and is currently with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she works as an evaluation associate.
• Nathan Moon (2007 intern, PhD in History, Science, and Technology, Georgia Tech) researched telework and telecommuting programs within Atlanta’s private sector and is now working as a research scientist at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy at Georgia Tech.
• Patrick McKeon (2008 intern, Masters in Public Policy, Georgia Tech) researched nanotechnology opportunities for Georgia as an intern and is now a fiscal and policy analyst in the Delaware state government.
• Ashley Rivera (2008 intern, Masters in City and Regional Planning and Public Policy, Georgia Tech) examined the benefits of harbor expansion for the Port of Brunswick and is now a senior program specialist in local government services for the Atlanta Regional Commission.
• Jennifer Chirico (2009 intern, PhD in Public Policy, Georgia Tech) project report was titled “Waste Management Technologies: Potential for Sustainable Development in Georgia” and is now working as the executive director of the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM) at the University of Hawaii-Maui College.
• Rahul Jain (2009 intern, Masters in City and Regional Planning, Georgia Tech) examined green building trends in Georgia and created a database of green buildings for the state. Rahul is now a research associate in economic development and transportation at the Citizens Budget Commission in the Greater New York City area.

For 2012, the students and their projects are:

Shan Zhou, a student in the School of Public Policy, will examine the employment impacts of smart-grid policies and how to best position energy policies for long-term economic growth.  The research will apply input/output analysis to evaluate employment effects of five smart-grid policies in Georgia: interconnection standards, net metering rules, solar buy-back program, dynamic pricing initiatives, and smart meter program.

Zhou holds a B.S. in environmental sciences from Beijing Normal University and a master’s degree in environmental sciences, policy and management from a program jointly operated by Lund University, University of Manchester and Central European University. For the past two years, Zhou has been a graduate research assistant at Georgia Tech.

Also in the School of Public Policy, Lyndsey Nott intends to study characteristics of effective business tax credits that will enhance economic competitiveness in Georgia.  There is little data examining which of the nearly three dozen tax-credit incentives offered by the state are most effective, yet the Georgia Competitiveness Initiative advocates modifying and expanding the existing tax-credit program.  Via a comparative case study, this research will identify the most cost-effective tax credits and compare them with those of other states.

Nott earned a B.S. degree at the U.S. Military Academy and subsequently had duty assignments in Iraq and at Fort Carson, Colorado and Fort Hood, Texas.

Dan Cotter, a student in City and Regional Planning, will explore how integrating light Industry into mixed-use urban development could economically strengthen Georgia’s cities.  The project will identify, characterize, and classify certain light industrial uses, e.g., food manufacturing, life sciences enterprises, and other businesses compatible with walkable urbanism, and highlight best practices that make such mixed-use development possible.  In addition to policy and economic analysis, the effort will involve interviews with business owners, brokers, developers, architects and others.

Cotter holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the New College of Florida.  A LEED-Accredited Professional by the U.S. Green Building Council, he currently serves as a technical advisor to the Grove Park Community Land Trust.

Alison Pienta, also part of Georgia Tech’s City and Regional Planning program, proposes to examine how Atlanta is promoting human capital development and identify strategies the city could adopt to strengthen the local workforce.  Attracting, as well as retaining, businesses depends considerably on development of a skilled and capable local workforce.  The research will not only look at Atlanta’s efforts in this area but consider what has succeeded in other regions as well.

Pienta received a B.A. in sociology from Holy Cross, and, as an officer in the National Guard, served in Iraq and Kuwait.

The four interns were picked from 19 applicants.  The selection committee consisted of Dennis Chastain, Vice President, Community and Economic Development Georgia EMC; Mark Lytle, Director, Centers of Innovation, Georgia Department of Economic Development; and Pat Sims, Manager, Metro Community Development, Georgia Power Company.

STIP is a collaboration between Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  For more information on the intern program or STIP in general, contact Lynn Willingham (404/894-0730, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@mahgnilliw.nnyl).

The final forum of the spring term highlighted the re-energizing of manufacturing, and featured Dr. Ben Wang, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and executive director of the university’s Manufacturing Research Center (MaRC).

Several factors, he noted, account for manufacturing’s significance in our economy.  It produces 70 percent of U.S. exports and boasts a potent multiplier effect in employment—one manufacturing assembly job generates 10 jobs in the wider realm.  Also, two-thirds of U.S. scientists and engineers are employed in manufacturing.  And it reflects a high degree of innovation—90 percent of U.S. patents are related to manufacturing, he said.  All in all, it affects policy, defense, infrastructure, employment, and education, as well as technology.

Maintaining manufacturing’s strength and status is a major effort of Georgia Tech, Wang observed, which wants to create “a community of interdisciplinary experts passionate about driving innovations into manufacturing in order to solve grand challenges for the enhancement of the nation’s wealth, competitiveness and security.”  Doing so will “amplify Georgia Tech’s global reputation as the world leader in innovation-driven manufacturing,” he said.

Georgia Tech’s many academic units and research centers all tie into manufacturing in some fashion, ranging from robotics to nanotechnology to industrial design to public policy, Wang observed.  The university can further raise the visibility of manufacturing via colloquiums, global forums, workshops, and more student engagement.

The Obama administration’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), announced in June 2011, is designed to reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and create high-quality jobs, said Wang.  Its steering committee comprises six universities, including Georgia Tech, and a dozen CEOs.  It identified five “workstreams”: (1) advanced manufacturing technology development, (2) shared infrastructure and facilities, (3) policy, (4) education and workforce development, and (5) communication and outreach.  The AMP has held four regional meetings attracting hundreds of attendees, said Wang, adding that its top recommendations are to improve the business climate, secure the talent pipeline, and enable innovation.

Continuing on a broader dimension, Wang said the United States has been the “first mover” of many new technologies but has lost ground in the market, and industry has not fully captured payoffs from federal investments in research.  One response involves the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which is changing its focus, he said, and becoming more “innovation-centric.”

In regard to bridging the gap between academia and industry, he sketched out what he called “the collaboratory,” a collocation of academic, industry, and government experts that could team up to rapidly insert new technologies having a compelling business case.  Firms could collaborate on production scale-up and compete on product design and post-sale services.  He envisioned this concept providing a breeding ground for new ideas, a proving ground for new technologies, and a training ground for new leaders.

Looking ahead, Wang predicted ultra-lightweight engineered systems will become ubiquitous, appearing in everything from vehicles to infrastructure to sporting goods.  And he suggested the greatest improvements in performance and value ultimately will come from nanomaterials as manufacturing moves from the micro level to the nano level.

The event’s discussant was Chris Downing who heads the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) based in Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²).  Manufacturing, he said, is part of the university’s lifeblood; indeed, the school was established in 1885 to bolster Georgia’s manufacturing sector.  Today, GaMEP serves the state’s diverse industrial base in several crucial areas—from new product development to lean manufacturing to sustainability—and taps the expertise at MaRC, EI², the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and other campus-based resources.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum is presented each semester by Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Information Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of the university’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy. Free and open to the public, it brings together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy. For upcoming forums and videos and presentations from past forums go to the STIP website at stip.gatech.edu.

Innovation as Job 1 got another showcase Feb. 1^st at Georgia Tech’s Midtown campus with a presentation titled “Rethinking the SBIR Program.”  The Small Business Innovation Research program coordinated by the U.S. Small Business Administration, awards funds for proof of concept and for prototypes regarding novel technologies that meet the mission needs of diverse federal agencies.

