The I-Open Backstory: A Tale of Industrial Economy Disruption and Spin-Out

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Image: REI Cluster Map by Ed Morrison & Laszlo Kosmon

From the Report: REI. Business Plan V.1.5 at I-Open on Scribd.

The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) is a 501c(3) not for profit educational economic development organization spun out (2005) of the Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI), a regional economic policy and report center based in Cleveland, Ohio from 1980 to 2005.

The Center was originally funded by the Cleveland US Federal Reserve Bank at the recommendation of a RAND Corporation report to advise the then many Fortune 500 corporate leaders based in the 23 counties of North East Ohio, a regional industrial economic success.

In 2003, Ed Morrison, lawyer, economic development practitioner, and policy strategist was hired as the Executive Director of REI, housed at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. The resident team led by Mr. Morrison, quickly incorporated legacy knowledge assets, updated and developed Center mission, generated a set of operational Principles, and aligned organizational investments with strategic programs in support of tech-based economic development in global networked economies.

(Note: Within 60 days of the time of the announced 2003 REI re-alignment, 60% of the Center's regional foundation funding provided by The Cleveland Foundation and George Gund Foundation was withdrawn; the remaining 30% funding provided by the Ameritech SBC Global corporation was re-dedicated by the corporate program office for the continued support of REI activities. Some 15 months later at the closing of the Center by CWRU in 2005, Ameritech SBC Global funds were confiscated by CWRU's Weatherhead School of Management, REI's host organization, during a time of organization and leadership disruption and financial downturn.)

In support of the REI 2003 mission update, and to catalyze and strengthen regional civic networks integral to tech-based economic transformation, team member Betsey Merkel developed the Civic Forum process, a pragmatic approach to civic engagement to accelerate the generation of transformational initiatives, ultimately engaging during the 17 month period over 3000 people "on a campus with no parking" - and before the advent of social media! (Costs averaged $.60 cents/person compared to a large failed regional engagement program averaging costs of $60.00/person, proving regional transformation for prosperity building does not need to be costly or complex in open economic networks.)

Simultaneously, Ed Morrison designed Strategic Doing, a rapid project development process to support, evaluate, and invest in the resulting Civic Forum entrepreneurial innovations for education, economic, and workforce development.

The Civic Forum process and Strategic Doing develop transformational civic entrepreneurial initiatives in Open Source Economic Development to accelerate prosperity for competitive regional advantage. 

 

Click Through For The Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) Slide Show at I-Open On Flickr. [16 Slides]

The Center was closed by CWRU in June 2005. Ed Morrison was hired by Purdue University in Indiana USA to assist in the development of the Purdue Center for Regional Development, now a national and global hub for education, economic and workforce development and policy.

Also in June 2005, Ed Morrison, Betsey Merkel and two others co-founded The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) to continue the education and development of new practices and tools in Open Source Economic Development begun at REI.

(Note: Open Source Economic Development and Strategic Doing developed by REI Exec. Dir. Ed Morrison were later spun out in June 2005 and widely adopted by U.S. Workforce Investment Boards, the U.S. Economic Development Administration at the U.S. Dept of Commerce, and U.S. Dept of Energy to accelerate workforce innovation for regional economic development.

In Northeast Ohio, Betsey Merkel, REI Strategic Networks and Communications, and developer of the Civic Forum Process, continued to lead Civic Forums with I-Open colleagues and community to construct regional civic entrepreneurial networks and support resulting transformational enterprise initiatives.)

Ed retired from I-Open a few years ago to dedicate his work to the advancement of open models in workforce development. Betsey Merkel continues to invent and develop new practices and tools in Open Source Economic Development for the acceleration of transformative enterprise in emerging network economies.

Links of interest:

I-Open Civic Wisdom Stats 03/03/11 - 04/04/11 on Vimeo

(download)

Images:

  • #1 - Videos Most Played for the Month of Mar 2011 to April 2011
  • #2 - Most Loaded for the Month
  • #3 - Most Embedded for the Month
  • #4 - Total Stats for the Month
  • #5 - Most Played for the Year

You're invited to take a closer look at the monthly stats of I-Open Civic Wisdom videos. The community contributed content has a short history on the Web - at the most two years - but continues to develop emerging audiences.

Our simple analytics offer a guide to government, foundation, and venture capital leaders responsible for stewarding private and public economic development investment dollars. For civic entrepreneurs, topics of interest will give encouragement to their own work in similar or related fields.

A good place to start is to look at what topics people are interested in and the thought leaders who are introducing these important new conversations. Follow your interests by searching original  subject links at I-Open and on the Web to learn more.

Articles are framed with descriptive titles, providing further insight into the relevance and meaning of viewer experience in economic and business development. 

Stop by I-Open on Vimeo to learn about the insights and innovations of civic, business, government and academic leaders working in Open Source Economic Development. Please post your comments, questions and insights!

Would you like to contribute an interview about your work to I-Open? Begin by emailing us at info@i-open.org to start a conversation!

