CUED
Center
for Urban Economic Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
Creating
a High Performance Economy in Chicago:
An Exploration of Potential
Project Number: 381
Report Date: January 1994
Author(s): Wim Wiewel, Lauri Alpern
The purpose of the "Creating a High Performance Economy in Chicago" project is to explore new opportunities for sectoral development. The concept behind this project is that public-private partnerships may be able to stimulate local economic development that contributes to a high performance economy. A high performance economy is one that builds on local business, labor, and infrastructure assets, while simultaneously advancing their quality in order to assure the region's long-term competitiveness.
The
research focused on three main tasks:
a. Interviews with key informants
in the private, public, and civic sector to identify the interest and willingness
to participate in public-private partnerships for economic development.
b.
Analysis of similar efforts elsewhere to gain insights into what works and what
doesn't.
c. Identification of specific economic development opportunities
in Chicago that meet the requirements for a high performance economy.
The
conclusions of this research are the following:
1. There is significant
support in the Chicago region for public-private development efforts, although
previous efforts have left a legacy of caution.
2. The key elements of
a development strategy for high performance economic sectors appear to be a strong
public-private partnership; significant public support, both through financing
and regulatory or organizational efforts; strong private sector involvement based
on its own market strengths; and careful analysis and planning to increase the
likelihood of success.
3. Six sectors offer significant potential for
Chicago's economy. They include opportunities associated with the biotechnology
industry; advanced telecommunications; environmental technologies; software development;
HDTV; and high speed rail.
4. Further developmental work should be concentrated
on the biotechnology and advanced telecommunications industries in order to maximize
their potential for Chicago's economy. The other sectors appear to offer smaller,
but still significant opportunities for the development of productive public-private
partnerships.
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