The opening session of the spring semester’s innovation in economic development forum featured Charles W. Wessner, Ph.D., from the National Academies who began his remarks by noting that today’s “exciting times” demand innovation to address challenges such as climate change, global health issues, and new sources of energy.  Many countries such as Finland, Sweden, and France are investing substantial resources to create and attract industries, he said, adding that China, India, and South Korea lead the United States in this respect.  China aims to be an “innovation-driven economy” by 2020, and Singapore wants to be Asia’s top financial and high-tech hub, said Wessner.

Many of their strategies draw from successful U.S. policies and programs, but federal R&D investment as a percentage of GDP has been declining since the 1980s, according to Wessner, who pointed out that 90 percent of DoD spending goes to weapons development.  The U.S. exhibits complacency about its global competitive position and pays limited attention to the composition of the economy, including trade and investment policy.  We focus on current consumption and fail to pay sufficient attention to commercialization.

Small firms are key to bringing technology to market and to creating jobs, said Wessner, but he countered conventional wisdom about markets.  For example, capital is necessary to transform ideas into products, but “new” doesn’t always attract financial support.  Also, venture capitalists have limited information about new firms, show “herding” tendencies, and are moving to later-stage investments.  Seed-stage investments, he said, dropped by 48 percent in 2011.  Often, the initial money does not come from venture capitalists.

There is a role for government here, and one of the things that works is the SBIR program, according to
Wessner.  Established in 1982, it “provides money to jump-start innovation.”   The year 2010 saw more than 4,200 Phase 1 awards and 1,800 Phase 2 awards, he said, comparing that to 363 seed-stage venture deals in 2010.  Each year, one-third of the awards in the program go to new companies.

Among SBIR’s features are a growing budget, large scale, and operating in a decentralized, adaptive fashion.  An SBIR award, he added, “is a certification of quality”—in other words, it’s a good idea or technology—for consideration by other investors.  In addition, SBIR provides options for public procurement, and it links universities with industry and helps create spin-out firms, he said.  New enterprises shouldn’t quit if they don’t receive an award via their first application.  “Some try six or seven times before they get it,” he said.

The National Academies recently studied the SBIR program (more on the report), surveying 7,000 projects and conducting some 100 case studies.  The research, Wessner said, concluded that SBIR “is sound in concept and effective in practice.”  At an annual $2.5 billion, it’s the largest U.S. innovation partnership undertaking.  It leads to high-quality jobs; new products, patents, and licenses; and government mission success, he said, noting that SBIR has contributed to the success of companies such as QualComm, ATMI, Martek, and Luna.

The Academies recommended to Congress that the program be maintained and its flexibility preserved, Wessner said.  Among other things, it also suggested drawing on best practices, focusing on Phase 2 transition, adjusting award sizes for inflation, and shortening the cycle time from application to award.  Congressional reauthorization extends SBIR for six years (to 2017) and increases standard award sizes to $150,000 for Phase 1 and $1 million for Phase 2.  It also provides for shorter cycle times, sequential awards from different federal agencies, more technical assistance for small businesses, and incentives for DoD commercialization.

The evaluation continues, noted Wessner.  His organization is (1) doing follow-up surveys, (2) assessing efficacy of post-award commercialization programs, (3) exploring strategies to encourage minority participation, (4) studying university-industry partnering, (5) identifying new approaches to streamlining the application and grant/contract award processes, and (6) reviewing the role of complementary state and federal programs.  And innovation must continue, too, he advised.  “It’s not a hobby; it is core.”

EI2′s Julie Collins served as discussant at the session.  She heads up the seven-year-old SBIR assistance program for Georgia.  Last year, the program, supported by state and federal funds, helped 140 companies/individuals.  More than $9 million in Phase 1 and 2 awards went to Georgia firms that received assistance.  According to Collins, most firms her program works with are university-based spinoffs.

The program, she notes, has evolved through the years, with the current focus on minority-owned, women-owned, and non-metro Atlanta companies.  To reach a broader audience and provide consistent assistance, her group created “SBIR circles.”  Open to the public, these weekly events address a different topic each session, including the basics of applying for SBIR funding.

To learn more about SBIR in Georgia, contact Julie Collins at gro.cdtanull@eiluj.  Interested parties also may subscribe to the group’s newsletter at http://eepurl.com/hX1GQ.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum is presented each semester by Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Information Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of the university’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  Free and open to the public, it brings together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  For upcoming forums and videos and presentations from past forums go to the STIP website at stip.gatech.edu.

In an introduction, Jan Youtie from Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and a co-director of the intern program, noted, “New and good ideas are a vital part of economic development.  The STIP interns do that.”

Mobile augmented reality

Nettrice Gaskins, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Communication and Culture, investigated the emergence of a new field called mobile augmented reality (AR)—the overlaying of digital information onto the real world via a camera phone or other camera-enabled mobile device.  Mobile AR increases the level of engagement among users (employees and customers), she said, noting that consumers can see, in 3-DE, color, design and other features of a product before buying it.  The market is expected to grow in the next three to five years, she reported, adding that global revenues could reach $1.5 billion by 2015.  The total mobile AR market will be split into seven categories, 75 percent of which are games, location-based services and enterprise applications.  And the applications are many, including multimedia, health and education, she said.

Metro Atlanta houses nine AR companies, which represent a pre-emerging cluster stage, according to Gaskins.  “A critical mass is building quickly in New York City but more slowly in Atlanta,” she said.  Still, Atlanta is well-positioned to support AR startups, she said, adding that investors must become more aware of AR and the field needs to get on “government radar.”  She recommended (1) increasing networking opportunities, (2) encouraging collaborations, (3) recognizing new policy tools, and (4) integrating local content.

Energy efficiency and conservation block grants

A doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, Ben Deitchman, examined the federally funded energy efficiency and conservation block grant program in Georgia, part of an effort to bring energy efficiency activities to the local level with the aim of reducing emissions, cutting total energy use and creating/retaining jobs.  The economic development angle entails investing in green jobs and growing the energy services industries.

Funds have been allocated across the state, chiefly in metro Atlanta and the larger counties, with the three greatest allotments going toward energy audits and retrofits, he said, followed by street lighting, then roofing.  The bulk of the grant money has gone to schools and government office buildings.  In Georgia, he said, only 74 percent of recipients reported job creation, 57 percent reported business development, and 19 percent reported household savings.  Low-cost policy options for sustaining the work beyond the grant include (1) creating local energy committees, (2) establishing revolving loan funds and tax credits, and (3) continuing education, training and certification.  Working along these lines, he suggested, could help meet the Georgia Energy Challenge—reducing energy consumption 15 percent by 2020.

Innovation in health information technology

Deji Fajebe, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, looked at patent activity related to health information technology (HIT) and how well Georgia can take advantage of patents generated here to foster growth in this industry.  In his study, patent counts represented a measure of HIT innovation, and a significant impetus was federal stimulus funding via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of $19 billion devoted nationally to HIT.

