Southern Growth Policies Board

Southern Growth Policies Board is pleased to announce DesignSeed � Auburn University as the recipient of its 2010 Innovator Award from Alabama. DesignSeed, a collaboration between Auburn University�s Office of University Outreach, Technical Assistance Center and Industrial Design program, creates businesses in rural and distressed areas of Alabama that are based on innovative product designs created by the university�s Industrial Design students. The DesignSeed process reaches out into the community, beginning with input from a community�s leaders, stakeholders, citizens and workers to identify natural resources and community assets around which to build business ideas, and continuing with university assistance to identify and support entrepreneurs who can launch the resulting products.

Innovator Awards are presented annually to one organization in each of Southern Growth�s 13 member states in recognition of initiatives that are improving economic opportunities and quality of life in the region. The 2010 Innovator Awards were chosen from creative initiatives in the region that aim to help communities recover from the recession. One award winner per week will be announced in Southern Growth�s e-newsletter, Southern Compass, leading up to an official recognition of all awardees at Southern Growth�s Chairman�s Conference, June 7-8, 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky.

For more information on Southern Growth�s Innovator Awards program or Chairman�s Conference, contact Ted Abernathy, Executive Director, Southern Growth Policies Board, at (919) 941-5145 or tabernathy@southern.org.

Register for Southern Growth Policies Board's 2010 Chairman’s Conference on the promotion of the Southern automotive industry: Driving the Next 20 Years—Creating the New Automotive Industry in the South. The conference, hosted by Governor Steve Beshear, will be held on June 7-8 in Lexington, Kentucky. The conference will highlight strategies for profiting from changes within the industry and ways to maximize the industry’s contribution to the South’s economy.

For more information, contact Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council.

We want your views on the current economic recovery. Please take our 12-question survey to record your views. Results will be anonymous and will be used to develop economic recovery policies in the South. Take the survey by clicking on http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/road2recovery.

“Ask the Experts,” features a rotating panel of experts from around the region offering their views on an important economic development question. This month, we posed the following question:

The South continues to attract investment from the automotive industry. How can the South leverage these investments to continue to create good jobs for the region?

Click to see what our panel of experts had to say.

Teaming Up For Success
Teaming Up for Success is a Blog written by Carla Ledbetter fo the Washington Times. It features stories about people collaborating and working together to make good things happen. A recent entry, Southern Recipe for Community Success, features Southern Growth Policies Board's Community Forums. Read the article and learn more about how Southern Growth's forums help communities communicate and achieve success.

New Southern Growth Chairman to Focus on Auto Industry
November 23, 2009.Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear today announced he will be the new chairman of the Southern Growth Policies Board. Gov. Beshear becomes Southern Growth’s 40th Chair, succeeding Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and follows a long line of distinguished Southern leaders, including Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. As chairman, Gov. Beshear will host the 2010 Chairman’s Conference in Lexington, Kentucky June 7th through 8th. The focus will be on highlighting and strengthening the automotive industry in the South. Read more here.

Follow Southern Growth on Twitter and LinkedIn
You can now keep up with Southern Growth and economic development issues relevant to the South through our Twitter page and LinkedIn group. On our Twitter page you’ll find updates on Southern Growth activities as well as pointers to new economic development reports, data and ideas. The LinkedIn Group allows our Southern Growth constituents to communicate with each other by posting their own events, reports, and ideas to the group profile. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SGPB. Join the LinkedIn Group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2507791&trk=hb_side_g.

The Road to Recovery: 2009-2010 Forum Materials and Guidelines Now Available
November 3 , 2009. Each year, Southern Growth Policies Board starts a conversation in the South on a particular issue related to economic development. We do this by holding community forums, or moderated discussions, in communities large and small across the region. In 2009, more than 2,300 Southerners participated in community forums, state policy dialogues and an online survey to share their thoughts and opinions on how communities could best take advantage of the economic opportunities associated with energy. Read more about this year's Community Forum topic of economic recovery and join us in organizing a forum in your community!

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Discusses Innovation Clusters
National Academies � February 25, 2010

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke recently addressed a National Research Council forum on the role of regional innovation clusters�research parks that enable universities, government, and industry to collaborate�in spurring innovation and creating jobs. Listen to the audio here.

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Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: (919) 941-5145, Fax: (919) 941-5594, Email: info@southern.org