Enhanced Economic Development
How can economic developers begin to understand the implications and impact that Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) will have on their communities, and the process in which economic development takes place? Economic developers must understand how the data machines that provide them with information work, and combine that with computer science, human decision making and complexity of keeping community leaders happy and satisfied with economic development progress.
This entails managing expectations. It is an exercise in change management. As economic developers we have a responsibility to help our communities figure out the changes that are occurring, and that impact jobs and prosperity as much as undertaking the typical transactional activities that are traditionally characteristic of economic development practice.
There are a number of challenges to overcome when economic developers think of AI. The first is people. Everyone has an opinion about the impact AI and how it might impact their lives or communities. The truth is AI is impacting them right now, and many times without their consent and often in the background. Decisions are being made about communities and locations in the cloud, or on the edge using existing data and eliminating communities from consideration for new investment. Going back to an earlier paragraph, Economic developers and the community leaders that govern their organizations need to look beyond a two-or-three-year horizon and see if they can impact economic development decisions impacting their community. Mindsets have to change.
Changing the mindset of decision makers and stakeholders as any economic developer knows isn’t always an easy task. Think of the dynamics. A public sector board member is intensely interested in the platform on which they ran for office and for the reason they are even interested in being part of your organization: jobs. If you don’t deliver the backlash can be harsh.
Private sector Board members are always people who are at the top of their game and well respected in the community. They know their businesses and sectors very well. They wouldn’t be where they are if they didn’t. They generally come on board for altruistic reasons and for the betterment of the community but admittedly they are motivated by what is called “enlightened self-interest,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Mix these folks together in a “public-private partnership” and you get a safe vision for the community, one that everyone can understand, and the vision is usually the creation of jobs and increased capital investment. Private sector profit motive combined with incentives from local and state governments combine into a cocktail we economic developers call a “win”.
How does AI fit in? To understand how AI can impact decision making and economic development, one should not think about operational or functional issues with your organization but to think about the long-term implications AI has on decision making in companies, businesses, and keeping in mind the social, economic, environmental and political driviing forces. AI is the technological driving force that will change how information is disseminated, how decision are made, how supply chains will be determined and where business will ultimately locate. It’s happening as I write this.
The community leadership (your board) has to buy-in to how this mindset looks and feels. They have to be willing to understand that economic development can’t simply be just about jobs anymore. It has to be about bigger things. It has to be about resilient communities, about smart use of technology, about transportation. It has to be about a long-term vision for the community and it has to lift everyone up.
AI will be and is disruptive. However, it has the promise to make you a hero (I’m talking to you, economic developers). Watch and read my posts in the coming year as I try to decipher and unpack AI for the economic developer. I will discuss deployment as well as impact. We will interview site selectors, economic developers, technologists and generally smart people who know AI.
I hope you join me in this brave new world where what we call artificial intelligence today will one day be called simply enhanced human intelligence.
