Resources

 

Regional Innovation

  • Principles for Launching a Regional Innovation Hub (PDF)
    At Franklin Solutions, we are enthusiastic about the many federal programs focused on regional development in one form or another. The Tech Hubs (U.S. EDA) and Regional Innovation Engines (NSF) RFPs are two examples of possibilities for initiating some form of regional innovation hub.   Here we offer a set of principles for launching a regional innovation hub premised on our experience doing so and in leading a national learning network of universities and organizations many of whom had done so.

    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Roadmap for Designing a Regional Innovation Engine (PDF)
    This document includes programmatic design considerations for developing a Regional Innovation Engine, responding to the National Science Foundation’s call for proposals.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Sample Regional innovation Hub (slide)
    This slide is designed to stimulate dialogue about what components in a regional context might be established, linked, and leveraged to create an innovation hub.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Ideas for Addressing Culture and Sustainability Elements of an Innovation Engine (slides)
    Considerations of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), as well as innovation culture-building and innovation engine sustainability ideally are designed into Regional Innovation Engine (RIE) plans.  These slides offer some programmatic ideas about how to build DEIA, culture, and sustainability into RIE concepts.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • What Might a Regional Innovation Engine Do? (slide)
    A Regional Innovation Engine augments and integrates the capabilities of partnering organizations by serving as an intermediary institution.  This intermediary institution can serve many unique and valuable purposes, as outlined in the slide.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • How Might a Regional Innovation Engine be Funded? (slide)
    In addition to the possibility of receiving seed investments from the National Science Foundation, Regional Innovation Engines can and need to draw upon funds from a range of other sources, as outlined in this slide.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Regional Resource Mapping (worksheet)
    This worksheet is designed to assist those interested in launching regional innovation initiatives to identify and catalog various existing assets as an early step in designing their initiatives.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Planting Innovation in Rural America: Leveraging Universities, Technology, and Education to Drive Economic Growth (article)
    Originally published in the Center for American Progress’ former policy journal, Science Progress, this set of three articles outlines the work led by Virginia Tech, in partnership with local public and private leadership, to create an innovation hub in economically distressed rural Virginia.  Part 1:  The Leadership Context
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Planting Innovation in Rural America: Putting Together a Regional Innovation Cluster in Southside Virginia, All the Right Pieces (article)
    Originally published in the Center for American Progress’ former policy journal, Science Progress, this set of three articles outlines the work led by Virginia Tech, in partnership with local public and private leadership, to create an innovation hub in economically distressed rural Virginia.  Part 2:  The Programmatic Framework
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Planting Innovation in Rural America: Lessons for Practice and Policy (article)
    Originally published in the Center for American Progress’ former policy journal, Science Progress, this set of three articles outlines the work led by Virginia Tech, in partnership with local public and private leadership, to create an innovation hub in economically distressed rural Virginia.  Part 3:  The Policy Implications
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Achieving Transformative Regional Impact (flyer)

    Our five-hour course on Transformative Regional Impact, available through Venn Collaborative, offers a framework and planning considerations for regional transformation through the lenses of place, talent, and innovation.  The course is replete with many examples of how this place-talent-innovation framework has been put into action in a wider range of communities and contexts, with a focus on helping you create transformative impact in your region.  This flyer serves as an introduction.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Economic Growth and Research Funding Relationship (slides)
    These slides show a spillover effect of research and development spending on regional measures of employment and income.  The slides present a prima facia case to suggest investments in distributed applied research and technology hubs can provide a seed for economic growth in an underperforming region, such as Southside Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Networks: A Uniquely American Solution to Regional Innovation (paper)
    This paper provides the TRE vision and manifesto about the need to leverage universities and regional approaches to address economic challenges. The land-grant and public research university system represents a uniquely American invention. TRE Networks leverages the existing investments in these great institutions – the crown jewels of public US innovation capacity – and provides a structure to combine those strengths into a much broader national capacity. The new coalition goes beyond universities. Also engaged are highly-regarded organizations such as the Council on Competitiveness, Center for American Progress, Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the National Association of Manufacturers.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Policy and Program Architecture-Framing the Issue 2010
    This slide deck was delivered at the 2010 TRE Roundtable and includes many of the central policy and program proposals advanced by TRE Networks. It includes policy proposals, a programmatic framework called TRE Practice, and concepts for regional transformation, a national network of workforce and innovation services and service providers, and university programs contributing to a regional impact model.

