The Wide Bay Burnett is on its way to becoming a test case for a collaborative approach to regional economic development following the allocation of an $87,000 grant to the region’s Economic Development and Enterprise Collaboration (EDEC).
The grant is provided under the Federal Government’s Regional and Rural Research and Development Grants Program. It will be used specifically to fund the ‘From Tired to Wired’ project, which aims to help establish the foundations needed to create an innovative and competitive 21st Century regional economy.
EDEC Research Director Associate Professor Paul Collits, from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), said the grant was a coup for EDEC and the region.
‘This project is different, ambitious and will hopefully set the region on a new path using a commonsense approach to economic development,’ Associate Professor Collits said.
‘It aims to encourage the transformation of the Wide Bay Burnett from an under-performing region to an enterprise culture built on innovation and growing human capital – in other words, the creation of a ‘new game plan’ for a region that has previously tried many approaches without sustained success in fundamentally transforming an underperforming economy.
‘The region has high unemployment and low prosperity resulting in part from a mismatch between jobs and skills. Figures for 2011 reveal that the Wide Bay Burnett was paid more in welfare payments than workers paid in taxes ($1,066 million in taxes compared with $1,693 million for welfare.)
‘This project will look at the need for skills training and education in fields where there are already jobs to try to stop the brain-drain of young skilled professionals who can contribute their entrepreneurial skills to increasing regional productivity.’
The ‘From Tired to Wired’ project will utilise an internationally acclaimed model used in 15 regional areas of the United States. The Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Program, with support from Purdue University, focused on entrepreneurship, business innovation, talent development and civic networks. It coined the term ‘strategic doing’ for its successful approach to regional development.
The project’s key focus is on better integration between skills development programs and regional economic development, making the education sector critical to its success.
Associate Professor Collits said EDEC was keen to use the ‘strategic doing’ approach in order to help the region gain a competitive advantage in the new global economy where success was driven by networks and collaborations.
‘This is an action research project designed to establish, test and report on a model for re-engineering regional development policy and practice through better integration of education, workforce development and economic development to develop a future-focused innovation-driven model,’ he said.
‘The project will not in itself change the region, but it will contribute to building a more innovative culture by doing things differently, instead of operating in separate silos.
‘It is applicable to many Australian regions experiencing economic under-performance, high structural unemployment, low socio-economic status, economic restructuring, rural brain drain or being held back by the lack of an integrated approach.’
The project’s key phases (for the next 12 months) will include a study of best practice models as well as theories of regional growth and the role of education in regional development; identification of the region’s ‘bright sparks’ for building collaborative partnerships; formation of a leadership team to manage the project; regional stakeholders workshops with Mark Strom, CEO of Second Road, and an expert in transformational change; Workshop on Strategic Doing with Purdue University; Development of an integrated transformational strategy with actions to be implemented in the first half of 2013; embedding of new approaches; and establishment of task group to drive the project forward over the longer term.
Associate Professor Collits can be contacted at
USQ Fraser Coast on 41943180.
He said EDEC was keen to involve members of the local community and business sector in the project, particularly with the contribution of innovative ideas.
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