Northwest Pennsylvania
How JumpStart Set Northwest Pennsylvania Up For Economic Success
When JumpStart began its partnership with the Northwest Pennsylvania Innovation Collaborative, Erie County had one of the highest unemployment rates in the state for 10 consecutive years, which created a population exodus ultimately leading to a loss in infrastructure and left no appeal to new businesses. The Innovation Collaborative engaged JumpStart to help them assess the region’s best opportunities for immediate improvement and develop a collaborative implementation plan to make those opportunities a reality.
JumpStart and the Innovation Collaborative worked quickly to implement a comprehensive regional assessment of Northwest Pennsylvania that uncovered a significant number of existing businesses with growth potential, but also exposed a fragile support system that didn’t focus on the industry-specific expertise modern businesses need to thrive. Through its regional alignment process, JumpStart helped key stakeholders come into rapid alignment on a comprehensive strategy for change.
At the culmination of the project, the Innovation Collaborative not only received a list of 77 strategic and results-focused recommendations to improve the Northwest Pennsylvania ecosystem but also freed themselves up to focus on nurturing alignment and developing a well-organized collaborative ecosystem map
Today, the Innovation Collaborative has created a series of work teams to meet and implement JumpStart’s strategic recommendations with the first work team taking on recommendations dealing with culture building and deal flow generation.