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In my view, the WIRED initiative from the Department of Labor (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) represents the most innovative economic toll in initiative to come out of Washington since the National Science Foundation launched the Small Business Innovation Research grants program in about 1980.
(Roland Tibbets started the SBIR program at the National Science Foundation is a pilot program in the late 1970s. In 1982, Congress passed the Small Business Innovation Development Act to move the experiment government-wide. One could argue that the Bayh Dole Act, enacted in 1980, ranks right up there, too.)
The WIRED initiative encourages regions to innovate with new ways to develop talent with 21st-century skills. As most EDPro's understand, current workforce development monies are tied to cumbersome categorical grant programs. Often these initiatives are very little to do with the underlying changes taking place in a regional economy.
Through the WIRED initiative, civic leaders engaged in education, economic development and workforce development can explore new collaborations. Here three examples from Indiana.
In a WIRED region in southwest Indiana, civic leaders are expanding the deployment of Project Lead the Way, a very successful early engineering program for middle school and high school. Read more.
You can learn more about Project Lead the Way from its web site.
In North Central Indiana, a second WIRED region anchored by Lafayette and Kokomo, WIRED funds are also promoting the application of Project Lead the Way. In addition, WIRED funds are promoting entrepreneurial education throughout the region. Read more.
In addition, WIRED is supporting an emerging collaboration among companies committed to clean manufacturing. We recently held a forum at Subaru's Lafayette plant, a zero landfill facility. Read more.
In another innovative approach, students are being introduced to manufacturing by producing their own guitar.
In sum, WIRED provides the flexibility to fund a range of initiatives that can help strengthen collaborations. These collaborations blur the political and organizational boundaries that too often undercut commonsense approaches to education, economic development, and workforce development.
If you're interested in learning more about what's taking place with WIRED, the you can visit WIRED Nation, a web site we launched two weeks ago to encourage more collaboration among the 39 WIRED regions across the country. Learn more.
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