TRE Consulting supports regions and communities to compete and win in the global innovation economy by building place-based advantage. The global innovation economy is based on knowledge, technology and innovation -- all essential drivers for economic growth, community development, and job creation. Place-based advantage emerges when regions take assets attractive to innovation-oriented companies and workers and leverage them into more than the sum of the parts.
Silicon Valley, Route 128 outside of Boston and Research Triangle Park are well-known examples of place-based advantage at large scale – combinations of talent, innovation and place that have created significant growth. Or consider technology startups in Boulder, Colorado and the emerging Renaissance for startups in New York City, both quality places that are retaining and attracting innovation assets. Aging industrial cities, like Pittsburgh, and more rural regions, like Southern Virginia, are building place- based advantage by connecting new innovation investments with existing regional assets in efforts to attract, develop, and retain talented workers and the companies that hire them into their region.
The hard work for regions and communities is the organization, development and growth of a system that is unique to the history, culture, and potential of their particular place.
TRE Consulting is the arm of TRE Networks dedicated to providing hands-on support to transforming regions. Our seasoned group of consultants provides new ways of thinking and organizing regional efforts to build transformative and sustainable change, drawing actively on the resources of higher education in the process. Higher education provides many of the core assets that are critical to building place-based advantage, but is too often not sufficiently engaged in a productive strategy that includes business, government, non-profit and education sectors.
For more information, contact:
Tim Franklin, PhD
814.580.8731