University of Toledo and BGSU Host International Economic Development Speakers

Greater Toledo Business Advantage
December 2006

L-R: John Bryson and Mike Taylor of the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), Mike Carroll, director of the Center for Regional Development at BGSU, Neil Reid, director of the Urban Affairs Center at UT and Richard LeHeron of the University af Aukland (New Zealand).

University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center and Bowling Green State University's Center for Regional Development recently co-hosted international educators and economic development professionals in a presentation discussing the topics of local facilitation and regional collaboration.

The collaboration between the entities launches an international network of best practices that began locally with UT and BGSU.

Mike Taylor, from the University of Birmingham, shared his experience in Australia from both the public and private sectors. He discussed the concept of creating local laison committees consisting of academics and those in the ranks as being a preferred approach as opposed to consultant/bureaucracy led initiatives that "fell flat on their face" due to the fact that "bureaucracies are more interested in directing than implementing."

John Bryson of the University of Birmingham, discussed the benefits of establishing a collaborative "bottom-up" approach where learning was accelerated by firms interacting with non-competitor dissimilar firms.

Finally, Richard LeHeron of the University of Aukland concluded the session by discussing the perils of task forces that have a tendency to be "overly determined" for specific results and overlook regional members expertise and thus failing to gain the knowledge gained through collaboration.