How economic development is made in Germany

The Renaissance Council has always drawn from international best practices — particularly those of industrialized European countries. A recent article by Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post inspired me to take a new look at Germany. Germany’s economy is as strong as ever — with rising wages, low unemployment, and export rates second only to [...]

Austin Polytech on PBS NewsHour

In October, WTTW’s acclaimed current affairs show Chicago Tonight aired a feature segment about Austin Polytech, spreading the word about our program to viewers across the Chicago area. Last night, audiences throughout the United States learned about Austin Polytech as our local story aired on the acclaimed national news show PBS NewsHour. If you missed [...]

How The Media Fails Manufacturing

One of the toughest problems facing American manufacturing has nothing to do with taxes, technology or trade policy: it is “messaging”. The message the general public gets about manufacturing is usually unrelentingly bad (and 20 years out-of-date) because the job of telling the rich, complicated and hopeful story of American manufacturing has been given to [...]

Speaking the Language of Transformation

Three decades ago, the political scientist James MacGregor Burns divided styles leadership into these categories: “Transactional“: “…one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things.” And “Transformational“: “…when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one [...]

How MEPs can help drive a manufacturing renaissance

Starting new initiatives like Austin Polytech is an important step toward establishing Chicagoland as the global leader in advanced manufacturing, but it’s equally important to support and develop existing resources like the US Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. The primary focus of an MEP is to serve manufacturers with fewer than 500 [...]

Press coverage triple-whammy for Austin Polytech

What do Chicago Tonight, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune have in common? They all featured great stories about Austin Polytech this month. On October 14, WTTW’s acclaimed current affairs show, Chicago Tonight, aired a segment about Austin Polytech by Chicago News Cooperative reporter Ash-har Quraishi. The segment complemented a New York Times [...]

Rebuilding the Jobs Pipeline

Check out the new Encyclopedia Britannica blog post “Rebuilding the Jobs Pipeline” by Edward E. Gordon, noted author and president of Imperial Consulting Corporation. Ed is an expert on workforce issues. There are more than 1.7 million manufacturing jobs in the Chicago metropolitan area. Chicagoland has one of the largest concentrations of small advanced technical [...]

Renaissance Council co-chair Jorge Ramirez elected president of Chicago Federation of Labor

Congratulations to our co-chair Jorge Ramirez on his recent election as president of the Chicago Federation of Labor! “We need to invest in manufacturing so we can remain one of the greatest and most advanced producers of the world’s goods,” Jorge wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. “America’s unions are committed to this rebuilding process, and [...]

Sen. Demuzio named Champion of Illinois Manufacturing

State Senator Deanna Demuzio (Carlinville) was recognized as the 2010 Champion of Illinois Manufacturing by IMEC (Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center) for supporting investments and policy that will enable manufacturers to emerge from the recession in a better position to succeed long term. The award was presented to Senator Demuzio at an event at Truss Slater [...]

Manufacturing growth accelerator expands to Chicago

Building on its decade-plus record of improving the productivity and global competitiveness of  downstate manufacturing companies, the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) announced it had won a $2.5 million competitive contract to bring its job-creating expertise to the Chicago area. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working [...]