Greater Philadelphia: A Challenge to Compete in the New Economy

Continuing to rest on past academic excellence and research achievement would be costly to Greater Philadelphia, according to a new report prepared by the Pennsylvania Economy League. The region's "knowledge industry" must compete with other regions and states to succeed in the New Economy. A comprehensive study benchmarking Greater Philadelphia's knowledge industry was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the area’s colleges and universities and how they contribute to the region’s economic competitiveness. Three main suggestions and potential strategies for becoming one of the nation’s leading knowledge regions were offered in the report's recommendations:

Grow the Talent Base:

• Marketing Philadelphia as a center of higher education;
• Strategically expand existing institutions with the room and inclination to grow;
• Establish a new technical, research-based state institution; and,
• Develop youth-oriented amenities to attract knowledge workers;

Grow the Idea Base:

• Create a research alliance of leading research institutions and private sector leaders;
• Build a strategic industry-academic consortium in the life sciences to 
  
  help spur the creation of an industry in the region; and
• Raise a pool of private funds to support the establishment of endowed chairs at regional research institutions.

Build an Identity and Image for Philadelphia’s Knowledge Industry:

• Maximize research and development business opportunities in University City, and 
• Market the region as a knowledge hub.

Data for the analysis was obtained through various sources including the National Center for Education Statistics and colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region; academic publications and higher education resources also were utilized. Representatives from academia, business and civic sectors provided input in the form of feedback on the draft research findings. Researchers visited well-known regions such as Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh and the San Francisco Bay area to obtain insight into their success.

As Philadelphia is urged to rise to the challenge, existing strengths of the region are acknowledged in the report:

• A state government actively involved and interested in promoting Pennsylvania and its regions as centers of knowledge and innovation; and,
• Regional civic organizations and foundations are increasingly focused on capitalizing on the region’s knowledge assets.

To download sections of the report, Greater Philadelphia's Knowledge Industry: Leveraging the Region's Colleges and Universities in the New Economy, visit: http://www.peleast.org/pubs2.htm