Technical Assistance

Our technical assistance aids policymakers and workforce development staff to better implement innovation and job-creation strategies by:

• Understanding the economic forces affecting regions and states
• Helping local leaders formulate knowledge-based strategies
• Developing transformational models that support knowledge-driven economic prosperity

Building On the Knowledge Economy

The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) uses information and data to create resources and toolkits so that state and national policymakers can evaluate, shape, and implement effective and state- and region-specific programs that promote economic development efforts.

Many of our technical-assistance efforts are aimed at: federal agencies, regional and state offices, private nonprofits, educational institutions, and sub-state regional coalitions.

While our primary area of policy expertise relates to economic development, workforce development, and education, our network extends beyond these policy areas through the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) into a variety of fields ranging from health care, criminal justice and housing, and demographics to transportation.

Related Projects

ARC Entrepreneurial Benchmark Update 2018-2020
Appalachian Regional Commission
Start Date: Oct 2018 — End Date: Jun 2020

CREC, worked with EntreWorks Consulting, continued their work in promoting entrepreneurial efforts in the Appalachian Region by maintaining a database of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, updating research on the region’s economic dynamism, and maintaining a web presence at http://arceco.creconline.org for the entrepreneurial directory and the entrepreneurial index (updated through 2017).

ARC Entrepreneurial Benchmark Update 2018-2020
EntreWorks Consulting
Start Date: Dec 2018 — End Date: Jan 2020

CREC, worked with EntreWorks Consulting, continued their work in promoting entrepreneurial efforts in the Appalachian Region by maintaining a database of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, updating research on the region’s economic dynamism, and maintaining a web presence at http://arceco.creconline.org for the entrepreneurial directory and the entrepreneurial index (updated through 2017).

Assist BrightHive with WIN Apprenticeship Data Platform
BrightHive, Inc.
Start Date: Aug 2019 — End Date: Jan 2020

Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan (WIN)/Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA) entered into a contract with BrightHive to build an apprenticeship data platform to support connecting employers with performance-based objectives (PBOs), competency frameworks and models, and other skills outlines and to help employers create competence-based apprenticeships through integration with and subsequent use by one employer-facing […]

Business and Higher Education Forum (BHEF) Project
Business and Higher Education Forum
Start Date: Oct 2019 — End Date: Dec 2019

The Business and Higher Education Forum (BHEF), the Greater Washington Partnership (GWP) and the Business Roundtable are well established organizations connecting business, university and non-profit partners in the Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia region (DMV). These organizations aim to increase the number of high-quality, transparent and affordable pathways to the attainment and updating of Digital Technology skills in […]

Developing Web Based Labor Market and Work Skills Information Tools
Multi-State Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (M-SAMC)
Start Date: Apr 2014 — End Date: Sep 2019

CREC is helping Henry Ford Community College and its partner colleges to develop a web-based platform and related training to evaluate the economic relevance and value of specific manufacturing work skills. Henry Ford Community College, based in Dearborn, Michigan, is the lead institution of a 13-member consortium of community colleges — the Multi-State Advanced Manufacturing […]