    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Regional Transformation Story Board with Policy and Program Focus Areas (diagrams with text)
    This TRE Flyer was developed to provide a substantive overview of TRE Network’s mission and focus areas.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Regional Transformation Strategies (diagram)
    This graphic offers a three-dimensional concept for regional transformation across five high-level strategies: 1)Brainpower/Talent, 2) Innovation/Entrepreneurship, 3) Quality, Connected Places, 4) New Narratives and Networks, and 5) Civic Collaboration. Although simplified, this model was adopted by APLU, UEDA, and other leading organizations concerned with university roles in economic engagement.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Pyramid and Regional Transformation Model (annotated diagrams)
    The TRE Pyramid is a graphic that offers a regional impact model and taxonomy of university-led programs addressing each element of regional transformation. The regional transformation strategies graphic is described below.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Brainpower and Talent Products and Services (slide)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model. This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s brainpower and talent levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Products and Services (slide)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model. This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Civic Collaboration Products and Services (slide)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model. This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE New Narratives and Networks Products and Services (slide)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model. This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Quality Connected Places Products and Services (slide)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model. This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

Strategic Planning and Doing

  • Laying the Groundwork for Strategic Planning (slide deck)
    This set of slides is designed to establish a foundational understanding of strategic planning for teams coming together to develop a strategic plan.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Strategic Doing book
    Complex challenges are all around us - they impact our companies, our communities, and our planet. This complexity and the emergence of networks is changing the practice of strategic management. Today's leaders need to understand how to design and guide effective collaborations to accelerate innovation and change - collaborations that cross boundaries both inside and outside organizations.

    Strategic Doing offers an important guide to navigating this new world. Designed to be practical, the book introduces ten skills that anyone can learn. The skills have been successfully adopted by executives, managers, university administrators, government officials, students, community leaders, and others from a variety of disciplines.
     PURCHASE BOOK HERE

  • Strategic Doing Workshop Flyer
    Information about our 2.5-day course, which teaches organizations with ten steps of Strategic Doing, is outlined in this flyer.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

Collaboration and Leadership

  • Culture of Collaboration (slide deck)
    A significant element in developing successful and sustainable partnerships is establishing a culture conducive to collaboration.  This slide set draws upon research about culture, conducted by Human Synergistics – a leading purveyor of organizational culture assessment and development, as well as fundamental elements of collaboration.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Moral Dimensions of Leadership (slide deck)
    In this 30-minute video, we offer considerations for those interested in assuming positions of leadership, with particular attention to building moral dimensions into leadership.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

University Engagement

  • Scaled Engagement Frameworks (slide deck)
    In this slide set, we offer a synthesis of wide-ranging types of university engagement, highlighting how to substantially increase impact through working at a large scale across multiple inter-dependent programs.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Dimensions of the New Engagement (diagram)
    This graphic outlines the differences between historic forms of university outreach and more impactful “new” forms of university engagement with communities and regions.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Transformative Regional Engagement Model (slides)
    This presentation includes a vision and rationale for large-scale university engagement in regional innovation in Pennsylvania.

