Regional Economic Development with EDA University Centers

Abstract

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center (UC) program seeks to help strengthen regional economies by leveraging higher education assets to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, and skilled talent. For more than 18 months, the University Economic Development Administration (UEDA) and the Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) studied how EDA-designated UCs organize, operate, and implement their economic development programs. With EDA support, UEDA sought both to expand its reach to the UCs and support EDA’s goals by facilitating the transfer of knowledge and sharing best practices among the EDA UCs. From this work, UEDA identified common elements across the EDA UCs and offered new ideas to increase the impact EDA UCs have on the communities they serve.