He examined several domains of innovation, which included bar coding and RFID, electronic health records, handheld devices, clinical decision support, claims/billing, and picture archiving and communication systems. Over his study period, most patent activity occurred in clinical decision support, then claims/billing, then electronic health records.  The number of published patents, he noted, significantly increased in the wake of ARRA dollars.  The biggest clusters of inventors and assignees (firms marketing the items) occurred in the Northeast and on the West Coast, he said, adding that most inventions in HIT are U.S.-owned, and even more are commercialized by U.S. small and midsize companies. Georgia, said Fajebe, has a presence on the inventor side but is weak on the assignee side, that is, it lags behind in commercialization of HIT and must come up with policies to capture HIT innovation and foster growth.

Urban agriculture

Working on a master’s degree in city and regional planning at Georgia Tech, Mary Richardson researched urban agriculture and identified opportunities for and barriers to it in Atlanta.   She identified several models—such as community gardens, urban agriculture businesses, school gardens—as well as numerous benefits, including blight remediation, energy savings, improved water quality, green jobs and improved access to food.  Her work drew on case studies from Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta.

Challenges to full blossoming of urban agriculture include zoning matters, water cost/access, public awareness, land acquisition, few trained personnel and lack of an appropriate governing body.  But on the plus side, she observed that the Atlanta Land Bank has identified 90 properties for urban agriculture, markets and demand are growing, and Atlanta has three successful startups and the city has issued two urban agriculture-related RFPs.  Richardson’s study included a vacant-land survey, and according to her Atlanta has 2,000-plus acres in some seven dozen suitable parcels.  Among her recommendations: (1) create a Food Policy Council, (2) develop suitable ordinances for land acquisition, (3) include food system planning into the city’s planning, and (4) include urban agriculture programs in youth outreach and job training.  Public-private partnerships and grants for pilot programs could also nourish the concept.

Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) launched the intern program in 2005, and since that time 25 graduate students have conducted economic development research under it. Topics have ranged from Hispanic enterprises and biofuels to telecommuting and energy planning.  Each year, the program receives 20 or so proposals from which a committee reviews and selects three or four.  The interns spend the summer conducting their research projects and receiving mentoring from STIP faculty.  This year the committee comprised Greg Torre from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Pat Sims from Georgia Power Company and Dennis Chastain from Georgia EMC.

The interns’ full reports are available from the menu under Internship Program on this website. For more information about the internships, contact Jan Youtie(ude.hcetag.noitavonninull@eituoy.naj, 404/894-6111. STIP is a collaboration of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.

During this time of high unemployment, research shows that Americans increasingly are turning to self-employment, a shift that deserves support from the local to the national level, according to the speaker at Georgia Tech’s third fall-semester innovation forum on November 2, 2011.

Anil Rupasingha, a research economist with the Federal Reserve Bank Atlanta (FRBA), said the nation is currently 6.8 million jobs below where it was when the recession began, and adding to that 4.8 million jobs the country should have gained produces an 11.1 million job shortfall.  Self-employment has surged over the last decade and it will continue to do so, he said.  Citing an August 2011 issue of Business Week, he observed that 31 percent of the U.S. labor force is self-employed, and according to the federal Bureau of Labor statistics, by 2019 the self-employed will account for 40 percent of all U.S. workers.

Rural counties have higher rates of self-employment than do their urban counterparts, according to Rupasingha, adding that his research using county-level data “found a statistically significant relationship between self-employment and county economic performance measures” (e.g., growth in income and employment).  The results, he indicated, “provide empirical support for the pro-small business prescription to accelerate local economic and employment growth and reduce county-wide poverty.”

He suggested several policy and practice opportunities: (1) more technical assistance and better credit access to boost productivity, (2) access to general business services, (3) programs that stimulate a community’s entrepreneurial culture, (4) assistance with health care and taxation issues, and (5) further research on what the self-employed need to succeed.  The U.S. Department of Labor, he said, has a voluntary program to encourage the unemployed to start businesses wherein states pay a self-employed allowance instead of regular unemployment insurance benefits, which participants can receive weekly while starting their enterprises.  Seven states have such programs, he added, but none in the Southeast.

The November session differed from the usual format.  During the presentation, FRBA’s Karen Leone De Nie broke in occasionally to survey attendees, asking questions such as area they cover (e.g., metro, state, rural, urban), occupation (e.g., planner, economic developer, researcher), employment conditions, barriers to employment (e.g., no jobs, mismatch of skills, drug abuse).   Attendees clicked an appropriate multiple-choice answer on hand-held devices and the percentages quickly appeared on screens behind the podium. It was part of FRBA’s effort to collect information about workforce development and chronic unemployment issues.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum is presented each semester by Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Information Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of the university’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  Free and open to the public, it brings together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  For upcoming forums and videos and presentations from past forums go to the STIP website at stip.gatech.edu.

It’s said that all politics are local, and certainly, to some extent, the same can hold true for economic development—the community level is where it has its roots.  A compelling example of that formed the thrust of the second innovation forum in early October with discussion of the Evergreen Co-op Initiative, a job-creation strategy under way in Ohio that may find application in Atlanta.

Ted Howard, Steven A. Minter Fellow for Social Justice at the Cleveland Foundation, noted that Cleveland had seen its population shrink with regional decline of auto manufacturing, leaving some 60 percent of households unemployed or underemployed.  Further, economic development models hit a dead end, he said, noting that the recent real estate meltdown wiped out 25 years of effort.  Training programs produced skilled workers, but there were no jobs awaiting them because companies had closed or moved.  With buy-in from city government and anchor institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and VA Medical Center, the Evergreen Co-op Initiative was launched in 2009 to address generational poverty, to create jobs, to narrow the wealth gap and to try a different model for economic growth, one that stands on community building and has leadership from poor neighborhoods as well as large companies.  “It’s a laboratory for a new kind of economic development,” said Howard.

The Evergreen Co-op Initiative, which focuses on the city’s Greater University Circle (GUC) district, was inspired by a model in Mondragon, Spain, a community that has seen much success in job/business creation, sales and investment, according to Howard, adding that several Cleveland civic leaders visited Mondragon to see the achievement first-hand.

Evergreen companies are owned by their workers, who reside in the GUC, and they are cost-competitive, said Howard.  “For this to work, it must be sustainable in the market,” he noted.  He concedes it remains a work-in-progress.  “We’re learning new things every day.”

The first enterprise was the Evergreen Co-op Laundry designed to serve the needs of area health care facilities, ranging from hospitals to clinics to nursing homes.  Another, Green City Growers, is an enclosed, 4.7-acre hydroponic greenhouse producing lettuce for local consumption.  A third, Ohio Solar, serves anchor institutions and weatherizes area homes.  Other possibilities include printing, recycling and data collection enterprises.  Workers earn a decent wage and receive health benefits, and all companies contribute a percentage of their profits to a revolving loan fund that helps new firms get started.  Emphasis is on “green” practices.

Long-term, said Howard, the effort would like to create 5,000 jobs, firmly anchor local capital, promote asset accumulation, stabilize neighborhoods and develop a replicable model for national impact.

The session’s discussant, Alicia Philipp, president of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, reported that a year-and-a-half ago more than a dozen of her colleagues visited Cleveland to see what elements of the Evergreen Co-op might work here.  Subsequent discussions with representatives of Emory University, Piedmont Health Care and other large institutions, as well as entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and community leaders, elicited “a resoundingly positive response.”  Neighborhood stability is a very important factor, she added.  Atlanta doesn’t have the same geographical factors as Cleveland, said Phillipps, but it does have expertise in workforce development, an entrepreneurial spirit and available land.  “We can make this happen in Atlanta,” she said.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum is presented each semester by Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Information Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of the university’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  Free and open to the public, it brings together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  For upcoming forums and videos and presentations from past forums go to the STIP website at stip.gatech.edu.

