Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to emcee. Phillips arranged a room at the Oregon Graduate Institute, added his
education industry contacts to Kelvin's, and ordered some pizzas. Kelvin brought
along Jim Snyder, who has been leading the group ever since.
Phillips mapped a way forward in the event that the group found value in
meeting with each other. Phillips also suggested the right questions to ask, to
determine whether that value was there. (See the flow chart below.) It was Kelvin's
idea to call the meeting, ''just to see what will happen.'' So, Kelvin's initiative and
Phillips' complemented each other nicely. We decided not to force matters; if
sparks flew, we would host more meetings. If no sparks, we would enjoy the
group's company for an evening, and then forget about it.
As it turned out, there were sparks. Subsequent developments played out
actually much as the flow chart prescribed.
NWEC received no direct government support, though some state education-
related agencies participated. It is thus a good example of a decentralized, spon-
taneous, networked initiative for knowledge-based industry, and economic
development. Our European and Asian colleagues are sometimes surprised that
this can happen; in their countries, most such things are instigated by governments.
But it is possible because when it comes to cluster formation, knowledge, and a
shared sense of possibility and empowerment are currencies every bit as valuable
as money (Fig.
3
).
Fig. 3
Why are we here, and what can we accomplish?
Search WWH ::
Custom Search