From the Desk of the Editor in Chief
When I began introducing myself to the economic development community during the past month as the new editor in chief of Business Facilities, I expected to hear a lot of pessimism. After all, times are tough. Economic indicators are pointing down, the cost of energy is skyrocketing, and the stability of the international financial system is—well, let’s not even go there.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that economic developers aren’t wasting time wringing their hands about the current downturn. They are too busy investing in the future.
The foundation for tomorrow’s growth is being built today, and not from yesterday’s brick-and-mortar blueprints but from dynamic and sustainable plans that will take us where we need to go, not where we already have been. Innovation is the watchword, incentives are creative and meaningful, and the competition between locations is fierce. Emerging high-tech clusters are transforming formerly barren economic zones into productive gardens of opportunity. You can chart the progress of this global evolution on the pages of this magazine and in our lively Business Facilities blog.
Whether it’s a huge semiconductor plant in Utah, an emerging biotech hub in Florida, an Air Force base in New York that has been reborn as a technology park, a fiber optic network in North Dakota, or a bold alternative energy strategy in Wales, nobody, it seems, is standing still.
The smart money isn’t sitting under a mattress. It is doubling down on redevelopment, new facilities, and expansion, bringing to life an astounding variety of innovative enterprises.
All systems are go. We are ready for liftoff.
Jack Rogers
jrogers@groupc.com
