Course Guide and Prospectus
Economic Development World provides:
Insights, guidance and professional development resources
Free 2.5 hour foundation course on local and regional economic development
14 hour Executive Track Course
Events, Coaching, Workbooks
Click here to download the course prospectus.
A vibrant community with podcast, webinars, live cohort courses and chatrooms
A real live community with interaction, live events, expert Q&A and live cohorts of courses.
Flexible lean learning: learning when you need it
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 2.5-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 50+ 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.
Our experts
Glenn Athey
Glenn (BA, MA, PhD) has 31 years of experience in local and regional skills and labour market policy and analysis. 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.
Our Clients are Superfans
“Glenn delivers high quality advice and insights based on years of experience with no fuss, he just delivers the results you need.”
“
“Glenn’s work is highly professional, demonstrating a very high level of stakeholder management, workshop and facilitation skills.”
Local London
“Glenn is an uber-consultant, a cut above the rest.”
UK Innovation Corridor
“Glenn, Mike and Hannah delivered us a high quality and locally focused employment, careers and skills strategy and action plan that allows us to take our approach and reputation for skills to the next level.”
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 – 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝟱 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀
The evidence is clear: successful industrial clusters generate genuine competitive advantages. Firms in Oxfordshire’s Motorsport Valley are 6x more productive than isolated competitors. Research Triangle Park transformed North Carolina from textile dependence into a £17 billion innovation economy. Denmark’s professionalised clusters consistently outperform regions without them. Yet cluster initiatives can sometimes fail to deliver. Why? […]
𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
Local leaders often say they can’t afford to invest in economic development. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 – 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶 𝗥𝗼𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗸’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹: 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Consider what […]
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 “𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆” 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝘆
Most economic developers treat net zero as a compliance exercise. They shouldn't. Here's what the evidence actually shows: Green industries in the UK already contribute £71 billion in GVA. They support 840,000 jobs at an average wage of £42,600 (versus £33,400...