The Great Recession represented more than $10 trillion in real estate value lost and millions of people losing jobs and homes, according to a recent speaker at Georgia Tech’s midtown campus.  It also generated “an $11.4 trillion rescue program that saved Wall Street and paper assets, but what about physical assets and Main Street?” asked researcher Kevin Caravati in launching the fall term’s Innovations in Economic Development Forum on Sept. 7, 2011.  This year’s theme is rebalancing economic development.

His presentation involved a nationwide public-private initiative called “Red Fields to Green Fields” launched in 2009 and intended to transform overleveraged, misdeveloped properties such as failing malls and vacant buildings into productive turf in the form of parks, trails, urban agriculture and other green space.  A senior researcher at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Caravati noted “there’s $100 billion in such real estate out there,” adding that it has negative value civically, environmentally and economically.

Metro Atlanta, he observed, has too much residential, commercial, and industrial real estate, and noted that real estate transaction volumes are down 95 percent, which has a huge impact on the economy.  Parks and trails can boost real estate values and return liquidity to banks, he said, adding that the “reconstruction” involved in morphing red fields to green could create 70,000 jobs plus foster better watershed protection and land preservation.

Many opportunities exist, both inside and outside the Perimeter—the 2,850 acres inside would equal 15 Piedmont Parks, he said.  Three possibilities, according to Caravati, are a 1,000-acre Fort McPherson-Honor Farm Corridor, the 36-mile Peachtree Creek Green Belt, and some 400 properties in distressed Atlanta neighborhoods such as Pittsburgh and Mechanicsville. As it stands, parkland covers less than 5 percent of Atlanta’s total area (the U.S. average is 8.6 percent), and the city ranks 57^th nationally in acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, almost one-third the national average.  Outside the Perimeter, he said are nearly 22,000 acres of vacant land listed at $154,000 per acre.

To date, the Georgia Tech-led initiative has worked with 11 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Chicago to analyze impacts of converting their red fields to green fields.  Partners include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Trust of Public Land, and various local community development organizations.

A related effort, he noted, is the federal Build Act, which would establish an American Infrastructure Financing Authority with initial funding of $10 billion for transportation, energy, and water infrastructure and provide low-cost loans to attract private capital.

The session’s discussant was Christopher Norman, executive director of the Fulton County/Atlanta Land Bank Authority established in 1991. Land banking, he said, is a tool for converting abandoned or foreclosed property to productive use, that is, promoting housing and generating business and jobs.  It does not have eminent domain or taxing authority, but does step in where the market cannot or will not work.  Land banks, he said, can acquire titles and manage, alter, insure, sell, lease, or trade property.  There are nearly five dozen land banks nationwide, 10 in Georgia.

A main goal of his organization, he said, is to extinguish past-due tax liens from foreclosed property in Atlanta and Fulton County.  Among its programs are: community land trust, public-private development partnerships, tax abatement, greenspace assemblage, and land banking depository.  A tentative one involves community gardening, which, he said, represents an alternative means of property management and improved accessibility of fresh produce for local neighborhoods.

For further information on the above, contact Kevin Caravati at ude.hcetag.irtgnull@itavarac.nivek and Christopher Norman at gro.knabdnalaccfnull@namronc.

The innovations in Economic Development Forum is presented each semester by Georgia Tech’s program in Science, Technology and Information Policy (STIP) a joint initiative of the university’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy. Free and open to the public, it brings together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  For upcoming forums and videos and presentations of past forums go to the STIP website at stip.gatech.edu.

Communities that rely on manufacturing must find alternatives for economic sustenance and growth when those industries disappear.  At this semester’s third and final innovation forum on April 6^th, Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing Inc. (RSI), discussed how his firm helps locales do just that.

It’s called domestic sourcing and it aims to replace offshore outsourcing—in his company’s case, information technology (IT) support—with competitive services in non-urban areas.  It can work, he said, due to several factors, among them: continuing high unemployment, a desire to grow and retain jobs locally, a devalued dollar, high inflation rates in countries such as India and less discrepancy in salaries between that nation and the United States.  RSI, he said, offers lower cost and closer proximity to clients, time zone and language advantages, superior domain knowledge, and a high quality of work

Also significant is customer satisfaction.  According to Hamilton, some 50 percent of firms are not satisfied with outsourcing despite spending millions of dollars on it.  He pointed to a 2009 study that reflected more customer satisfaction with domestic providers than international ones.

RSI started in Jonesboro, Ark., and experienced considerable growth over the past two years.  It recently launched a new operations center in Augusta, Ga., which plans to hire 100 employees—mostly programmers and software developers—over the next couple of years.  The firm, he said, plans to eventually establish 30 such centers across the country, each employing 100 workers and continuing to serve Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller firms.

For locations, he looks at smaller cities at least a couple of hours from major urban centers, places with a stable populace, excellent quality of life, and good educational resources.  RSI doesn’t “pull people off tractors” and turn them into IT workers; rather, it seeks the well-educated who want to reside/remain in non-urban communities.  These are skilled workers who only need confidence to compete regionally and internationally, he said. 

He said his company may pay nearly twice the basic labor cost but Indian IT firms often run greater tabs by adding off-site expertise to a project at higher rates.  He added that RSI provides a high level of critical thinking and staff who ask questions and collaborate closely with a client’s team in what’s called agile development.

What does this mean for economic developers?  “A great entrepreneurial opportunity exists,” said Hamilton, estimating that 1 million jobs could be created by domestic sourcing over the next decade.  Economic developers need to think of how they can reposition their communities for it, he said, adding that practitioners and educators must better prepare their residents for the Internet economy, for example, by addressing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) issues.  Also, they might consider molding educational offerings to what firms want.  A well-educated workforce is vital to attracting firms, he said. 

This session concluded a year-long focus on job creation during economic recovery.  Previous themes included innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainable growth, and surviving the recession. 

For the past seven years, the Innovations in Economic Development Forum has brought together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Free and open to the public, it is presented each academic term by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP)–a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy–and co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Watch for the fall series beginning in September 2011.  For more information on the forums or STIP, contact Lynn Willingham (404/894-0730, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@mahgnilliw.nnyl).

For 2011, the four students and their topics are:

Mary Richardson, a master’s degree student in City and Regional Planning, proposes to examine vacant public and private land in Atlanta to determine, through remediation and reuse, a suitable urban agriculture program and policy for the city.  Such an effort could reduce the supply of vacant, blighted land while creating new opportunities for entrepreneurial small farmers.  An increase in farm sales can translate into jobs and revenues, and successful urban agriculture can improve environments and public health, and foster neighborhood stability and eco-tourism.  Among other things, her research will involve GIS mapping, zoning policies, land bank programs, and funding strategies.

In addition to her academic work Richardson has interned at HNTB’s transportation department where she has conducted research and analysis on the downtown multi-modal transit station, the Northwest Georgia Corridor transit feeder system, and the Georgia Department of Transportation’s high-speed rail project.  She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of New Orleans.

A second-year doctoral student in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Science and Technology, Ayodeji Fajebe intends to study using intellectual property to close the innovation gap between the information technology and life sciences industries in Georgia.  He will utilize bibliometric analysis of patent filings and patents awarded in the two industries over the past 10 years to better understand how innovative they are.  The state has identified life sciences as an important sector to grow its economy, but IT dominates the economic landscape.  The research could illustrate potential in the life sciences and help identify new opportunities, strategic collaborations and spillover markets that may exist between the two sectors.

