As part of the Town of Hempstead’s (NY) federally-funded Regional Innovation Grant, CGR produced a comprehensive review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in Long Island’s entrepreneurial development and support network.  The analysis identified economic clusters with the greatest business startup potential; assessed the degree to which entrepreneurs are tapping federal, state and local assistance (both financial and operational); and inventoried the network of available business resources in the region.

Building on the previous SWOT analysis, CGR then formulated a series of policy recommendations for enhancing entrepreneurial success rates on Long Island.  Strategies included more strategic and proactive use of workforce data; a framework for more aggressively informing budding entrepreneurs about existing financial and operational resources; and an up-front evaluation mechanism that helps target assistance to business startups with the greatest chance of success.

Finger Lakes Wired, one of the first 13 federally designated “Wired” regions in the country funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to support economic development and transform regional economies, engaged CGR for 2 significant projects:

• Recognizing competitive advantage derives from competencies that enable firms to participate in a global value chain, Wired asked CGR to identify key competencies in its 9-county region and recommend strategies to capitalize on them.
• Wired also asked CGR to help compile information on regional resources supporting business growth and career opportunity. Businesses, particularly small firms and start-ups, look for assistance with finance, operations, human resource or other issues, and are often unaware of the variety of local resources available. Similarly, individuals seeking new career opportunities are often unaware of the employment, career development and education/training services available. CGR is developing an “asset map” to serve as the foundation for a database of regional assets/resources that can provide targeted assistance. A follow-up phase will involve creation of an online tool.

Tech Valley is expected to attract high tech industries, especially nanotechnology firms, in coming years. For the study, CGR:

• Identified industry groups that are now in, or are likely candidates to come into, the region
• Reviewed U.S. Department of Labor job classifications for companies in these industries, and also projections for the skills and related courses required to work in these jobs
• Developed a list of desired academic courses
• Compared current district offerings to the desired list
• Compared current high tech course offerings with job growth projections
•  Identified gaps and made recommendations.

CGR also completed a second study that looked more closely at the technical competencies and “soft skills” required for workplace success. Particular attention was given to identifying ways for the districts and BOCES to collaboratively prepare students for success in the economic and business environment of the 21st century.