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

I-Open Civic Wisdom Library Description

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Midtown Brews Conversation 2008 

Cleveland, Ohio 


“People will say today what they will do tomorrow” - Peter Gloor, Research Scientist, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

The Civic Wisdom Library is a public archive of interviews and broadcast conversations contributed to I-Open by business leaders.

Knowledge is organized by innovation investment categories and industry topics according to the Innovation Framework - a heuristic model of investment in Open Source Economic Development.

Read why investing in open, guided conversations is important to the sustainability of communities, businesses and regions. View or download the Civic Wisdom Library Description below.

Learn from civic leaders at I-Open on Vimeo.

I-Open Civic Wisdom Library Description

Branding: How to Share Your I-Open Interview

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Street Branding

Photo: Alice Merkel

Business, government, academic, and civic leaders have contributed over 10,000 minutes of knowledge, insights and innovations to I-Open interview and conversation research.

Each interview yields unique ideas, perspectives and discoveries to inform and guide leaders in education, economic, and workforce development.

Sharing information promotes higher levels of creativity and opens doors to unforeseen business collaborations. In the socially connected world of an innovation economy, sharing what you know increases your value to those you attract.

Interview information is published as video, document, image, and creative digital media and shared across I-Open social media platforms and their communities. You'll find a wealth of civic knowledge listed under "Libraries" on this blog's right side bar.

If you're a leader interested to know how to share your knowledge further, or just need a nice nudge to remember to share widely, we've assembled a how-to of simple steps for you to take below.

How to Share Your Interview Information

COINs 2010 Conference Instructions

COINs 2010 Conference Instructions 

Translations available at: http://tiny.cc/ljhqt

The Swarm Creativity Framework is a guide to help entrepreneurs, scientists and business leaders successfully navigate a shift in mindset from scarcity to abundance. Swarm creativity is a discipline driven by the laws of natural systems, and is designed to catalyze individual creativity, communication and collaboration, ultimately leading to flourishing cultures of innovation.

Swarm Creativity powers the COINs 2010 community and with it the Science of Collaboration. Researchers and industry leaders share insights and innovations in health care, design, the creative industries, engineering and technology. The community generates a collective intelligence to solve the social, economic and environmental challenges of the world.

This is the value of I-Open interviews and conversations.

Invaluable Civic Conversation: Looking into the Health of Place

In 2004 the City of Glasgow and partners undertook a series of Civic Conversations to address health challenges for the city's population. This report is part of the very creative results - including yesterday's post of the film, "Miniature Glasgow" - to gather and create deeper meaning about a city, the place, and habits of people related to health care.

From partner International Futures Forum archive:

The first seminar series began in November 2004 with a lecture and seminar by the British philosopher Anthony Grayling on Imagining the Perfect Polis. In December Alistair Lawrence led a seminar entitled Animal Farm on what we might learn from studies of farmyard animal behaviour. Sholom Glouberman from Toronto spoke on order/disorder, the environment, identity and health; the transformation in the prospects of place were introduced by Denys Candy from Pittsburgh; happiness by Richard Layard of London; and the psychology of transformation by IFF Member Maureen O’Hara from San Francisco. The first series concluded in May 2005. It provided rich content for a first meeting of Glasgow’s Healthier Future forum in June 2005. Since then there have been two subsequent series and four further healthier future forums. The fourth series was completed in the spring of 2008. A fifth series commenced on Nov 25 2008 and will run to May 2009.

The Report is a rich assembly of reflections and replicable methodologies. Here is a list of milestones discovered through the conversations:

• Rather than asking what is wrong, ask what is missing? When facing current difficulties, plans, ideas and actions, our critique often starts by asking what is wrong. This can quickly turn into negativity and guardedness as people seek to defend their own ideas, plans and actions and attack those of others.  Asking what is missing from a situation which is giving rise to difficulty, or what is missing from a plan, idea or action is more generative 
Be willing and able to hold several perspectives simultaneously and create something new from them which does not currently exist. The holding of different perspectives for as long as possible helps to ensure solutions have incorporated concerns and hopes of multiple perspectives
Make room for dreams. This suggestion came from young people in the Civic Conversation. It has become a platitude to note that young people are the future and this is often given as a vague, if undeniable, justification for involving them. If we understand young people’s dreams and aspirations as third horizon aspirations then we begin to recognise dream and dreamer as potential sources of resilience in the City.  Consequently, engagement is less likely to appear superficial and tokenistic 
Ask ‘is what is proposed a sustaining or transformative innovation?’ In times of relative calm and stability, this is not really a concern. In such times, the world changes slowly, in predictable ways and our ways of taking coherent action work well. In times of rapid change and uncertain development, this is not so straightforward. Sustaining innovation may well be necessary to mitigate decline, but without the realisation of transformative potential it simply prolongs decline.
• Ask ‘what horizon am I operating in?’ ‘How does it relate to other horizons?’ ‘Are all horizons covered?’ ‘What can I do to improve relationships among these different horizons?’    

If the Glasgow Civic Conversations were replicated in your town or city, what could you learn about the health care landscape and solutions?

 You can learn more at IFF.