Surrounding counties take regional approach to be a global success

Sunday, October 23, 2005

By MARIAN ACCARDI
Times Business Writer accardi@htimes.com

A new economic development initiative was launched late last year, designed to be a catalyst in helping the community be more competitive worldwide. And to explore ways to be a global success, organizers are using an approach that's caught on across the state and country - reaching across county lines to create a regional partnership.

The initiative, called "The North Alabama Region: A Globally Competitive Community (GC2)," takes in 14 North Alabama counties and Lincoln County in Tennessee. The effort is led by the North Alabama International Trade Association and the Port of Huntsville, which includes Huntsville International Airport.

"We have tremendous opportunity for growth in the international marketplace," said Rick Tucker, the airport's executive director. He points to a finding in a 2004 Southern Growth Policy Board report, "The Globally Competitive South (Under Construction)," that if Alabama businesses exported products at the national average for firms in all states, Alabama would gain more than 21,000 new jobs annually.

"How do you become more globally competitive? It becomes obvious that the region has to work together closely" to be a competitive player abroad.

The effort isn't just focused on trade, but on work force, education, infrastructure and cultural development - all the elements of economic development, said Anne Burkett, NAITA's executive director and director of planning and economic development for the Madison County Commission.

GC2's second regional meeting - Globally Competitive Community Summit - is Tuesday afternoon at the Four Points Sheraton, and about 500 mayors, state legislators, county commissioners, educators and work force development, tourism and business leaders across the region have been invited.

They will be asked to vote on what they believe are the critical issues that could make the region more competitive. Among issues identified at the first GC2 session in May, which drew about 100 business, education and community leaders, are establishing a regional vision, collaborating on work force development and strengthening infrastructure resources through expansion and regional planning.

The keynote speaker at Tuesday's summit will be Doug Henton, the president and founder of Collaborative Economics in California, who's recognized for his work in bringing industry, government, education and community leaders together for projects to improve regional competitiveness. Henton and his partners were instrumental in the startup and success of a regional initiative in the Silicon Valley.

"I think one of the goals is to come up with two or three issues that can be addressed on a regional basis" and to decide which groups should address them, said Burkett.

"I'm excited about the potential here" for the North Alabama initiative, Tucker said. "Working together toward a common goal, it could be powerful for the future."

GC2 was launched after a series of "Globally Positioning the South" forums held last year by the Southern Growth Policies Board in 25 cities, including Huntsville. The board later released the publication, "The Globally Competitive South (Under Construction)," which recommends that cities and states increase their exports, boost international education and build relationships with foreign communities at home and abroad.

Another effort in the state that encourages collaboration across traditional jurisdictional lines is the Regional Growth Alliance, which addresses regional issues in a 12-county area in central Alabama. The alliance is a partnership among the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and the nonprofit, citizen-driven Region 2020.

"As we become more competitive globally, it's important that we're pulling the same wagon," said Larry Watts, the executive director of the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. No one partner in the alliance can be as successful as all three partners can be "if they are sitting at the same table," he said.

"You are going to have individual priorities and interests," Watts said, "but there are common threads - air and water quality and transportation - that affect all of us."

Even Research Triangle Park, the world's largest research park, is engaging the poor, rural counties to the north in its overall strategic plan, said Carol Conway, deputy director of the Southern Growth Policy Board. A region can be much stronger when speaking with one voice, she said, whether its representatives are making a presentation to a foreign delegation, a state legislature or investors.