    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Engaged Scholarship and Transformative Regional Engagement - Handbook of Engaged Scholarship, Volume 2: Community-Campus Partnerships; Fitzgerald, Burak, Seifer, eds. (2010). Michigan State University Press: East Lansing, MI. (book chapter)
    This book chapter, from the Handbook of Engaged Scholarship, presents the synergies between the competencies needed by regions to effectively compete in a global economy, university strengths that correlate with critical innovation assets, opportunities to increase higher education mission capacity through regional partnerships, and integrated program models for engagement.  A model illustrating the virtuous circle of engagement is presented and described.  We conclude the chapter with some thoughts about future trends in economic development and a proposal for institutionalizing university engagement in regions.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • The Land-Grant Mission 2.0:  Distributed Regional Engagement (dissertation)
    Dramatic shifts in the economy associated with the rise of globalism call into question the traditional ways in which land-grant institutions have defined their roles in contributing to economic and social well-being.  Since the assets most needed for global economic viability – a base of innovation, talented people, and ubiquitous connectivity – are core strengths of universities, it is fair to ask how these institutions can more holistically engage with economically distressed regions to build critical innovation economy competencies.  Evidence suggests that although linking 21st century regional economic competitiveness to university contributions is a concept gaining momentum in policy circles, few models exist, particularly in regions not proximate to university campuses.  This University of Pennsylvania dissertation provides findings from early leaders in distributed regional engagement.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • The Need Is Now: University Engagement in Regional Economic Development (article)
    At a time when many regions are grappling with economic challenges and universities are struggling to demonstrate their public value, the question of how regions and universities might partner effectively begs to be addressed. This qualitative case study examines the engagement of six land-grant institutions in regions not proximate to their campuses. The engagement activi­ties associated with these partnerships center on economic and community development. The article, published in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, includes notable strengths of each engagement approach that commend it to others as a model and concludes with several meta-lessons gleaned from the research.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Supporting and Sustaining Campus-Community Engagement:  Engagement Infrastructure (paper)
    Universities serious about institution-scale engagement need to develop an appropriate supporting infrastructure.  This paper outlines supporting infrastructures for engagement which: provide systematic mechanisms to gather and communicate impact data (community impacts, institutional impacts & student learning outcomes); provide visibility to and transparency across the breadth of institutional engagement; offer support systems for faculty; and create a streamlined front door between the university and community.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Answering the Question of How: Out-Of-Region University Engagement with an Economically Distressed, Rural Region (article)
    How can universities engage their critical capabilities in out-of-region efforts that enhance the viability of rural regions in an innovation-based, global economy while simultaneously benefiting the university’s discovery, learning, and outreach missions? This article, published in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, describes Virginia Tech’s program activities and how they were implemented as the university embraced a broad-scale engagement partnership with Southside [central southern] Virginia, bringing together good science and good politics to partner in transforming this economically distressed region.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • A Time of Opportunity:  Energy, Extension, and Economic Development (article)
    This article, commissioned by the Ford Foundation in conjunction with the Reducing Rural Poverty through Wealth Creation from Investments in Environmentally Appropriate Energy Strategies and Activities project, focuses on the role that a re-envisioned Cooperative Extension (Extension) orga­nization could play in the revitalization of economically distressed communities. It argues that a refocused Extension organization could draw more extensively upon some of its current, underuti­lized capacities to make much more substantive contributions to communities looking to leverage emerging energy opportunities for economic gain.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Reinventing a Region (video)
    This 7-minute video showcases the work of Virginia Tech partnering with Virginia’s Southside region to spur economic revitalization, which received the national C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement award.
    WATCH HERE

  • Pennsylvania Prosperity Partnerships (video)
    This 7-minute video introduces Penn State’s Pennsylvania Prosperity Partnerships program, a regional initiative built around leveraging Penn State University’s Commonwealth Campuses.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • PA Prosperity Partnerships (flyer)

  • This 2-page document provides an overview of the Pennsylvania Prosperity Partnerships program, a Penn State University initiative to advance the Commonwealth’s economy through innovation and collaboration.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Pyramid (annotated diagram)
    This graphic describes universities’ roles in regional economic development.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

Transformative Regional Engagement (TRE) Archive

These files were generated as part of a learning network that involved large research and land-grant universities, government agencies, and non-profits and convened in the period between 2008 and 2012.  TRE focused on large-scale, high impact, multi-program engagement with regions.

