Julie Huls

In addition to serving our clients in crisis, Waymaker Group has been working hard behind the scenes to expand and fine-tune services we know our communities will need when the COVID-19 chaos settles. 

The December white paper issued by Information Technology and Innovation Foundation & The Brookings Institution has, thankfully, been getting a lot of national attention and represents the next chapter in our country's economic history. 

Setting an intentional economic development strategy and promoting the hell out of your creative industries are best practices other mid-markets can learn from. 

We're in conversations right now with some cities struggling to determine whether or not investments in the innovation economy are too risky, or if the change in patterned behavior will be too disruptive.

The term, “winner takes all” is a common if not stale term that’s been used in the technology industry for years. While it may be an ugly reality in tech, it’s a principle that has some significantly detrimental consequences in economic development.

The World Economic Forum recently released a report re: the fastest growing occupations.

As Waymaker closes up a three-day tour with generous Midwestern hospitality provided by the leaders of the Cortex Innovation Community, it sinks in deeply: innovation leaders in the middle part of the country are made from a special kind of mettle. 

Thomas Friedman caught our attention in 2005 with his now-famous book; The World is Flat. 

It may sound like a boring topic, but the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, was really a global technology Fair. 

The last 90 days have been full: 12,000 miles crisscrossing very distinctive regions in the Middle and Eastern U.S.; three innovation conferences; meetings with two mayors;