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Purdue's Center for Regional Development Appoints Ed Morrison as Economic Policy Advisor

Cleveland.-- April 24, 2006 -- The Center for Regional Development at Purdue University has appointed Ed Morrison to the position of Economic Policy Advisor. In the role, Morrison will assist the Center and the governor's office in the implementation of new regional models of economic development and workforce development.

"I am excited to be affiliated with Purdue's Center,” said Morrison. “Since its founding a little over a year ago, the Center for Regional Development has catapulted to a leadership role in regional economic development and innovation." Morrison will be helping the Center design and implement a $15 million U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant. The Center learned in February that it was one of 13 recipients nationally. The grant provides $5 million a year for three years for the the Center to design and implement a series of regional initiatives in North Central Indiana.

"The WIRED grant provides an exceptional opportunity to develop integrated initiatives that cross existing organizational and political boundaries. We will also be sharing what we learn among other WIRED regions across the country," said Morrison. Morrison will be coordinating the work of the Center with the office of Governor Mitch Daniels. The Governor will soon be releasing a statewide strategy that emphasizes the same type of regional strategies promoted by the WIRED grant.

In addition to his work with the Center, Morrison directs Leadership Indiana, an initiative of the Indiana Humanities Council. In this role he is guiding twelve regional forums across the state and building regional networks to implement a new model of economic development, Open Source Economic Development. This model of economic development emphasizes the importance of developing open networks to accelerate innovation.

Morrison is also one of the founders of the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), based in Cleveland. I-Open is developing new models and tools to accelerate regional innovation using Open Source Economic Development. I-Open is working with the Cuyahoga County Department of Development to implement this approach to strategy in Cuyahoga County. Morrison formerly headed the Center for Regional Economic Issues at Case. Contact: Betsey Merkel 4415 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106 T 216-650-7267 betseymerkel@i-open.org

posted by Unknown @ 4/23/2006