CPD, training and skills in Local and Regional Economic Development
- 15 hours of on-demand courses covering the 8 disciplines of local and regional economic development
- Practical workbooks (e.g. FDI from scratch; develop a great project idea)
- Community, chatrooms, discussion
- Mentoring support
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
- Training and skills for economic development practitioners
- For less than the price of a conference, you get a year’s membership
Start here:

Develop Your Skills in Local and Regional Economic Development With Online Tutorials, Briefings and Workbooks
15 hours of courses; 17 workbooks

Initial Focus on Professional Training for Executives With 0-5 Years of Experience
Resources for more experienced executives will be launched May 2026

Founder Membership Available Offering Mentoring and Coaching
Click on the button below to access
Testimonials and Team
Glenn (BA, MA, PhD) has 31 years of experience in local, city and regional economic development and regeneration.
This includes executive leadership, project development and leadership, area visioning programmes, leading partnerships, and economic analysis and insight.
Glenn has held senior roles at Futureskills Scotland, London Development Agency, Centre for Cities, The East of England Development Agency, and Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP.
Glenn also heads up a consultancy practice at Mylocaleconomy; and contributes to the Local Skills Improvement Partnership.
"A Fabulous Resource For Our Industry"
“A big shout out to Glenn Athey who has taken his many years in economic development consultancy and created Economic Development World (www.economicdevelopment.world), the UK’s first online community for local and regional economic development that provides CPD, on-demand lean learning, a community of peers and workbooks. Built on three pillars of accelerated learning, shared knowledge and community support, it is a fabulous resource for our industry. Have a look at Glenn’s video tour at: https://economicdevelopment.world/take-a-video-tour-of-economic-development-world/
“From what I have seen already, this has the potential to create a stepchange in how the UK delivers economic development, putting the skills and development of practitioners, whether newbies or old hands, front and centre.
“Get yourselves signed up, get involved and support this great initiative.”
CPD for local and regional economic develoment
A real live community with interaction, live events, expert Q&A and live cohorts of courses.
Flexible lean learning: learning and skills when you need them
You can access any course at any time, when you need it. Need to learn about FDI for your meeting next week? we’ve got it covered.
A free foundation course in Economic Development
A free 2-hour foundation course for those new to local and regional economic development.
Regular articles, tips, guides and industry news
Short form news and tips, and long-form expert reviews and guides.
A paid membership that includes all courses, resources and access to live content and webinars
Membership gets you access to 15+ hours of courses, that are being refined and expanded all the time – in response to your needs.
Mentoring and coaching
Structured mentoring programmes with specialist expert advisors and mentors.
Build your own SMART objectives with our toolkit
"𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆." "𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵." "𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽." 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿? In 31 years of economic development work, I've learned one hard truth: 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. Sharpen up your objectives 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸...
𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘁-𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 £𝟭 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆
This article on green economy opportunities is based on the CPD, training and skills development materials and courses for Local and Regional Economic Development at http://www.economicdevelopment.world/about
𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵
Stop focusing on only one kind of Innovation – Novel Innovation, as your local economy needs service sector innovation, adoption and adaptation. This article on green economy opportunities is based on the CPD, training and skills development materials and courses for Local and Regional Economic Development at http://www.economicdevelopment.world/about
Take a video tour of the new community for CPD, training and skills in Local and Regional Economic Development
Economic Development World launched for Founder Members today! If you are an early stage career economic developer and are looking for a CPD programme, community of practice, and structured learning in local and regional economic development - then Economic...
The Growth Sectors Skills Trap You Need to Avoid
𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 "𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀," 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱. We're funneling all our attention into fashionable trends while critical job vacancies go unfilled in stable, vital industries like...
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟯 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺)
Welcome to the first ED Unpacked Youtube video. This video series will provide deep dives, thought leadership, and challenge conventional wisdom in local and regional economic development.I've reviewed hundreds of economic development strategies over 30 years and been...











