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Proven Experience

Over four decades, the Center has worked with scores of communities throughout Illinois and portions of Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana.

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Prepared for Success

We know first-hand that this part of the American Heartland has significant assets that can produce long-lasting success in the 21st century global, knowledge economy.

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Ready for Growth

Our region has many assets on which to build, including our excellent regional transportation and telecommunication systems, a well-educated and diverse population of more than 11 million people, entrepreneurial businesses and financial organizations that produce hundreds of billions in Gross Domestic Product annually, world-class institutions devoted to science and technology, and metropolitan Chicago’s global economic engines.

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A Call to Action

In honor of our 40th anniversary, the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) is inviting 180 leaders to attend a unique gathering that will identify priorities and actions that we can pursue together to help bring prosperity back to America’s Heartland.

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The Conference

{ Conference Program | PDF }

 

The event was held on December 10-11, 2009, on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb, Illinois. Conference highlights follow.

Two opening plenary sessions examined “How Will We Grow in the Coming Decades?”

Options for Building Our Region. What scale and scope of new growth can we expect between now and 2025? What options do we have to shape our patterns of growth and to benefit from the process? This session was led by Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D., Presidential Professor, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Utah. Dr. Nelson is a pivotal contributor to the national discussion about growth in the upcoming decades.

The Engines of Growth. What new technologies will drive the world’s next wave of economic growth? How could our region use these growth engines to improve our prosperity? This session was led by Richard Silberglitt, Ph.D., Senior Physical Scientist at the RAND Corporation. Dr. Silberglitt recently headed a team of RAND experts who identified the most strategically valuable technological capabilities that are beginning to emerge. He currently is working on a project to apply that information to regional economic development strategies within the People’s Republic of China.

Randy Blankenhorn, Executive Director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and Promod Vohra, Dean, NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, responded to the presenters and discussed implications for northern Illinois.

Christopher Steiner, author of $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, addressed the gathering at dinner on Thursday evening. Mr. Steiner, a senior staff reporter at Forbes magazine, predicted that surging fuel prices will transform the daily lives of Americans almost beyond recognition. He addressed society’s relationship with energy and what the future holds for us.

Issue sessions were held on these topics:

Emerging Industries and Business Structures in Midwestern States

Research shows that about 80% of long-term economic growth is rooted in the ability of companies to use new technologies to produce new and better goods and services. That is the core engine of growth for the region. What sectors and clusters will typify our principal growth engines in different parts of the region? How well positioned are our regional sectors and clusters to participate in the growth that will be sparked by major new technologies?

Ed Morrison, Economic Policy Advisor with Purdue University’s Center for Regional Development, and Zoltan Acs, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy at George Mason University, are confirmed presenters for this session.

Janyce Fadden, Executive Director of the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, and John Greuling, President and CEO, of the Will County Center for Economic Development, will respond to and discuss the presentations.


Governing the Heartland in 2025

Our current government paradigm is grounded in the twin concepts of local sovereignty and local decision-making. How will current governmental structures need to change in the next 15 years to adapt to the new dynamics that require cooperation across jurisdictional lines? What changes in public policy are needed to encourage local units of government and non-profits to collaborate more systematically on issues that are best addressed on a regional basis? What role do NGOs have in public policy? These and other governance questions will be addressed and examples of promising models and strategies for regional cooperation will be examined.

Lyle Wray, Executive Director of the Capitol Regional Council of Governments, and William Dodge, Principal with Regional Excellence Consulting, are confirmed presenters for this session.

Dave Limardi, City Manager of Highland Park; Illinois; Kurt Thurmaier, Director of NIU’s Public Administration Program; and Patrick Urich, Administrator of Peoria County, Illinois, will respond to the presentation.


Energy Conservation, Environmental Sensitivity, and Efficiency

What policies are needed to retrofit the current built environment to accommodate the environmental and economic realities of the future? These realities include:

  • Promoting energy conservation and environmental sustainability,
  • Allocating infrastructure costs fairly and effectively and in a manner that does not subsidize sprawl,
  • Balancing environmentally sensitive land development with fiscally responsible land development, and.
  • Designing built environments that replenish natural water supplies.

Douglas Farr, AIA, the founding principal of Farr Associates, is the lead presenter for this session.

Brook McDonald, President and CEO, The Conservation Foundation, Jane Tompkins, Director of Community Development, Village of Montgomery, Illinois, and Ty Warner, Principal, Comprehensive Regional Planning, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, will respond to and discuss Mr. Farr’s presentation and implications for northern Illinois.


The Evolving Role of Higher Education in Regional Innovation

Most people think of technology transfer when asked how universities can support innovation in their communities. However, by exchanging knowledge in all of its forms – know-how, expertise, skills, and people, as well as technology – with the commercial, public, and service sectors, higher education institutions can contribute to regional prosperity, quality of life, and cultural enrichment. This session will examine leading practices in knowledge exchange and consider how northern Illinois can best leverage our region’s knowledge assets.

Kevin Cullen, Director of Research and Enterprise with the University of Glasgow (Scotland), and Liam Leightley, Executive Director of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, are the co-presenters for this session.

Raymond Alden, Provost and Executive Vice President of NIU, Trudy Bers, Executive Director of Research, Curriculum and Planning for Oakton Community College, and Dan Swinney, Executive Director of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, will respond to the presentations.


Strategic Agenda Development

The last session of the gathering engaged all participants in a group process to create the first draft of a Regional Action Plan devoted to restoring prosperity to the communities we represent. This draft document will be available in January 2010 and posted on this website.
 
Copyright 2009 by NIU Center for Governmental Studies