The Governor's 2007 Summit on Manufacturing IV - WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: Moving Virginia Forward - will be held at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Virginia on July 23-24, 2007. For more info and to register, click here.

Strategies for Rural Development:
Business Incubation and Clean Energy
August 19-21, 2007
Johnson City, TN
The Appalachian Regional Commission is proud to announce the conference on business incubation... read more here.

Domestic Outsourcing Offers Opportunities and Challenges
Outsourcing has been a hotly debated topic in recent years.  But research conducted by Virginia Tech finds that rural American communities can benefit by the same market forces that pushed companies and jobs from the U.S. to Mexico and India...Read Article

Chad Miller will be leaving OED to accept a tenure track position at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Department of Economic and Workforce Development, which is one of the few graduate programs that provide academic training in the profession of economic development. Chad will teach and mentor students in the department's master's and doctoral programs, aggressively pursue a research agenda in innovation-based economic development, and through the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship actively assist the southern Mississippi region with development of an innovation economy. USM’s economic development efforts in this area have resulted in the development of the South Mississippi composite materials cluster, the I-59 Technology Corridor and the new Innovation and Commercialization Park.

Last year, the town of Wytheville worked with OED on an economic impact analysis of a proposed artisan’s center in Wytheville. This year, OED is back in Wytheville for a feasibility analysis of a proposed agriculture oriented exposition center, a project initiated by the Southwest Virginia Horseman’s Association...Read full article

The OED newsletter usually highlights the economic development related projects conducted by Virginia Tech, but another important activity is to participate in collaborative partnerships that improve the economy of the Commonwealth. An example of one of these groups is theVirginia Forest-Based Economic Development Council(VFBEDC)...Read Article

• Greetings from the Director
  
  
• Domestic Outsourcing Offers Opportunities and Challenges
  
  
• Nanotech Project Leverages Many Assets
  
  
• Unique Partnership Bolsters Nuclear Industry
  
  
• Federal Labs Seek Technology Transfer Partners
  
  
• Partner Profile - Virginia's Forest-Based Economic Development Council
  
  
• News from the Web
  
  
• OED Partners in SW VA
  

A once thriving company in Pulaski County that saw its business model turned upside down has found hope in 21st century technology.... Read Full Article

Williamsburg was the backdrop of a meeting between representatives of federal laboratories, state and local economic development officials and technology transfer officials from the Virginia universities to identify successful ways to expand or commercialize the federal laboratory technology...Read Full Article

Maine adopts a creative approach to the costs of higher education.
A new bill signed into law this month aims to entice students to stay in the state, providing tax incentives for students and possibly for the companies that hire them.  Read more at this link: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=118510&ac=PHnws

Worried about the housing market slump?
While prices continue to drop, Harvard University’s latest State of the Nation’s Housing confirms they still faces an immense challenge in housing affordability.  The report available at the link: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2007/ documents that the number of households across the nation spending more than half their income on housing increased by 1.2 million in just the past year.  

Thoughtful ideas on rural development!
The current issue of the Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy is focused on state rural development policy.  Atypical for a publication for economists this edition features a series of brief, readable pieces focused on policy and implementation on a variety of rural economic development topics.  The full text of the journal is available at this link:
http://www.jrap-journal.org/pastvolumes/2000/v37/index371.html

In Remembrance