Accredited Economic Development Organization

At EconoVention R.E.D., we are big believers in collaboration and partnerships. We perceive economic development as the integration of a larger ecosystem of players who need to work together with common goals. We will be active members of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). Bill Hulsey, one of our Managing Partners at EconoVention R.E.D., has already been certified as a CEdC.

The goal of EconoVention R.E.D. will be to become certified as an Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) as quickly as possible. Some of the Managing Partners of EconoVention R.E.D. will also become certified as Entrepreneurship Development Professionals (EDP). EconoVention R.E.D. will also work closely with the Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP) group and support their research efforts, especially those focused on technology-led economic development. We will also be active in helping IEDC in its education programs around technology-led economic development, build a working relationship with the Economic Development Administration (E.D.A.), and understand how to leverage the resources of that government organization to support regional and local economic development. On top of that, EconoVention R.E.D. has already connected with the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) and is working on determining how best to support their efforts.

Additionally, we are connected with the Southern Startups group out of New Orleans and will support their efforts across the Southeastern U.S. Another thing we will do is connect with and work with local Chambers of Commerce, local Economic Development groups, and any other organizations in a local community that supports technology-led economic development. As discussed earlier, we are working closely with IC2 out of Austin and will take advantage of the models they have developed to accelerate technology-led economic development. We are also working closely with the IC2 research group, the Bureau of Business Research (B.B.R.), to take advantage of the research that they have done around economic development.