Twin Cities' Competitiveness Assessed by Great North Alliance

Despite an economic slowdown, the Twin Cities is more competitive than it was a year ago, according to a study released by the Great North Alliance, a regional civic leadership organization. Conducted annually, the Great North Opportunity Forecast uses regional productivity and innovation to predict future competitiveness and opportunity.

The 2002-03 forecast measures 58 key indicators of the regional economy of the Twin Cities and divides the indicators into four areas — current performance, development capacity, innovation capacity and resource flow. Innovation capacity, for example, includes 18 indicators measuring inspiration, invention, and entrepreneurial development. In each area, the Twin Cities' performance is compared against 11 similar sized high-growth regions around the U.S., including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Orange County (CA), Phoenix, Raleigh, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

The Twin Cities is capturing a larger share of resources from equity and financial markets than it has in recent years, the findings show, but the region's ranking has fallen in some areas of competitiveness, such as the number of those with B.A. degrees. It also has slipped in its share of high skilled occupations and the productivity of its work force, according to the forecast. In terms of overall competitiveness, however, the region ranks in the top quartile in 18 and the top half in 23 of the 58 benchmarking indicators. Its performance among the other 11 regions is said to be "better than average."

Using the benchmarking information, opinion leaders identified six critical success factors that must be effectively managed to sustain regional competitiveness: workforce quality; amenities and quality of life; research and development intensity; infrastructure; basic services and deployment of new technologies; investment climate; and global linkages and mindset.

The Great North Alliance is an association of CEOs from business, labor, government, academia and nonprofits that works to advance Twin Cities' regional competitiveness in the global innovation economy. To download the Alliance's forecast, visit http://www.thegreatnorth.com/.