Fajebe holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada.  He has been an instructor and a research assistant in various IT studies.

Nettrice Gaskins is a first-year Ph.D. student in the digital media program of the School of Literature, Communication and Culture.  Her project will investigate the feasibility of augmented reality and game-based STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning toolkit development in K-12 and higher education in Georgia; it also will identify Georgia’s companies, foundations, and institutions that can respond to trends in this area of education innovation.  Primary data will come from a survey of members of the Game Developers Association, secondary data from such sources as STEM-related academic and workforce performance reports.

A frequent blogger and writer about digital media, Gaskins holds a B.F.A. in computer graphics from the Pratt Institute and an M.F.A. in art and technology studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  She has worked as a college instructor and a director of multimedia/broadband programs in the Boston, Mass., area.

Benjamin Deitchman, a doctoral student in the School of Public Policy, will explore the policy and program characteristics of effective and sustainable federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants in Georgia made under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  These grants have funded activities to reduce energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions and foster economic development. The project’s goal is to understand the policy landscape in such local energy and conservation initiatives and provide guidance to policymakers to continue “green” development efforts.  The research, among other things, will evaluate endeavors to date and identify best practices.

Deitchman earned his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University.  He is a former regional program coordinator for the Alexandria, Va.-based National Association of State Energy Officials.

The four interns were picked from 19 applications.  The selection committee comprised Pat Sims of Georgia Power Company, Greg Torre with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Dennis Chastain from Georgia EMC.

STIP is a collaboration between Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  For more information on the intern program or STIP in general, contact Lynn Willingham (404/894-0730, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@mahgnilliw.nnyl).

What’s the big deal with small businesses?  Small is, well, small, is it not?  But large numbers are associated with these companies.  According to estimates by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses (under 500 employees) represent 99.7 percent of all U.S. employer firms, employ about half of all private-sector employees, and, over the past 17 years, have generated more than 65 percent of net new jobs.  In other words, small business is a big engine.

That’s not to say they were spared by the recent recession.  Numbers good and gloomy have resulted from the lingering downturn.  Appropriately, the spring semester innovation forum series began Feb. 2 with a presentation by Brian Headd, an economist with U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.  As with last fall’s series, this term’s theme involves job creation during economic recovery, and Headd discussed facts and figures behind the growth and demise of these enterprises.

Regarding jobs, companies with 500 or more employees account for 34.8 percent of jobs, those with 20 to 499 workers account for 42.8 percent, and firms under 20 employees represent 22.4 percent; also, the number of single-person businesses is rising.  Twenty percent of small businesses are seasonal.

Regarding survival, he said that five years after establishment, half of small firms remain in business, and real growth occurs after the first 10 years.

But, noted Headd, the share of employment by small firms is decreasing, with the “Wal-Marts” taking a larger share.  Stagnation, that is businesses not expanding, he said, has a bigger effect on employment than do layoffs.  There’s a need to push the handful of businesses that have a good chance to grow, the “gazelles” or big employment expanders.  “And we need bigger startups, not necessarily more,” he said.

The word for economic developers is that the economy is coming back, and “now is the time to make an impact,” he said, adding that SBA has a new public-private microlending program for startups.  Also, he noted that reducing regulations can help, and federal procurement is very important to improving the fortunes of small businesses.  “Momentum for small businesses is going in the right direction,” he said.

The event was part of the biannual (each spring and fall semester) series of innovation forums in economic development co-sponsored by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, FRBA, and the Georgia Economic Developers Association and presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.  The forums, open and free to the public, bring together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  The videotaped sessions can be accessed via the forum section of the STIP Web site.

That undocumented workers have an economic impact in the United States is not in question, but recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (FRBA) indicates that at least some of the effects run counter to conventional wisdom and political posturing.

Speaking at the second of three Georgia Tech-hosted spring forums on post-recession job creation, Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, Ph.D., an FRBA community and economic development economist, said that a 1 percent increase in immigrants raises income per worker by 0.6 to 0.9 percent.  The positive impact on wages varies across sector and worker characteristics, she added.  Also, her research found no evidence of displacement of legal employees in companies hiring undocumented workers.  But, firms exploit the limited employment and grievance opportunities of undocumented workers to pay them lower wages.  Further, firms are more likely to hire undocumented workers if their competitors do so, and employing these illegal hires enhances company survival.

In her March 2^nd presentation in Midtown Atlanta, Dr. Quispe-Agnoli described several characteristics of undocumented workers.  They constitute a 3.7 percent share of the total U.S. labor force, and in Georgia 4.4 percent, or some 425,000 workers.  According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the growth rate of unauthorized immigrants in Georgia since 2000 has been 70 percent, one of the highest in the country; in the same span, California saw an 11 percent growth rate.

In addition, they are young—in 2009, 74 percent were 18 to 24.  Also, nearly half the undocumented households were couples with children, and some 73 percent of those children are U.S. citizens.  Countries of origin vary, but most (62 percent) come from Mexico, with another 5 percent from El Salvador and 4 percent from Guatemala.  Asia contributes, too—3 percent or less, respectively, arriving from the Philippines, South Korea, and China.

The political reaction has grown apace, she noted, at least measured by state legislation.  In 2005, there were 300 immigration-related bills introduced and 39 laws passed; last year those numbers were 1,400 and 208, respectively.  In Georgia as in many other states, the issue comes down to getting the crops in and the poultry processed versus identifying and weeding out illegal workers.

The event was part of the biannual (each spring and fall semester) series of innovation forums in economic development co-sponsored by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, FRBA, and the Georgia Economic Developers Association and presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.  The forums, open and free to the public, bring together faculty, researchers, students, economic developers, and policymakers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  The videotaped sessions can be accessed via the forum section of the STIP Web site.  The final spring 2011 forum, scheduled for April 6, will feature Monty Hamilton speaking on rural sourcing of IT jobs.  For more information, contact Lynn Willingham at 404-894-0730.

The “next economy,” according to a senior policy analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, will be led by metropolitan areas and be characterized by exports, low-carbon industry, and innovation.  This indicates high potential for green economic development and green jobs, he said.

Speaking at the fall term’s second innovation forum, Jonathan Rothwell, Ph.D., said demand currently exists, citing Pew Charitable Trusts research in 2007 that found 0.8 million green jobs nationwide and U.S. Commerce Department figures of the same year ranging from 1.8 million to 2.4 million.  Regarding potential, he pointed to a Brookings analysis for 1996-2009 indicating the annual growth of environmental export products stood at 8.7 percent while the yearly growth of all manufacturing exports was 2.7 percent.  He added that there’s already a considerable amount of capital investment and government involvement in the green economy.

Rothwell said Brookings has launched a detailed analysis of green employment and plans to issue a report titled “Metro Green” in spring 2011.   It will analyze trends at metro levels, which form local labor markets, and help leaders think about how to create jobs and prepare for a low-carbon future.  It will: (1) focus on economic development, occupations/wages, and exports; (2) cover more than 45 industry segments in the 100 largest U.S. cities for 2003-2009; and (3) perform a “bottom-up” count of green companies and jobs.  All data, said Rothwell, will be available on the Web. 

