Economic Leadership Must Come From the Broader Community

Economic Leadership Must Come From the Broader Community

Rhode Island’s economy continues to experience acute high unemployment and economic stagnation. Although many anxiously await the “economic recovery”, problems with Rhode Island’s competitive position, and continued national and global economic volatility do not warrant an optimistic view for a near-term turnaround. Even when and if the recovery comes, the question remains; will Rhode Island’s economy be any better off in terms of its capacity to be sustainable?

There is a need to advance a new culture that values open and collaborative approaches to devising innovative new ways to build sustainable economic health. In spite of the efforts of the state’s economic development organizations, these organizations are often the very impediment to creating innovative solutions. It can be argued that they are working in an old competitive paradigm. The focus is too often on narrowly focused and politically driven solutions that seem to change with each election cycle. There is a tendency to regurgitate old ideas in newly branded formats, and there seems to be an obsession with justifying their existence and protecting their income streams. It is unlikely that sustained, effective leadership can emerge from these traditional institutional approaches.

We need to look to the broader community if we are serious about devising innovative solutions to our economic development problems. Rhode Island should consider an open-sourced economic development model that would allow a diverse base of individuals and organizations to share their ideas and competitive competencies with a strong dose of community passion to bring about a better economic future for Rhode Island. This new dynamic process would be anchored with current and strategic information to assure relevancy and improve the quality of decision-making. The value proposition of this new effort is a shift to massive collaboration by tapping the collective intellect of citizens that seldom are invited to the table to share their thoughts and ideas. In a world where problems are becoming more complex, the skill level of problem solvers and policy makers must be more diverse. There needs to be a freshness and variety of perspectives, and a broader base of support to propel new initiatives forward. By democratizing the economic development process, Rhode Island can create a dynamic network that could help guide the economy to greater regional competitiveness and global relevance.

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We recommend development of an online crowdsourcing platform that would serve as the vehicle to engender a more engaging and robust level of discussion and facilitate “idea storming” on how to grow the economy in Rhode Island. We refer to this proposed initiative as RIsurgence. The venture would help create a new market for innovative solutions to our long-term economic woes and a means of measuring relative value of specific ideas and concepts. This tool would be self-directed by the community of interests that actively participate in the effort and could represent a powerful base of support to bridge the gap between just thinking about the problem, and actually doing something about it. This initiative would be the first of its kind in the United States. It offers the opportunity for Rhode Island to make a unique name for its self, and to establish a reputation for economic development innovation and leadership. More importantly, it offers the opportunity to create a new economic development culture in Rhode Island. The time is now to make a lasting difference.

Scott A. Gibbs is the President of The Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island and Marcel A. Valois is the Vice President of The Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island.