INNOVATEC A Pathway to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Elizabeth City & Pasquotank County

INNOVATEC A Pathway to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Elizabeth City & Pasquotank County

Good evening everyone. Thank you for letting me speak with you tonight.

I apologize for my inability to be with you in person for this exciting meeting.

My name is Jonathan Meyer, and Im going to speak with you about my research on establishing an innovation ecosystem in Elizabeth City.

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MPP, Duke University

Surveys, Interviews & Data

SWOT Analysis

As part of a Masters Project for Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy, I produced the report seen here titled InnovatEC: A Pathway to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County which provided analysis and recommendations to the Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County Economic Development Commission on how best to stimulate regional entrepreneurial-and-innovation-based growth.

My research lasted 6 months. During which I ascertained data from surveys, key informant interviews and federal, state and regional statistical data banks.

I used a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats or SWOT Analysis, to identify community innovation-related assets and highlighted challenges to their development.

For anyone who is interested in a copy of this report, please email me and I will be happy to forward you a pdf. I will provide my email address at the end of this presentation.

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Why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?

What assets exists in Elizabeth City?

How can Elizabeth City stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation?

The report answers several questions:

Why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?What assets exist in Elizabeth City to create an innovation-based ecosystem?How can the Economic Development Commission stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation?

The answers to these questions lead to my recommendations for Elizabeth City leadership.

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Why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?Carolina Comeback?

11% UnemploymentLabor Force Outmigration

So why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?

North Carolina finds itself in a slow, but steady-paced recovery from the Great Recession. However, not all areas experienced the Carolina Comeback.

Rural growth has been slow to return to pre-recession levels. According to a report produced by The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, fewer rural-based North Carolinians are employed, and more had lower household incomes in 2010 than in 2000.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina is no exception. For example.

In 2010 Pasquotank Countys unemployment rate was as high as 11%.

That dropped to 7.2% by 2015, but during that period their was a 5.2% decrease in labor force.

Additionally, there was nearly a 1% drop in total population.

These issues compound one another, as out-migration is the major force behind that labor decline.

These are symptoms of an economically contracting region.

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Why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?

This contraction is a result of a national transition from a manufacturing to a service-based economy.

Conversely the high-tech sector, is increasing in employment opportunity and offers wages above the U.S. average. However, this transition is largely occurring around its urban centers, i.e. Charlotte and the Research Triangle-area.

Rural communities across the country are developing new approaches to ensure their economic vitality.

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Why are entrepreneurship and innovation important?

INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS

Rural communities across the country are developing new approaches to ensure their economic vitality.

Among these approaches are efforts to foster local entrepreneurship and innovation by cultivating talent pipelines, creating enabling environments for small businesses and attracting sources of investment capital.

These environments are often referred to as Innovation Ecosystems.

They are geographic, often urban, areas where anchor institutions cluster together and connect with start-ups.

They enable educational providers, private companies, entrepreneurs, and investors to commercialize ideas and foster innovation across sectors by concentrating people. Density of talent, creative energy, and experience is key to their composition.

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What assets exists in Elizabeth City?

They grow in areas with specific economic, physical, and networking assets.

Economic Assets are firms, institutions, and organizations, that drive and support innovative environments. For example, Elizabeth City hosts USCG Air Station Elizabeth City and the only three post-secondary, educational institutions in the Northeast region, namely Elizabeth City State University, the College of the Albemarle and Mid-Atlantic Christian University.

Physical Assets are both public and private spaces that stimulate connectivity. For example, Elizabeth City is situated on the Pasquotank River, a geographic advantage for attracting ecotourism and retirees. Another physical asset fostering connectivity and creativity amongst Elizabeth Citys youth is Port Discover.

Networking Assets are relationships between firms and individuals and their ability to share ideas. For example, the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerces Business Expo and River City Community Development Corporations YouthBuild program and the Renaissance Square Incubator.

At the center of these types of assets lies a wealth-creating, risk-seeking culture thus completing the innovation ecosystem.

Based on the an asset analysis of Elizabeth City I made the following recommendations to the Elizabeth City Economic Development Commission.

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How can Elizabeth City stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation?

