The Regional EDGE approach, initiated in April of 1998, emphasizes the notion of "convening the marketplace" – that is, bringing together producers, suppliers, and those who support them in "communities of exchange" to identify and respond to shared challenges. As new partnerships develop, new solutions emerge, relying on shared resources to create collaborative advantage, enhanced competitive capacity, and improved economic performance.

Regional EDGE defines the economic dilemmas we face and solves them together. Leaders from our region’s portfolio of industry clusters and the public institutions that they depend upon were asked to join. Co-chairs from each industry cluster were asked to bring together their counterparts to form working cluster groups. These cluster groups create the active link between regional collaboration and economic change. Although cluster members are often competitors in business, they have formed cohesive groups to achieve a greater regional competitive EDGE. Each cluster has already met as a working group many times, producing a set of shared challenges matched with viable, practical action initiatives that are then funded and executed.