 

  • TRE Networks: A Uniquely American Solution to Regional Innovation (paper)

This paper provides the TRE vision and manifesto about the need to leverage universities and regional approaches to address economic challenges.  The land-grant and public research university system represents a uniquely American invention.  TRE Networks leverages the existing investments in these great institutions – the crown jewels of public US innovation capacity – and provides a structure to combine those strengths into a much broader national capacity.  The new coalition goes beyond universities. Also engaged are highly-regarded organizations such as the Council on Competitiveness, Center for American Progress, Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the National Association of Manufacturers.
DOWNLOAD HERE 


  • TRE Policy and Program Architecture-Framing the Issue 2010 (slides)

This slide deck was delivered at the 2010 TRE Roundtable and includes many of the central policy and program proposals advanced by TRE Networks.  It includes policy proposals, a programmatic framework called TRE Practice, and concepts for regional transformation, a national network of workforce and innovation services and service providers, and university programs contributing to a regional impact model.
DOWNLOAD HERE 


  • TRE Pyramid and Regional Transformation Strategies Model (graphics)

The TRE Pyramid is a graphic that offers a regional impact model and taxonomy of university-led programs addressing each element of regional transformation.  The regional transformation strategies graphic is described below.
DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Regional Transformation Story Board with Policy and Program Focus Areas (diagrams with text)

This TRE Flyer was developed to provide a substantive overview of TRE Network’s mission and focus areas.
DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Regional Transformation Strategies (diagram)
    This graphic offers a three-dimensional concept for regional transformation across five high-level strategies: 1) Brainpower/Talent, 2) Innovation/Entrepreneurship, 3) Quality, Connected Places, 4) New Narratives and Networks, and 5) Civic Collaboration.  Although simplified, this model was adopted by APLU, UEDA, and other leading organizations concerned with university roles in economic engagement.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Brainpower and Talent Products and Services (slides)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model.  This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s brainpower and talent levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Products and Services (slides)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model.  This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Civic Collaboration Products and Services (slides)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model.  This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE New Narratives and Networks Products and Services (slides)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model.  This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

 

  • TRE Quality Connected Places Products and Services (slides)
    The TRE Products and Services Catalog conceived the work of TRE Practice and included products and services developed and delivered across the five dimensions of the TRE Regional Transformation Strategies Model.  This graphic proposes products and services to be offered at a multi-region to national scale that develop a region’s innovation and entrepreneurship levels.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Resources, Links, and Tools
    This is a toolkit, developed through the work of TRE Networks, to assist leaders in regional transformation planning and implementation.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Worksheets
    These worksheets are designed to assist regional leaders plan for regional transformation using the TRE Talent-Innovation-Place model.
    DOWNLOAD HERE 

  • TRE Roundtable Proceedings 2008 (paper)
    This paper captures the proceedings of the initial TRE Roundtable in 2008.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Challenge of Economic Transformation (slides)
    This presentation presents an overview and introduction to the TRE-CITES initiative that was proposed to achieve more large-scale university-anchored regional innovation.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Challenge of Economic Transformation (paper)
    This is TRE Networks’ project proposal informed by the urgency of engaging research universities, governments, and non-profits in large-scale regional transformation.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

 

  • Challenge of Economic Transformation Executive Summary
    This is the executive summary for the TRE Networks manifesto.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Project Description – Demonstrations in HE-Region Partnerships (paper)
    This document outlines a concept and pre-proposal to enlist new partners and to support additional efforts in TRE.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Roundtable Agenda 2008

