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.
Best Practice Economic Development Organisations Don’t Just Implement Programs
𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Organisations 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. Here’s the behaviours I've seen from 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 economic development organisations: 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻:...
The Hidden Cost of Vague Objectives
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗩𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀. (and it will make or break your economic development initiatives) 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. → Simply having a "mission statement" doesn't...
Coming soon… a day in the life of an economic development consultant
I'll soon be starting a new semi-daily blog highlighting my work, my challenges, mistakes, caffeine habit and frustrations with technology... and don't get me started on public procurement exercises!!! trying to add a bit of humour, with insight and reflection to...
How to Get Your Public Funding Approved for Local Economic development
Getting Your Local Economic Development Funding Approved can be a Challenge if You have no or Little Experience in This! Based on our 𝘌𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴, here are key tips for success: 1️⃣ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: Know your organization's...
Master The 7 Executive Tasks in Local Economic Development
𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝟳 𝙀𝙭𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙣 Local 𝙀𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩: 1 - Set clear objectives for your local economy, programme, service or agency 2 - Develop winning ideas for your local economy 3 - Write a successful board or committee paper for your local economy service...
Asked to Write a Board or Committee Paper About Your Local Economy at Short Notice? Essential Guidance
We've all been there - "Glenn, we (you) need to write a board paper about this local economic development initiative, its due in tomorrow by 5pm. I'm assuming you can get on with this no problem?!" But writing a board paper from zero experience isn't easy. So here's a...