Regional EDGE is a "virtual" organization that is designed to facilitate and support collaborative actions across our region. There is no formal corporate or non-profit structure. All elements of Regional EDGE are, for now, contributed by its respective members. (See regional EDGE diagram.)

Regional EDGE is not intended to replace any existing regional or local organizations or economic development programs. Regional EDGE is a mechanism for mobilizing, prioritizing and assisting the implementation of collaborative actions being undertaken across diverse sectors, such as companies, schools and various agencies. Regional EDGE provides organizational and technical assistance to:

Regional EDGE Stakeholder Groups

• Regional Co-Chair Board
• Regional Cluster Groups
• Regional Economic Infrastructure Groups

Regional EDGE Action Groups

• Flagship Initiatives
• Cluster Action Initiatives

Regional EDGE Stakeholders: The Regional Co-Chair Board

Regional EDGE was made possible by a new generation of leaders and stakeholders in our region's economy. They have helped bring together the industry cluster groups and encouraged them to complete the process of developing collaborative actions. These successful leaders are now asked to shepherd Regional EDGE to the next stage of implementation. The Co-Chair Board of Regional EDGE, composed of co-chairs of each industry cluster group and each economic infrastructure group, has been designated as the new managing body. Representatives of both the industry producer side of the economy and the economic input side of the economy will jointly oversee Regional EDGE activities. Their job is to ensure that problems in implementation are immediately addressed through their resources or leadership. Most of the Co-Chair Board members are directly involved in one or more Flagship and cluster action initiatives, providing them with first hand experience and direct links to the implementation process.

Regional EDGE Stakeholders: The Regional Cluster Groups

An exciting achievement of Regional EDGE has been the initial convening of industry cluster working groups. All these groups have agreed to continue to meet periodically, with the organizational and logistical assistance of the Stryker Center. This means that our region can continually explore challenges facing any one cluster over time. As the co-chairs of each cluster group are represented on the Regional Co-Chair Board, they will have a voice to communicate their issues and achievements to their peers on an ongoing basis. Each co-chair will be expected to report on implementation progress in their cluster group. The Stryker Center will work with each of the Cluster Co-Chairs to help them plan and track their agendas. The most prominent element of their agendas will be to continue to finalize action business plans for their cluster and initiate implementation of these actions. Some cluster groups may wish to revise their plans or introduce new priorities, particularly as new members are brought into each cluster group. The formality of each cluster group's activities will depend entirely on their co-chairs and members.

Regional EDGE Stakeholders: The Regional Economic Infrastructure Groups

The Regional Economic Infrastructure Groups will be organized and convened on an ongoing basis by the Stryker Center on behalf of Regional EDGE, with representatives participating, as noted above, in the Regional Co-Chair Board.

Regional Economic Infrastructure Groups represent institutions and organizations that supply the crucial economic inputs utilized by the region's industries. The infrastructure groups constitute a mixture of public and private entities, many of whom explored their challenges and potential roles during the collaborative strategy process. Four economic infrastructure groups participated in the Regional EDGE process: Higher Education, K-12, Banking/Finance, and Foundations.

While governments from the region participated in the cluster meetings, they did not have their individual departments, such as land use and permitting, waste water, roads and so on, meet as specific supplier participants. Furthermore, entities such as the power utility have not, as yet, joined the collaborative process. For this reason, the development of these economic infrastructure groups will be an ongoing continuous improvement goal of Regional EDGE. Over time we expect these groups to define their agendas as participants and suppliers-how they can better help industry and what they expect in return. They are expected to join other economic infrastructure institutions, such as schools and colleges, who are already partnering in the implementation of Flagships and cluster specific action initiatives, such as regional labor force development.

Regional EDGE Action Groups: The Flagships Initiatives

The paramount reason for continuing Regional EDGE is to support the implementation of the three initial Flagship Initiatives. The Flagships address common economic competitiveness challenges shared across many clusters that a cross-cutting group of regional stakeholders have organized to resolve. These three Flagships will each have a team of business and institutional leaders who will be responsible for managing implementation and collaboration with regional institutions and organizations.

The Stryker Center, on behalf of Regional EDGE, will convene and support each of the Flagships as their teams are finalized and work programs implemented. Stryker will provide technical assistance in finalizing the team structure, responsibilities, resource requirements and timing of action, including convening and facilitating the implementation activities.

Regional EDGE Action Groups: Cluster-Specific Action Initiatives

Approximately 15 cluster-specific action initiatives were developed by the cluster working groups so far. At least half of these are being merged with the three Regional Flagships because of their fundamental commonalities. However, for those action initiatives that are unique to each cluster's competitiveness needs, action teams will need to be finalized, work plans confirmed, and adequate public or private financial resources identified.