     This agenda served as the program for the inaugural 2008 TRE Roundtable, a learning network of large, research and land grant universities who had initiated “scaled” engagement with transformative objectives during the period following the 1999 Kellogg Commission Report, “Returning to Our Roots” until this gathering.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • TRE Roundtable Agenda 2009
    This agenda served as the program for the inaugural 2009 TRE Roundtable, a learning network of large, research and land grant universities who had initiated “scaled” engagement with transformative objectives during the period following the 1999 Kellogg Commission Report, “Returning to Our Roots” until this gathering.  The gathering included representatives from the “quad helix” of government, universities/higher education, non-profits, and the private sector.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Roundtable 2009 - Framing the Issues Short Version
    These two slide decks were shared by Tim Franklin to kick off the 2009 TRE Roundtable program.  The slides frame the transformation concepts, policy issues, and programmatic thrusts that would animate the roundtable discussions.  The gathering included representatives from the “quad helix” of government, universities/higher education, non-profits, and the private sector.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Roundtable 2009 - Framing the Issues Long Version
    These two slide decks were shared by Tim Franklin to kick off the 2009 TRE Roundtable program.  The slides frame the transformation concepts, policy issues, and programmatic thrusts that would animate the roundtable discussions.  The gathering included representatives from the “quad helix” of government, universities/higher education, non-profits, and the private sector.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Conference Program Agenda 2010
    This agenda served as the program for the 2010 TRE Networks Conference, a 501c3 organization and learning network of large, research and land grant universities who had initiated “scaled” engagement with transformative objectives during the period following the 1999 Kellogg Commission Report, “Returning to Our Roots” until this gathering.  The gathering included representatives from the “quad helix” of government, universities/higher education, non-profits, and the private sector.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • TRE Conference Program Agenda 2011
    This agenda served as the program for the inaugural 2011 TRE Networks Conference, a 501c3 organization and learning network of large, research and land grant universities who had initiated “scaled” engagement with transformative objectives during the period following the 1999 Kellogg Commission Report, “Returning to Our Roots” until this gathering.  The gathering included representatives from the “quad helix” of government, universities/higher education, non-profits, and the private sector.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • Compete (report)
    A Council on Competitiveness report that informed the TRE Network.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • Cooperate (report)
    A Council on Competitiveness report that informed the TRE Network.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

     

  • TRE Conference 2010 – Framing the Issues - Opening Remarks (written comments)
    These comments were shared by Tim Franklin to kickoff TRE Networks’ 2010 annual conference.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

     

  • TRE Conference 2011 – Framing the Issues - Opening Remarks (written comments)
    These comments were shared by Tim Franklin to get into the program and kickoff TRE Networks’ 2011 annual conference.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

Regional Innovation and Talent Hubs (RITH) Archive

Regional Innovation and Talent Hubs (RITH) was the term given to a policy proposal adopted by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and shared in early 2009 with the Obama transition team and staff at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. It captures the program and policy overviews and learnings after Virginia Tech won the first competed national C. Peter Magrath award for university/community engagement in 2007.

  •  RITH: Strengthening Innovation Capacity in Economically Underperforming Regions (policy paper)
    This 4.5-page policy white paper and executive summary outlines the RITH concept.  It was presented to the White House’s policy lead, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • RITH: Strengthening Innovation Capacity in Economically Underperforming Regions (executive summary)
    This 4.5-page policy white paper and executive summary outlines the RITH concept.  It was presented to the White House’s policy lead, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • RITH Program Model (slide)
    This slide summarizes the elements of the Regional Innovation and Talent Hubs model.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

  • IALR Program Model (slides)
    This slide set provides a high-level overview of the regional transformation program model implemented in Southside Virginia 2001-2007.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

 

  • Pa Prosperity Partnerships (PPP) Program (slides)
    This slide set outlines the rationale for, and structure of, Penn State’s PPP program.
    DOWNLOAD HERE

 

  •  CEDEV Summer Institute Part I (slides)
    This slide set provides a detailed overview of Virginia Tech’s partnership with Southside Virginia as a case study in RITH.  These slides were shared with graduate students and community and economic development leaders participating in a Penn State summer institute.
    DOWNLOAD HERE


  • CEDEV Summer Institute Part II (slides)
    This presentation for community and economic development leaders in Pennsylvania provides a rationale for university engagement in regional transformation.  These slides were shared with graduate students and community and economic development leaders participating in a Penn State summer institute.
    DOWNLOAD HERE