Helping Communities Shine

Whether researching and implementing ways to shape a community's economic development plan or partnering to create ways to put people to work, CREC connects researchers and policymakers with:

• Data training
• Custom portfolios that aid regional competitiveness

Project Profile

Harnessing the Arizona Sun: A Solar Energy Industry Cluster Study

Arizona Commerce Authority
Start Date: Mar 2005 — End Date: Dec 2005

The Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) conducted a study of the Arizona’s solar energy industries to identify workforce development challenges.

In conducting the analysis, the Center identified 170 firms directly involved in the solar cluster. Based on interviews and surveys of the firms, C2ER identified a series of recommended actions to foster innovation in solar energy within the state, expand market demand for solar-related products, encourage new solar entrepreneurs, as well as ensure that the state has a qualified workforce. The state is using the results in developing a plan for promoting solar energy as a key cluster of the state’s sustainable development strategy.

About the Client

Arizona Commerce Authority

The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is an aggressive new organization that has a laser focus on recruitment of quality companies and jobs for Arizona as well as the expansion of companies already here. The ACA, formerly the Arizona Department of Commerce, has been re-created as a streamlined, business-savvy organization focused on producing results that benefit businesses and the Arizona economy.