Understanding economic transformation: Rewriting the story of Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is one of the best newspapers in the country focusing on regional economic developmen.  Taking the Southeast Wisconsin economy as a backdrop, the paper regularly explores how the regional economy is transforming.

Unlike many papers that focus on economic problems, the Journal Sentinel spends a good deal of effort identifying new patterns of wealth creation.

Here is an example.

In a recent series of articles, the Journal Sentinel profiled a small group of engineering students engaged in building new business around bio-diesel. Read more.

The series underscores a number of new trends at work. First, of course, entrepreneurship plays a central role in the new story of regional transformation and wealth creation.

Second, the series illustrates the growing importance that universities are playing in regional economic development. Finally, the series underscores the importance of seeing some of our older economies with new eyes.

So, for example, Milwaukee is building off its manufacturing assets to create new hubs of innovation and faster growth companies. Here's an article that underscores these trends. As one manufacturer in the article notes, "We've peeled the rust off the belt."

Creating a new narrative for older economies represents one of the central challenges of economic development. Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin are in the middle of re-writing their story. Re-crafting a region's core narratives is what branding is all about.

Read more.