The green economy will be measured by jobs involved in adding value to green products, and the value added must have a green component, he said, an activity that “prevents, limits, minimizes, or corrects environmental damage to water, air, and soil, as well as problems related to waste, noise, and ecosystems.”

Nearly 25,000 Georgians now work in the state’s two largest green economy segments—green building products (14,189) and conservation and management (10,727), according to Rothwell.  Georgia also is seeing rapid growth in energy-efficient products, biofuels, solar energy, energy-efficient lighting, and green architecture.  Jobs in many of these industries more than doubled from 2003 to 2010, he said.  Metro Atlanta, he noted, claims clusters in smart grid systems and diverse energy-efficiency segments, such as water-efficient products and battery and energy storage technologies.

Rothwell described a “policy playbook” in which the federal government takes the lead on carbon pricing, investing in innovation, and regulating electricity markets, and state governments deal with renewable energy standards, regional electricity transmission, tax credits, and green-tech investments.  The metro role, he said, entails accelerating and supporting green-cluster growth, which means “understanding local clusters, supply chains, and associated advantages; developing green-cluster initiatives in the strongest emerging export sectors; and advocating for a supportive policy environment.”

The session’s discussant was Tom Croteau, director of the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Agribusiness, Food Processing, Energy and Logistics Team.  He pointed out that Georgia, with its 22 million acres of forestland, ranks number one nationally in commercial forest resources and number three in biomass resources.  In addition, several green-related organizations and initiatives already exist in the state, among them: the Georgia Center for Innovation for Energy, Georgia Smart Grid Initiative, Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, Electrification Coalition, and Marietta-based Green Tech Corridor whose goal is to build an “energy ecosystem.”

Held each fall and spring semester, the Innovations in Economic Development forum is presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  For more information on STIP, contact Robert Lann (404-894-3475, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@nnal.trebor).

The fall 2010 innovation forums, thematically labeled creating quality jobs during economic recovery, got off to a dynamic start Sept. 1 with Georgia Tech’s Dr. Nancey Green Leigh discussing “Jobs in the City and the Future of Industrial Districts.”  A professor in regional and city planning, she noted that industrial policy for Atlanta should encompass elements such as land and infrastructure, good jobs and a competent workforce, turning waste to profit, and viewing Atlanta as more than just a logistics hub—that is, making things as well as moving them.

Making things means manufacturing, and the U.S. manufacturing sector is the world’s largest, reported Dr. Leigh, accounting for more than half of our exports; and one in six U.S. jobs depends on it.  In Atlanta, she said, manufacturing’s monthly wages and employment are second only to wholesale trade.  But just as manufacturing jobs are disappearing nationally, the sector suffers locally, too—for example, during the period 2004-2009, Atlanta lost 800 acres or 12 percent of its industrial land, she said.

“Manufacturing is the most important sector for a strong national economy and should be a priority,” said Dr. Leigh.

A 2010 study by Dr. Leigh and a team of her graduate students examined Atlanta’s industrial landscape and proposed a plan for improving the sustainability of the local manufacturing sector.  As part of the effort, the city, she said, could designate three Planned Manufacturing Employment Districts (PMEDs)—Atlanta Industrial Park abutting I-285, Southside Industrial Park between I-75 and Jonesboro Road, and Metropolitan Parkway Industrial Corridor near Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and I-20.  An Atlanta Industrial Council (AIC) would have site-specific counselors for each PMED, and the council could acquire unused or tax-delinquent land to create an industrial land bank.  In addition, AIC would assist manufacturers and partner with local institutions to provide a better-trained workforce.  Council members would include labor groups, housing authorities, industrial developers, businesses, and universities.

According to Dr. Leigh, the plan suggests that AIC launch an educational campaign to change the image of local manufacturing, adopt appropriate urban design standards, tie economic development tools to industrial needs, target growth industries, and monitor key data indicators ranging from land availability to infrastructure issues to company relocation inquiries.  She also mentioned changing Atlanta’s strategic action plan to (1) amend zoning regulations to include various industrial uses and (2) require community benefits for any land use changes.

The study identified waste-to-profit activity—such as transforming old or discarded carpet into soundproofing material or cement reinforcement—as an emerging potential user of industrial property.  This ties into a growing national trend of sustainable local economic development, which enhances the value of people and places, maximizes local resources, and promotes equity, among other things, said Dr. Leigh.  She suggested that waste-to-profit networks might prove a promising strategy for Atlanta.  They can: (1) help with sustainable economic development, (2) connect production with consumption, (3) highlight that one company’s waste could be another’s raw materials, (4) promote neighborhood revitalization, and (5) reduce waste disposal.  Urban areas are the right scale for such networks, she added, given their diverse concentration of materials, capacity and support, and flexibility in forming linkages along supply chains and in smaller industrial districts.

Discussant Charles Whatley of the Atlanta Development Authority observed that historically Atlanta had little industrial land and showed little logic in attracting business.  In some areas, older manufacturing sites have seen residential neighborhoods grow up around them.  Also, today demands a better and different workforce–people may lack the skills for manufacturing jobs to come, and old industry may be irrelevant.  An industrial strategy is critical, he said.

Held each fall and spring semester, the Innovations in Economic Development forum is presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy.  For more information on STIP, contact Robert Lann (404-894-3475, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@nnal.trebor).

Dong Gu Choi, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, investigated costs and opportunities for reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation in Georgia.

He said that federal 2009 American Clean Energy Security Act mandates a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a figure soaring to 83 percent by 2050.  Georgia, he said, ranks ninth in electricity production–and has high greenhouse gas emissions, ranking eighth in CO2 releases, due to its many coal-fired plants—but has no plan for reducing these pollutants.

He also noted that the state presently lacks sufficient renewable resources to meet a renewable electricity standard.  However, his research indicates that with proper policy decisions, reduction in end-use demand, and a diverse energy portfolio relying less on coal Georgia could reach such goals.  He suggested further research to improve his model is warranted, particularly in areas of price elasticity, peak-load demand, and technology education.

Working on a master’s degree in the School of City and Regional Planning, Kia Ball explored challenges and opportunities for redeveloping foreclosed properties and retraining the local construction labor force in sustainable building practices.

The 2008 federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act provided for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) as a response to the burgeoning growth of vacant properties, and she noted how energy-efficient retrofits can maximize home values and help in job creation.  She looked at various cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, and found that some communities are using green standards even where not required.  Georgia, she observed, received $153 million in NSP’s Phase 1 to acquire and renovate some 1,600 units, with grantees ranging from Atlanta and Augusta to Savannah and Columbus.  All Atlanta projects, she added, must comply with the EarthCraft Renovation™ Worksheet administered via Southface, which also supplies mandatory one-day training for general contractors.

Among her conclusions: energy-efficient renovation of foreclosed property is occurring but is not well-documented; also, acquisition and cost issues are major obstacles to such progress.

Hsini Huang, a Ph.D. candidate in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, investigated regional characteristics that promote transition from invention to commercialization, comparing Georgia to other areas in the United States mainly via analysis of patent activity and firm location.

The study determined that collocating with high-tech small firms has no effect on commercialization.  Also, she said, regional context matters, but it plays differently on firms by size.  For example, the more SBIR awards in a region the higher the chance that patents owned by large and medium-size firms can be commercialized.  Also, small firms may be better off in a technologically specialized region.

