The Economic Development and Enterprise Collaboration (EDEC)
EDEC is a partnership between the University of Southern Queensland (Fraser Coast) and a number of regional stakeholders, including state and local government and industry, which provide substantial funding support for the collaboration. EDEC aspires to become Australia’s premier centre for research and scholarship in economic development, drawing on a wide range of academic, government and industry expertise regionally, nationally and internationally. It is based on a unique collaboration located in a fast growing coastal region that nonetheless faces daunting economic development challenges.
EDEC’s broad roles are:
- To nurture a well informed understanding in the community of the region’s assets and of its economic drivers;
- To provide an evidence base in support of good decision making by those who drive strategies and make policy for economic development; and
- To support the specific roles of EDEC’s funding partners in achieving good economic development in the region.
EDEC’s primary current task is to help the region (and other regions) to identify economic assets and to leverage them to increase investment, wealth and sustainable employment in a diverse range of industries and occupations. A critical part of this is to identify those things that a region can control or influence in achieving economic development. EDEC aims to support and drive strategic thinking about economic development in the region and provide decision makers and practitioners with the best tools to achieve their objectives.
EDEC’s current research focus is on employment growth, strategies for business attraction, the drivers of growth on the Fraser Coast, opportunities for the development of new economic drivers, and the economic and social impacts of major regional projects. This research not only supports the work of the government and industry partners, but also provides insights into the nature and processes of regional growth and decline that will be of broad interest to other regions and to policy makers at various levels.
Research Team
Associate Professor Paul Collits is EDEC’s Research Director with responsibility for driving research projects in economic development in the Fraser Coast region. He joined USQ in March 2011 from RMIT University where he was a Research Fellow in Regional Development.
Research Colloquim
Transforming Regions to Innovate and Compete in 21st Century Economies (Fraser Coast)
EDEC Colloquium on Regional Economies (PDF*525KB), USQ Fraser Coast, 1-3 December 2012