Proenza Named to Council on Competitiveness Committee

Feb. 5, 2008 - Dr. Luis M. Proenza, president of The University of Akron, has been named co-chair of the Regional Leadership Institute Steering Committee of the Council on Competiveness, a non-partisan, non-governmental group in Washington, D.C.

The committee will advance the council's Regional Innovation Initiative (RII), which is creating new knowledge through applied research in regions throughout the United States.

The Council on Competiveness is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to ensuring the future prosperity of all Americans through enhanced competitiveness in the global economy and the creation of high-value economic activity in the United States.

“I am pleased and honored to have been named to co-chair this important and necessary initiative,” Proenza says. “Our work will help advance the interests of Northeast Ohio and other regions in the United States.”

In the global economy, place matters more than ever, the council says. “Even as technology, capital, and knowledge diffuse internationally, the levers of national prosperity are, in fact, becoming more localized. As talented people and new ideas become the most critical drivers of economic growth, regional economic conditions have assumed greater importance.

“Regions that can attract talented residents and support the development of highly innovative firms will support great prosperity,” it added. “Regions that rely on low-cost labor and basic extraction of natural resources will not.

"While the United States has many successful regions, America is also home to many areas that do not offer the environment necessary to support productive firms - and the higher salaries those firms offer. We are becoming a land of innovation haves and have-nots.”

Addressing this challenge requires a shift away from traditional economic development models. Instead of low wages and tax incentives, regions in industrialized countries compete today on the quality of their skilled workforce and incentives that reward innovation.

The council, which believes the best way to drive prosperity in a global economy is to have the most competitive workforce and business environment, launched RII to catalyze the necessary shift to an innovation-based paradigm.

An advocate for the new paradigm is particularly critical in these challenging economic times, as there is strong temptation to cut long-term investment that supports sustained innovation.

RII is communicating this new model to political, corporate, university and labor leaders, and catalyzing action by helping regions develop economic development strategies.

Serving with Proenza as co-chair is John Hillerich, president and CEO of sporting goods manufacturer Hillerich & Bradsby Co.

The council's Web site is http://www.compete.org/.