Metro Atlanta was categorized as an entrepreneur-oriented innovation region given the high quality of its university resources.  Atlanta has many high-tech small-firm patents, she said, but cautioned that the city could be too diversified technologically.  A lack of critical mass, she suggested, may undercut the building of a stronger knowledge-sharing network.

Also a doctoral student in the School of Public Policy, Thema Monroe-White assessed key factors that motivate and inspire student entrepreneurs and determine to what extent their efforts may affect Georgia’s economic development.  This focus occurred in the wake of expanding interest in entrepreneurship across the country and in Georgia.

Her study identified the top entrepreneur institutions by state, then took a more detailed look at Georgia schools.  Georgia ranks fifth nationally in the number of institutions offering an entrepreneurship major—14 percent of the state’s higher-education entities do so, although many are rural and two-year colleges.  But majors aren’t the whole story, she pointed out– entrepreneurship-related pathways and interventions also encompass competitions, clubs, centers, and alumni.

Students, she said, recognize the dual value of strong academic and entrepreneurial careers but often are forced to choose between the two.  Still, she posited that the benefits of fostering student entrepreneurship in Georgia outweigh the costs.  Among her recommendations were increasing promotion of existing entrepreneurship programs and creating a “bridge” program that promotes entrepreneurship and academics.

Since 2005 nearly two dozen students have gone through the program, according to Robert Lann, STIP executive director, who notes that research topics have ranged from biofuels to Hispanic business corridors to the digital media industry in Georgia.  He adds that the interns’ presentations are available here.

A selection committee chose this year’s quartet from 18 applicants. The STIP committee comprised Pat Sims, Manager, Community Development-Metro, Georgia Power Company; Dennis Chastain, Vice President, Community and Economic Development, Georgia EMC; and Greg Torre, Division Director, Marketing and Communications, Georgia Department of Economic Development.  Open to graduate students throughout the University System of Georgia, the summer internships are designed to yield fresh perspectives on economic development in the state and provide students with a complete research experience—from conception to execution to presentation of results.  For more information, contact Robert Lann (404-894-3475, ude.hcetag.etavonninull@nnal.trebor).

Jennifer Chirico, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, compared traditional and advanced technologies for solid waste management and evaluated their potential to reduce waste, generate renewable energy, decrease landfill emissions, and promote sustainable economic development.  Conventional technologies included landfills, recycling, and incineration; more advanced methods encompassed gasification/pyrolysis, landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE), plasma arc gasification, and mechanical/biological treatment.

She noted that solid waste management began as a public health issue, subsequently becoming important, too, in terms of environment, economic development, and public policy.  Her research indicated that Georgia spends $782 million annually managing solid waste, with 91 percent of the waste going to landfills.  The state’s average in pounds per person per day is higher than the national average.  In general, Georgia lags behind in adopting newer technologies, but she noted that DeKalb County has a decade-old LFGTE facility and Toombs County a gasification/pyrolysis operation.  The most established and economical method for decreasing landfill emissions such as methane and generating renewable energy, Chirico said, is LFGTE, but the most sustainable and practical solution may be a combination of recycling, composting, and advanced technologies.

Her recommendations for Georgia included: (1) state incentives for renewable energy, (2) funding assistance for advanced technologies, (3) policies that focus on waste reduction, and (4) assistance with regulations and permits.

Another doctoral student in the School of Public Policy, Stephen Carley, investigated what aspects most influence a company’s survival during today’s manufacturing decline, with the idea that this knowledge could contribute to suitable strategies for rectifying the problem.  Using Georgia Tech’s 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey, he focused on the state’s traditional industries—food, textiles, and pulp and paper, which contribute half the state’s gross domestic product in manufacturing.

Via a survival regression model, he found that the variable appearing most prominently and exerting the strongest influence on survival was per capita research and development spending, which 43 states have as a higher priority than does Georgia.  Intellectual property, such as patent applications and published articles, also appeared significant to continuing operations.  Overall, companies engaging in innovation had much greater odds of survival than those that did not.

Given the prominence of R&D, Carley offered several recommendations, largely conducive to creating a favorable environment for R&D–among them: (1) financial incentives, such as restructuring the R&D tax credit; (2) recruiting R&D companies that could further develop Georgia’s R&D infrastructure; and (3) better identification of research carrying financial risk but scientific promise.

Rahul Jain, working on a dual master’s degree in city and regional planning and public policy, explored the adoption of green-building technologies in metro Atlanta and began development of Georgia’s first green-building database.

More than 38 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions are associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the built environment.  Green-building growth, he added, has resulted from demand for the cost efficiency and productivity that green features generate, as in areas of lighting, HVAC, water usage, and low emissions.  Indeed, governments and businesses both recognize the health and economic benefits of “going green,” he said.

His surveys, interviews, and data analysis identified location of green buildings and determined the features they contain.  Development of the green database reflects innovation on Georgia’s part and can help educate designers/builders.  It also will help attract buyers seeking green attributes, and green can be a tiebreaker in site location, according to Jain.  Recommendations covered diverse aspects.  One, create a stakeholder task force comprising engineers and architects.  Two, tap into American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to retrofit Georgia buildings.  Three, devise policies and incentives, such as ordinances and tax credits, to promote green features in the built environment.

A master’s student in Georgia Tech’s School of Economics, Shanshan Zou investigated foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia, including impact, trends, and opportunities.  Her research suggests that Georgia has comparative advantages in information and high-tech industries and that some rapidly emerging economies have strong ties here, which could create further possibilities for growth.

FDI in the United States, which creates jobs, increases exports, and incurs new research, totaled $2.3 million in 2008, with 71 percent coming from Europe, she noted.  Georgia ranks 11^th nationally in employment (173,600) related to FDI and 18^th in terms of capital value ($23.3 billion), close behind neighboring North Carolina.  The three developing economies with the greatest FDI potential for Georgia, she said, are China, Mexico, and India, all of which already have manufacturing and sales operations here.

She recommended that in addition to targeting high-tech industries and strengthening ties with growth leaders in developing countries that Georgia increase international awareness of the state’s FDI potential and focus on activities with the strongest potential for spillovers.

The intern selection committee comprised Dr. Cathryn Mitchell of Southeastern Technical College, Greg Torre of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Pat Sims from Georgia Power Company.  They picked the four interns from 19 applicants.?

Chu observed that it’s tougher now to get investment dollars, but some careful investors are making moves in specific sectors, and Rogers suggested that new investing may have to take a back seat to “keeping the toddlers going.”  Ruffner noted that laid-off scientists and engineers are taking a shot at starting tech-related firms, and the quality of proposals for Small Business Innovation Research grants is on the upswing.  The panelists pointed to Georgia’s comparatively low cost of doing business, extension of tax credits to the video game industry, and the proximity of research universities as advantages for startups, but felt state government could do more via taxes to attract R&D and investing and could provide some level of funding to jump-start entrepreneurial endeavors.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

In a wide-ranging presentation, he touched on integrating public and private funding streams, community governance, regional economic research, and strategic sector dimensions.  A multifaceted local economic development finance system, he said, could include not-for-profit organizations, community development corporations, community finance intermediaries, foundation investment groups, environmentally oriented investment funds, faith-based organizations, and community development financial institutions.

A new economy needs new assets, he observed.  It should be creativity-centered instead of product-centered, design-based rather than development-based, and emphasize human capacity over power and energy. 