First, follow through with current effort to bring affordable broadband to the area. At the time that this report was written, this process was going well between the City and the 3rd-party, broadband-service provider, Eastern Shore Communications.

Although detailed in prior sections of this report, the importance of digital connectivity cannot be overstated in stimulating inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation. No amount of digital literacy will transform the economic landscape if businesses and households lack a state-of-the-art, digital network.

Second, to address the decentralized leadership of the Elizabeth Citys stakeholder organizations, a representative council of the communitys innovation ecosystem could be established. The purpose of this Innovation Council is to foster cooperation between the City, nonprofits, educational institutions and prospective developers to draft a vision for growth, a plan that best advances their local entrepreneurial and innovation economies.

Third, a repurposed industrial building in downtown Elizabeth City can provide a space that encourages entrepreneurship, acts as a community educator and draws businesses and costumers to a centralized area.

Collaborative spaces that are subsidized by local government and anchor institutions reduce overhead costs for startup companies by offering low-risk, work spaces.

In addition, incubator spaces can provide educational and mentorship opportunities through community engagement. For example, the recently opened Entrepreneurship Incubator in Pembroke, NC taps into the expertise and resources of UNC Pembroke, the diversity of the university students and the culture and heritage of the community.

Fourth, a modern and enjoyable transportation is key to a well-functioning, entrepreneurial-and-innovation ecosystem. Clustering talent across sectors requires density, and drawing people to Elizabeth Citys downtown will require a multifaceted transportation initiative. To address what some in the community claim as an unreliable and inconvenient public transport system, the City should build transportation links to address the needs of citizens of all generations.

For the able bodied, an inexpensive option may be the installation of bicycle lanes on all roads leading downtown. Included in this plan should be bike lanes leading to all local colleges and universities.

Complimenting this could be a bicycle sharing system, which have been met with great success in cities across the country, namely Washington D.C. and New York.

For all physical abilities, there should be a shuttle service connecting the downtown area to all regional colleges and universities.

Preparing for an increasingly aging workforce, the City may want to solicit the ride-sharing service, Uber, to the area. Still, local taxi service would undoubtedly suffer market displacement from bringing such a service to the area. The company received mixed reviews on its recent foray in Greenville, NC.

Fifth, affordable housing is key to stimulating regional in-migration, but for many residents in the region there is limited choices between deteriorating housing and homes that necessitate long commutes. Both of these effect the quality of life factors which companies consider before moving to an area.

To address this, there should be an expansion of workforce housing in areas near employment centers.

To decrease the high vacancy rate, the City could explore restrictive covenants or agreements with vacant property homeowners to rent at below-market prices to encourage in-migration. This provides inexpensive alternatives to capital-intensive construction.

I understand that the area has little interest in below-market rate housing that is reminiscent of housing projects. A distinction should be made between "projects" and workforce housing. Affordable housing is a barrier to entry for budding entrepreneurs, this innovative policy is currently being practiced at the co-working space HQ Raleigh with great success.

Lastly, to address the lack of communication between the City, entrepreneurs, innovators and the organizations that support economic development, the City should invest in a user friendly, one-stop, website that communicates local, entrepreneurial-and-innovation-related activity only.

The current city website is comprehensive, but provides too much general information and too little useful information specifically for entrepreneurs and innovators. Ideally, the one website would be closely tied to the aforementioned Innovation Council and incubator space/innovation hub.

A new website of entrepreneurship and innovation could act as the center piece of a marketing campaign to rebrand Elizabeth City as a regional center for idea generation. Pittsburg is using their city website to address the digital-divide, empower city-to-citizen engagement and promote the local business environment.

This report provides strategies to be considered when drafting a road map to a more entrepreneurial and innovative Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County and can serve as a reference point for City leadership when building community consensus on the chosen course of action.

Whatever that is, it should be an inclusive endeavor in which entrepreneurs, private businesses, nonprofits, educational leadership and policymakers all work together to achieve a vision with voluntary and genuine community buy-in.

With that I conclude my presentation.

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Thank you

jpmeyer970@gmail.com

Questions?

Thank you.

Here youll see my email address. Please contact me for a copy of this report.

I am happy to take any questions at this time.

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