Technology-based Economic Development Support Services

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Do you want to understand and take advantage of your technology assets?

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Taratec works with federal government agencies, state economic development offices, local planning and economic development agencies, regional chambers of commerce and partnerships, and utilities interested in stimulating economic development. Drawing upon Michael Porter's Model of Competitive Advantage, Taratec's strategies build on technology assets and address gaps constraining technology cluster development.

Our work in this area has included such projects as:

• Ohio's Fuel Cell Roadmap:
  Taratec was engaged by the State of Ohio to assist it in charting a course of action that would make the State a major location for research, development and commercialization in the fuel cell industry. Utilizing workshops and extensive market research, Taratec created a Fuel Cell Roadmap for Ohio. The Roadmap, and its subsequent revisions as new research about this emerging technology becomes available, is used to guide Ohio's investments in the fuel cell industry.
• Utility-sponsored Economic Development:
  A major utility in need of a strategic economic development plan enlisted Taratec's services. We first identified five different industry clusters that were important to the utility's service area economy and its industrial revenue growth. We then identified state-of-the-art economic development programs being implemented in other parts of the country and analyzed them with respect to how well they might work in the utility's various service territories.
• Platform Lab Strategic Plan:
  The Ohio Supercomputer Center engaged Taratec to determine the level of local demand for a shared use facility that would provide developers and users with diverse hardware and software and expert assistance. The initial market data and economic projections developed by Taratec were incorporated into the business plan for the facility and were used to obtain start-up funding. The Platform Lab was successfully launched a year later and has become a valuable addition to the IT infrastructure of Central Ohio.
• Metro Denver Network:
  The Metro Denver Network (MDN) needed a strategic plan and asked Taratec to conduct a detailed analysis of the Denver region's economic structure. We identified four leading edge industrial sectors with the potential to provide long-term, high quality, and stable economic prosperity. In the process of implementing this strategic plan, Taratec also helped the MDN build strategic alliances with existing industry and technology associations in the Denver Region.
• State Science and Technology Indicators:
  Since 2000, Taratec has been commissioned by branches of the United States federal government, such as the Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy, to gather and compile the latest available state business, economic and education data and transform it into a publication that allows states to compare their performance in these areas with that of other states. Links to these publications can be found in our Publications section.