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

Tennessee, he said, doesn’t “monetize” incentives, but “We invest in what matters to firms, such as public infrastructure, workforce training, and a business-friendly culture.”  The Department of Revenue, he added, “works hand in glove with the Department of Economic Development.”  In addition to helping fashion appropriate incentives, Farr noted that part of his job is to make sure firms understand all the pertinent details and regulations.   He handed out a “toolkit” describing Tennessee’s diverse incentives, tax credits, grant and loan programs, and technical and planning services.

He also touched on recent successes, such as attracting a Volkswagen plant, and noted that to promote venture capital funding the state created a $120 million tax credit for insurance companies who invest in Tennessee venture capital funds.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

Among other things, the recent recession highlighted the difficulty banks face balancing profit with risk, said Andre Anderson with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta at Georgia Tech’s first 2010 innovation forum in mid-January.   The forum’s theme continued that of last fall—surviving the recession.

Anderson, vice president of community bank supervision, noted the downturn’s impact on community banks in the Southeast was largely a function of real estate.  It’s common for banks to lend money for land development, such as shopping malls, manufacturing plants and housing tracts, and when real estate loses value, banks lose money.  Some banks, he said, were more liberally underwriting loans, thereby assuming more risk. Weaknesses included low or no down payments, less proof of collateral, and less analysis of mitigation strategies.  Now, he noted, despite bankers’ return to normal underwriting standards, demand for loans is down.  And on the other side, banks are saying many business startups lack a feasible business model and sufficient cash to service the debt incurred.

Community banks, observed Anderson, remain a vital part of the community fabric.  But, he added, one reason Georgia has witnessed a higher volume of bank closures is that the state has a large number of smaller banks—some 250—which resulted in wider lending, including the participatory sort where banks invested funds with other lenders, some of whom may not have properly evaluated the borrower.  If a deal went sour, the participating bank’s stake did, too.  Also, according to Anderson, Georgia’s real estate development growth outpaced its population base, resulting in more “rooftops,” such as houses and strip malls, than jobs and people to support the growth.  The economic recovery, he added, has the potential to be slow.

Joining Anderson for a question-and-answer period was Peggy McCormick, president of the Atlanta Development Authority.  The idle cranes around the city serve as a reminder of what’s not happening in Atlanta, she said, adding that most of the big projects have stopped, or at least paused.  “Vacant lots are bad for neighborhoods,” she observed.  But she also pointed to positive activity—some things, such as the Beltline, plans for Fort McPherson, and Atlanta Housing Authority efforts, are moving forward, and the airport remains a magnet.  In addition, home-buying involving both new and existing houses has picked up steam with federal credit backing.  “We’re focusing on what’s needed and what’s working,” she said.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

Recent years have witnessed foreclosures, mortgage meltdowns and related financial turmoil that have undermined community development.  But according to Dan Immergluck, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning, the crisis is slowing for a couple of reasons—(1) federal support of the mortgage markets and (2) loan modifications putting the brakes on foreclosures, he said. 

Immergluck, whose book Foreclosed: High-Risk Lending, Deregulation and the Undermining of America’s Mortgage Market was published last year by Cornell University Press, spoke at the February 2010 innovation forum presented by Georgia Tech at its Technology Square campus in Midtown Atlanta.  The forum’s theme echoed that of the January event—surviving the recession. 

Small banks, he noted, contributed to excessive lending, but demographics did not support the ongoing development.  Jobs come first, then housing, he said, adding that Atlanta did the reverse.  The metro area needs more housing options, including high-quality apartments, according to Immergluck.

An emerging concern, he said, is increased concentrations of low-cost rental units resulting from geographic concentration of foreclosures and low-quality rental properties combined with families plagued by poor credit and distressed finances who can only afford to reside in afflicted neighborhoods.  In effect, he suggested, this creates or expands zones of poverty.

Commercial real estate is experiencing high vacancies, plagued as it is with lower values and tighter credit standards.  Many properties have short-term loans, which can mean refinancing problems, said Immergluck.

Acquisition, construction and development (ADC) loans were 32 percent of metro Atlanta banks’ assets in 2007 compared with 12 percent in other metro areas, and the ADC delinquency rate for metro Atlanta was 22 percent in 2009.  Twenty-five banks failed in metro Atlanta, he said.

One positive thing, he observed, is that community development financial institutions (CDFIs)–typically nonprofit, mission-driven lenders–are seeing increased demand, as high as 57 percent in the third quarter of 2009.  The South counts many CDFIs, but they traditionally have had low monetary supplies; federal stimulus dollars are helping with that.

Concerning the future of mortgage markets, Immergluck said that some observers have suggested getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while others take a less drastic stance and feel the two giant lenders should perhaps be folded into the Federal Housing Administration or at least be prevented from lobbying.  Other issues include whether lenders can form consortiums and whether the regulatory structure should be changed.  Housing policy needs more discussion, he said, but we require better information to do so.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

Community development foundations are not simply dispensaries pumping greenbacks into needy locales.  They try to mend the social fabric, and their efforts in strengthening communities become even more crucial when the economy tanks, jobs and revenues dwindle, and foreclosures loom.  Indeed, they have multifaceted roles, noted Tony Cipollone, vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Civic Sites and Initiatives, at Georgia Tech’s March 10^th innovation in economic development forum, and they stand “at the critical nexus of people and place.” 

Among other things, they disseminate best practices, give voice to those affected by economic development, improve local schools, train residents, and hold developers accountable, he observed.  Via their endowments, they can help level the financial playing field–not only by means of traditional grants but also with equity investments, loan guarantees, bridge loans, and other funding mechanisms that can improve a neighborhood’s appeal and catalyze further investment.  And the latter is necessary.  Cipollone’s foundation has a $2.5 billion endowment—which sounds like a lot of money, he said, yet the sum could fund operations of New York City schools for only six months.

Successful endeavors are “partnership-driven,” Cipollone said, pointing to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s long-term, multimillion-dollar renewal efforts in Baltimore involving city and state government and Johns Hopkins University.  Leveraging the public sector is a must, he noted, adding that there’s a lot of potential for foundations in partnering with universities.

In Atlanta, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has been working in and with the Pittsburgh neighborhood and several other communities south of downtown Atlanta.  Its many partners include the Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association, the Center for Working Families, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and Emory University.  Casey owns 31 acres near the city’s proposed BeltLine, an area where it hopes to combine residential and retail activity.

Wherever it operates, the group’s overarching goal is to reduce the number of families and children left behind.  And the foundation, he added, wants to use Baltimore and Atlanta as models for social investment and community development elsewhere in the United States. 

Serving as the event’s commentator was Atiba Mbiwan, associate director of the Atlanta-based Zeist Foundation, dedicated to helping lower-income residents.  He pointed out that in the early 1990s the Edgewood neighborhood had become a focus for Zeist and that he had witnessed social investment at work in Baltimore via the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  He agreed foundations must seek external support, noting that it’s critical to get public-sector leaders to the table.

The Innovations in Economic Development Forum, offered each fall and spring semester, brings together faculty, other researchers, students, economic developers, and policy-makers to discuss leading-edge ideas and practices in economic development and innovation policy.  Presented by the program in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), a joint initiative of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and School of Public Policy, the forum is co-sponsored by the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.  Sessions are free and open to the public.  For more information, call Robert Lann at 404.894.3475  or e-mail ude.hcetag.etavonninull@stnevesrpc.

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