Building Sustainable Economies:Foundations, Knowledge Networks

and Green TrendsEconomic Revitalization Conference

Sustainable Economies – Sustainable Communities Kingston, ON 11 April 2012

Paul Parker 1, Tara Vinodrai21. Professor and Associate Dean

2. Director, Local Economic DevelopmentFaculty of Environment, uWaterloo

pparker@uwaterloo.ca, tvinodra@uwaterloo.ca

Outline• 21 Questions in 10 minutes!• 5 part story

– Economic sustainability– Local vs generic solutions– Community resilience– Social enterprise– Emerging green industries– Q&A

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1. Economic Sustainability• Defn “Ability to meet the needs of the present generation

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Bruntland Commission 1988

• “In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decision on the next seven generations.” from the Great Laws of the Iroquois Confederacy

• Value the local economy– change attitudes

• Reduce leakages– network for local suppliers

• Local food adjectives: fresh, quality, trusted

3

Agriculture Foundation• Strategic question:

– What are the long term prospects for your industry?

• Agriculture– Demand based on need to feed the population– Trends

• Vineyards in northern Italy operating on the same slopes for 2000 years

• Demand growth: people, fuel

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2. Local vs generic solutions• Identify the macro trend: tech, cost• Respond locally: selected segment

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Solar Impulse flies from Switzerland to Brussels, 13 May 2011Credit: Solar Impulse/Revillard

Credit: SolarImpulse.TV broadcast; screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET

Average price trend, pv module and turbines

Source: IPCC 2011 The IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation

Select your segment: Peterborough inverters

• Green Energy program requires increasing share of value chain to be in the province (ON)– Silicon 10%– Ingot and wafer 12%– Cell 10%– Module 13%– Inverter 9%– Mounting system 9%– Wiring 10%– Labour and service 27%

3. Community Resilience: Tool - Social Network Analysis

Density, Centrality • How much interaction

is taking place? (Density)

• Who are the key actors? (Centrality)

• Are there differences?– Urban / rural– Local food, clean

technologies, creative and cultural sectors

• Are there gaps?

Network structure and density vary by sector

Local food Creative/ cultural Clean technologies

Vinodrai et al. 2012. Taking Regional Action: Understanding networks in the local food, green energy & creative sectors in Waterloo Region.

Networks• Local networks have helped

to attract new businesses and grow existing ones– ATS Automation, Canadian

Solar Solutions, PhotoWattOntario

• Networks shaped by pre-existing industrial structure– Differences in levels of

engagement by urban and rural economic developers with private sector

Vinodrai et al. 2012. Taking Regional Action: Understanding networks in the local food, green energy & creative sectors in Waterloo Region.

Regional collaboration:Leading agency model

• Creating regional efficiencies for investment attraction

• Operations and governance structure

• Requires more comprehensive regional approaches

Vinodrai et al. 2012. Taking Regional Action: Understanding networks in the local food, green energy & creative sectors in Waterloo Region.

Regional collaboration:A network approach

• Collaborative approaches across urban / rural areas

• Challenges:– Some actors more central than others– Level of engagement with regional

networks

• Leveraging networks to capitalize on regional interdependencies “…We’renotmandated,we’renottold,

andwe’renotdirectedtocollaborate…weknowthattobecompetitivewehavetoworktogether”

– MunicipalEconomicDeveloper

Vinodrai et al. 2012. Taking Regional Action:

4. Social enterprise lessons

• Green Community Entrepreneurship– Form of social entrepreneurship– Not-for-profit– Collaborative, partners = strength

• For details see: – Gliedt, T. and P. Parker 2007. Green Community

Entrepreneurship: Creative Destruction in the Social Economy, International Journal of Social Economics. 34 (8) 538-553.

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•New Idea and Implementation

•Expanded Scale of Existing Service

•Accelerated Development of

Existing Idea

•Creative Responses

•Social Entrepreneurship

•Individual •Collective

•Human Capital

•Social Capital Network

•Green Community

Entrepreneurship

•Strategic Partnerships

•Team •Functional•Facilitating

Factors•Drivers

•FundingShock

•Market Collapse

•Environmental Sustainability

Objective

Gliedt and Parker 2007

Activity level

15

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600ecoENERGY evaluations by Green Communities, 2011-12

D E

16

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Participation rate for second evaluation (% of initial evaluations, 2011-12)

5. Emerging Green Industries:Energy system analysis

to achieve target

• 3 Steps: • 1. Reduce load/demand• 2. Add renewable supply• 3. Purchase offsets

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Targets (= market opportunities)

• Set by client, government, building code, etc. • Trends

– Reduction target• 20%, 50% from baseline

– Carbon neutral, • BC govt 2011 target achieved

– Market for green electricity, Bullfrog

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Start with Training: Human Capital• St. Lawrence College, Energy House

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Rating systems = Increased knowledge

• Enable comparisons• Friendly competition• ecoENERGY score• LEED certification• Informed consumers

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New Builds: Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition

Net-Zero Technology MENU:

• advanced building efficiency•R 40 walls, foundation•Triple glazing

• Energy Star appliances• Photovoltaic roof• Solar thermal• Earth Energy Systems• Heat recovery ventilator• Solar hot water• and others

