DATA--EDA Releases New Tools on Clusters and Innovation

Economic Development Administration, Purdue University, and Indiana Business Research Center Release New Tools on Clusters and Innovation
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has passed along the following update:

"EDA has just released some new tools in conjunction with our grantees Purdue University and the Indiana Business Research Center on clusters and innovation. The tools builds on the initial industry cluster tool research by providing occupational cluster data, so practitioners can more easily identify potential skill gaps in what businesses need and what the population's skills are. Additionally, the research led to the development of an innovation index that allows practitioners to compare their region's innovation capacity to another area. We see this as an important tool to support strategic planning efforts, as it allows practitioners feedback not only on their "innovation score", but also information on their score in the various input - so that if there are deficiencies in the inputs that lead to innovation those can be incorporated into their planning efforts."

These tools can be accessed at: www.statsamerica.org/innovation/