Private and public leadership groups across South Central Kansas have agreed it is time to work together to shape a next-generation action strategy to grow the regional economy.

Wichita State University, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce/GWEDC and the Wichita Downtown Development Corp. will join forces to work with regional companies and institutions to develop a regional, cluster-based strategy for economic growth.

At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, on the first floor board room of City Hall (455 N. Main), council members from the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County commissioners will be briefed on the regional strategy as part of a joint meeting. Funding decisions will be made later this fall.

The collaborative effort will be advised by consultants who have been working with Wichita State on its Innovation Campus: Paul Masson, managing director of StarNet LLC, and James Gollub of James Gollub Associates, a StarNet affiliate.

“Paul and Jim have a long history working with WSU and the local manufacturing community,” said WSU President John Bardo. “We value their expertise in leading regions through analyzing and creating positive steps to support existing and emerging industry clusters. We are ready to fund, participate and build the next generation of our economy by working together.”

The consulting team has worked with markets and economic cluster development in cities throughout the United States and the world, including Austin, Albuquerque, San Antonio and Calgary.

“Our objective is to help markets work and create new opportunities using a bottom-up, market-driven, collaborative process,” said Gollub, one of the presenter’s for the meeting.

The strategy follows a four-step process:

• Mobilize – Identify regional leaders and “stewards” who will guide the economic strategy.
• Analyze – Complete a diagnostic baseline of how the region’s economy is performing; assess existing and emerging economic engines that drive the economy – known as industry clusters – and appraise advantages or disadvantages in economic inputs needed to form, expand or attract industry. These include skills, innovation, capital, logistics, resources and quality of life.
• Catalyze action within each regional cluster. This is done by “convening the marketplace,” or bringing together cluster companies, their producers, suppliers and key economic input institutions. Together, each cluster identifies shared challenges, aggregate demand for priority actions, and complete realistic action business plans. Each cluster strategy comprises actions to form, expand and attract growth to the region in that cluster based on agreements and stakeholder commitments.
• Realize results. This step builds on challenges shared across clusters to form what is called “flagship initiatives” that influence all industries. Then leaders, stewards and representatives from the regional clusters shape a lean partnership that will maintain progress on implementing actions, building the crosscutting flagships and tracking outcomes.

The overall effort focuses on clusters as economic engines because they export or trade, bringing new revenue into a region. While clusters account for about 25 percent of a community’s jobs, their multiplier effects generate the remaining jobs. Potential clusters are typically groups of related firms that design, engineer and produce regionally, but trade outside the region, including aviation, energy, logistics, agriculture production, as well as seed or emerging clusters that leverage local competencies in new ways.

“Every region should have a portfolio of dynamic clusters,” Gollub said. “Some are existing, while others are emerging based on the competencies that exist in a region. Clusters are always changing as they adapt to markets. Strong clusters collaborate regionally to complete globally.”

According to Gollub, it is important to know what comes out of this process.

“The result is a strategy consisting of multiple, practical action steps that are directly linked to one cluster or a group of economic clusters,” he said. “Because it’s market-driven, the clusters themselves identify what needs to be addressed and also play a role in implementation along with partner institutions – whether schools, universities, banks, transport, infrastructure or governance.”

Deep dive

This team of experts has conducted this process for multiple regions, said Gary Plummer, president and CEO of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“We must do this deep dive with our economic clusters,” Plummer said. “We continue to hear how important it is to align our efforts and collaborate and we are excited to do that with this team.”

The StarNet team is working with the regional sponsors to launch the project during the coming month.

“This initiative will result in a cohesive strategy to develop the region,” said Jeff Fluhr, president of the Wichita Downtown Development Corp. “It will build upon our successes and lead to a collective effort to complement and maximize the economic opportunities throughout our community and region.”