| Executive Summary
The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) teamed
up in 2000 with Conway Data, publisher of
Site Selection magazine, to launch the DevelopmentAlliance.com portal as
a joint venture with the support of initial sponsors and
various advertisers.
One of the functions of the portal was to implement the IEDC
"data standards" project by providing an economical way for participating
development agencies to publish timely data about their areas for reference
by corporate executives and their advisors. These standard "Community
Profiles" of statistical and other data elements reflected input from
leading location consultants about information which would be helpful to
potential investors and their advisors. Consistent data would
facilitate criteria-based queries to identify potentially relevant locations
among the participating areas.
Unfortunately, although numerous economic development
organizations have shown interest in providing the standardized Community
Profile data, few have actually done so. Investors and service
providers who are interested in such data should provide feedback to that
effect so that economic development agencies can be encouraged to
participate accordingly. Similarly, feedback about priorities for such
data would be helpful, since community resources for providing such data are
typically limited.
The full data standards include more than 1200 potential data
elements, primarily designed around aggregation of data which is scattered
through a variety of published sources in the US. It was expected that
most areas would only provide some of those data elements, with a focus
primarily on data elements which require local knowledge.
For example, local labor market information may not be
adequately described by available national statistics, or the data may not
be sufficiently timely and relevant to serve the needs of a potential
investor. As another example, leading employers or new companies in an
area can be hard to track through published sources.
The portal also provides access to published US demographic
data and various resources which are maintained by Conway Data, such as
lists of development agencies and service providers as well as available
properties and business parks or news about the corporate real estate market
and economic development profession. |
Contact information
Website
(portal):
www.developmentalliance.com
The portal is
maintained by staff at Conway Data in cooperation with IEDC.
Ronald J. (Ron)
Starner
Director of
Publications
Conway Data
35 Technology
Parkway S., Suite 150
Norcross, GA 30092
TEL (770) 446-6996
Toll free in US :
(800)-554-5686
FAX (770) 263-8825
e-mail :
website :
www.conway.com
Jeffrey Finkle
President & CEO
International
Economic Development Council
734 15th Street NW
Washington, DC
20005
TEL 202-223-7800
FAX 202-223-4745
website :
www.iedconline.org
Economic
development agencies which may want to provide Community Profile data
through the portal should contact John Davis, Director of Sales, at Conway
Data.
|
| Relationship Disclosure :
GDI Solutions has periodically purchased advertising and
participated in events with both Site Selection magazine and IEDC at the same rates
available to others. GDI Solutions is a member of IEDC.
There have been informal discussions about closer collaboration to help develop and
more actively promote the DevelopmentAlliance.com
portal in parallel with the launch and growth of GDI Solutions,
but no specific agreement has been reached yet.
The gist of the discussion is that we share common interests
and are providing related but distinct services for the development of a
more efficient market for direct investment projects. We may therefore
choose to work together informally for this common purpose while promoting
and performing our various services independently.
GDI Solutions is funded by services provided to economic
development organizations and professional service providers, as are IEDC
and Site Selection magazine, but we do not directly sell each other's
services or pay each other for referrals. We just cooperate while
serving the same markets in different ways since we do not compete. |
Advertising, events,
referrals, and PR history :
November 2001 GDI Solutions helped to
promote DA at the IDRC event in Dallas
May 2002 issue 1/2 pg BW ad in top projects
feature story in Site Selection
September 2002 booth for launch at IEDC Annual
Conference, Oakland CA
November 2002 full page BW ad in IEDC's EDJournal
(3x, to continue in March and June 2003)
Such advertising and events were at standard rates. No
financial consideration has been given or received for reciprocal listings
of the DA portal, IEDC, and Site Selection or Conway Data on this website,
nor for any listing of GDI Solutions on the DA portal or related sites.
Such listings and links are for the convenience of users, rather than a
source of revenue to either side. |
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