Menu of options consumer flexibility in designing their Net-Zero Energy HomeExcess energy capacity and storage through the gridTime of use metering allows consumers to balance energy load. Source: NZEHC 2005

Old buildings = renewal opportunityREEP House for Sustainable Living

• Goal– Encourage and inspire deeper energy retrofits– 50% savings easy– 80% feasible, approach Net Zero Energy Home

• Partners join in– Century home– Transformed– >80% savings

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Rural Entrepreneurship• Green Grid chooses Listowel (pop. 5900) for

solar tracker manufacturing, why– Owner’s rural / local background– Labour – skills and attitude– Capital cost of facility– Knowledge – international technology

• Green Grid Solutions– “we are committed to renewable, non-polluting energy

resources and helping famers, home and business owners make money or reduce costs.” http://greengrid.ca/

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Conclusion• Sustainable Economic Development

– Foundation and Trends– Combine Knowledge and Green economy

• Regional collaboration and action – shape the future

• Build capacity by investing– In people = Human capital– In technology = Built capital– In networks = Social capital

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Thank You

• Questions?• Comments

25

Norman Ragetlie

Building Policy for Sustainable Rural Economies

The contention…

What works to create sustainable rural economies is a community development approach.

What kind of government policy supports a community development approach?

Sustainable rural economies harness local opportunities and assets

Nested Systems at Different Scales

Global Trends     Regional Realities   Local Capacity

Local responses that build on strengths/assets and engagement are more sustainable

1. Leadership

2. Planning and Visioning

3. Mobilizing Resources

4. Localization

5. Partnerships

6. Community Engagement

7. Adaptation to Change

Success Factors in Rural Community Economic development

Small Towns, Big IdeasNorth Carolina School of Government

1. In small towns, community development is economic development.

2. Small towns with the most dramatic outcomes tend to be proactive and future-oriented; they embrace change and assume risk.

3. Successful community economic development strategies are guided by a broadly held local vision.

4. Defining assets and opportunities broadly can yield innovative strategies that capitalize on a community’s competitive advantage.

5. Innovative local governance, partnerships and organizationssignificantly enhance the capacity for community economic development.

6. Effective communities identify, measure and celebrate short-term successes to sustain support for long-term community economic development.

7. Viable community economic development involves the use of a comprehensive package of strategies and tools, rather than a piecemeal approach.

Asset Based Community Development

o Builds on and relies on social capital

o Inspires others

o Engages youth

Innovation

o Using existing assets in new ways

A few program design principles ..

Recognize that community development is a locally driven process - - e.g. Nova Scotia Policy on Community Development

Facilitate achievement of local goals – e.g. incent implementation of strat. plans

Build capacity and support leadership development - e.g. provide small grants for partnership development phases of projects

Encourage integration, collaboration – e.g. multi-objective measures (not just jobs)

Be designed so infrastructure transfers are not competitive – predictable, cost share, as of right

Recognize that sector based programs are always uneven in benefits and impacts …do the geographic analysis, sector development is not always rural development!

A handful of policy imperatives … Prioritize youth and labour force development …

experiential skills development …inter-generational job sharing/mentoring

Continue promotion of “welcoming communities”Migration, tolerance, diversity and dispersal … aging!

Broadband investment …cost-reduction in government service delivery to an aging population (e.g. Curve Lake)

Resist externalizing costs in the name of efficiencies of centralization – flexible, local control of assets (schools/hospitals)

Enable social finance tools to harness rural wealth for community reinvestment – legislative changes re. “accredited investors” and regionalized “cloud source” financing

Christopher FullertonAssociate Professor

Department of GeographyBrock University

St. Catharines, Ontario

“C.L. [has taken] over his father’s truckingbusiness. […] I ask him what he feels aboutour economic development efforts. Hisanswer is you won’t get much economicdevelopment fixing up the main street. Iasked him why he spent so much timecleaning his trucks. A simple question. Hestarted to answer then realized the trap Iset. He smiled and I saw how he quicklyunderstood what I was getting at.”

Community leaders should be progressive, but also be willing to share their power.

Harness and nurture local stocks of social capital.

Be inclusive.

Hiring an economic development officer pays off.

Devise and implement a broad range of development initiatives.

Tap into local, place-based assets.

Take advantage of provincial and federal government programs.

Must be willing to tackle adversity (“take the bull by the horns”)

Must recognize the importance of the “quality-of-place” concept

Must be willing to try new ideas and be innovative

Must be willing to take risks, but must “do their homework” before leaping into something

Must be willing to pursue realistic goals and objectives

Must have strong leadership

Must have broad and collaborative forms of governance

Must be patient, as most achievements do not just come overnight

Also require financial resource and other capital to make things happen

Building Policy to Foster Rural Economic

Sustainability

Economic Revitalization Conference Queen’s University

April 11, 2012Kingston, Ontario

Presented by: Karla UlianaSenior Policy Advisor

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs

Context• Recent economic downturn and changing global economy poses challenges and

opportunities

• Competitive advantages increasingly tied to human capital, innovation and quality of place/amenities – Ontario ranks high in these assets

• Current environment: – financial constraint– complex problems (e.g., health care, education, infrastructure deficit)

• Ontario’s economic development landscape is complex - many players working on similar initiatives

• Globalization is highlighting the “region” as a key economic unit

• Competing jurisdictions are moving to a regional model to create an environment for economic success

• “ People, companies and talent do not move to specific communities- they move to regions….Local governments, the private sector, schools, higher education and nongovernmental and civic organizations must collaborate to make Michigan’s economic regions, and ultimately the state, competitive.”

– Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan, Special Message on Community Development and Local Government Reforms to the Michigan State Legislature, March 21, 2011

Opportunity for the Future• Regional economic development approaches:

– gain economies of scale (capacity, knowledge, finances, H/R, etc.) by pooling resources and focussing on strengths and opportunities

– enables communities to undertake initiatives that singularly would be impossible to do

– provides a unified voice for economic development

– regions competes more effectively in the global marketplace for new investment

– encourages economic prosperity and opportunity sharing for everyone

• Ontario’s rural and urban communities already share a mutually reinforcing and inter-dependent relationship which can be leveraged and enhanced through regional economic development approaches

Ontario’s Rural – Urban Inter-Dependencies

Rural Relies on Urban for: Urban Relies on Rural for:

Employment Labor Force

Private and Public Services Market for Private and Public Goods and Services

Urban Amenities Market for Urban Amenities

Market for recreation activities Recreation

Market for agriculture products Food Safety and Security

Demand for Environmental Stewardship Natural Environmental

Property taxes/land market Land for Residential and Industrial Expansion

Source: Partridge, Mark. Building Healthy Communities in the 21st Century: Drop the Fads and Lose the Rearview Mirror. (2010)

Enabling Regions: Policy

BuildingCommunity Capacity

Creating the Environment for Success

Aligning Provincial

Resources to Enable Regions

Successful Regional

Development

Creating the Environment for Success - Ontario has strong record supporting growth of businesses, sectors and communities through tax policy, infrastructure investment, business/sector development, workforce development, investment attraction, investing in quality of place, etc.

Building Capacity: Ontario has numerous programs, tools and resources to help build stakeholder capacity to engage in economic development planning, implementation, business development and, attraction and retention. Most target individual communities or projects rather than collaborative, strategic and regional objectives.

Aligning Provincial Resources: Opportunity to align policies, structures and culture to facilitate/encourage a regional approach to economic development.

Economic Development Fundamentals:Role for Communities

Economic Base

• Community/regions’ goods & services.

• Prospective industry strengths and those industries’ linkages to national and global economies.

Human Resources

• Leadership capacity.

• The skills, education, experience and training of your workforce.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

• Capacity to innovate and generate new ideas.

• From concept to market.

• Create new companies or from existing firms.

Location Assets

The basic conditions facing firms and innovators in the region.

Source: (Feser & White, U of Illinois)

Steps to Regional Prosperity

Determine Regional Economic Advantages

Lead the Planning Effort

Formulate Strategies & Prioritize Actions

Execute Your Plan

What Will Success Look Like?

“From” “To”

Competition among communities

Community regional collaboration to compete globally

Many visions of success

Common vision for region where appropriate

Communities working alone face capacity challenges ($, HR)

Community regional collaborations pool resources to enhance capacity

Ad hoc collaboration between municipalities, businesses, academic institutions and community groups

A framework to build networks and find innovative new solutions to challenges and opportunities

Short-term strategies to attract investment

Long-term planning to create “winning places” where businesses and people want to be

• Enhanced outcomes:• Job creation/retention• Investment attraction/leveraged• Business attraction (e.g. anchor

companies)• Business retention and expansion• Commercialization• Innovation/new technologies/R&D• Labour force training

• Strategic outcomes:• Cluster development• Partnerships (e.g.

private/public/community/ academic, aboriginal)

• Supply chain development• Economic development strategies• Sector development strategies• Environmental benefits

Changing behaviour and adopting new approaches leads to better outcomes

Community Economic Development Trends in Ontario

• Many communities in Ontario realize that within today’s global economy, they need to work at a regional scale to increase their economic competitiveness

• Consequently, community stakeholders are forming regional alliances to try and move their economies forward e.g. the Ontario East Economic Development Commission, South Central Ontario Region, etc

• But, the scope, comprehensiveness and capacity for economic development efforts varies greatly across the province; as does the impact/success of such efforts

• The province is working with communities and stakeholders on regional / collaborative approaches to economic development in a variety of ways (e.g. support for EDCO’s Regional Research Project, Provincial Economic Transition Teams (PETTs), OGRA/ROMA Workshop on regional economic development)

• Regional approaches, however, are not quick fixes – they require a cultural shift in thinking and behaviour

… the Path Forward

To build sustainable and resilient economies:

Know your community and local leaders

Understand the economic fundamentals

Develop strategies to seize opportunities

Identify regional (rural and urban) economic synergies

Align local, regional, provincial and federal efforts

Thank You

Karla UlianaSenior Policy AdvisorOntario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural AffairsPhone: 519-826-3650Email: karla.uliana@ontario.ca