Essential Economic Development
A Foundation Course for Local and Regional Economic Development
17 lessons, 2.5 hours. Learn the fundamentals of local and regional economic development for free.
Access the course via our community learning site. Or subscribe via email to get a daily lesson emailed directly to you.
Access via our community learning site:
Access the course via our community learning site here. The 17 lessons are structured as follows:
1. Rationale for Local and Regional Economic Development
2. Overview of themes and functions
3. Understanding economics and economic trends
4. Megatrends
5. Theory of Economic Development
6. Policy
7. Strategy
8. Intelligence & insight
9. Industrial development & clusters
10. Enterprise & entrepreneurship
11. Inward investment / FDI
12. Labour markets
13. Education & skills
14. Economic Participation, Employability and Unemployment
15. Poverty & inequality
16. Place & infrastructure
17. Low carbon, climate change & sustainability
Register here to get free access to the Foundation course’s 17 lessons
Email course: Register below for your 17-Daily lessons by email
SmartCitiesWorld News: Finnish cities join forces to prevent biodiversity loss
Source: SmartCitiesWorld News Author: SmartCitiesWorld news team Date published: 2025-09-19 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] The 10 largest cities in Finland – Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Oulu, Pori, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa...
SmartCitiesWorld News: Seattle releases climate action progress report
Source: SmartCitiesWorld News Author: SmartCitiesWorld news team Date published: 2025-09-18 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] Seattle has completed or made significant progress on more than half (88 of 148) of the actions in its 2013 Climate...
Regional Economies: Ontario welcomes $207 million investment in the advanced manufacturing sector
Source: Regional Economies Author: Jared Dodds Date published: 2025-09-18 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] Sept. 18, 2025, Innisfil, Ont. — The Ontario government is welcoming an investment of nearly $207 million from Northern Transformer...
RSA Main: Announcing the RSA Research Network on Bridging Governance Gaps in City-regions Addressing Land Take and City-Region Building through Comparative Research
Source: RSA Main Author: Alex Holmes Date published: 2025-09-18 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] We are pleased to announce that the RSA Board have agreed funding for the RSA Research Network on Bridging Governance Gaps in City-regions...
Combined Authorities (England): Mayor highlights plan to be ‘centre stage of the UK’s growing creative industries’ with more funding announced for new TV and film projects
Source: Combined Authorities (England) Author: Beverly Rademacher Date published: 2025-09-18 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] The West Midlands IP Fund will open for a second round of applications later this month with grants of up to...
Combined Authorities (England): Lancashire Growth Plan sets focus for £20bn investment
Source: Combined Authorities (England) Author: Charlie Valentine Date published: 2025-09-18 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] The combined authority has unveiled a prospectus highlighting its strategic focuses and key opportunities, such as...
Local Economies (UK): The UK is getting a bite-sized version of Stargate, a sweeping AI infrastructure project from OpenAI and Nvidia
Source: Local Economies (UK) Author: tspirlet@insider.com (Thibault Spirlet) Date published: 2025-09-17 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] Donald Trump arrives for his second UK state visit.ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty...
International Lessons From City Deals
𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 I was lucky to participate in a 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 last week. Here are the key lessons from the UK and Australia on City Deals. It was a chance to reflect on the great report I wrote with Professor...
The Strategist: Australia’s trusted tech moment in the Pacific: Don’t let the 5G lesson go to waste
Source: The Strategist Author: Jason Van der Schyff Date published: 2025-09-16 [original article can be accessed via hyperlink at the end] Australia should position itself as the trusted technology partner for core infrastructure across the Pacific. More than...