| |
In 2003, the City of San Jose developed an economic strategy that guides
City policy, investments, and partnerships over the next five years.
What is economic development?
Economic development is the purposeful shaping of an economy toward community
goals, such as increased competitiveness and standard of living.
What is an economic development strategy?
The strategy established a vision for how San Jose can excel economically
and how the City and its partners (private, nonprofit, public sector) can
work together to achieve the vision. It includes clarification of the community's
goals and a realistic, fact-based assessment of the community's distinctive
advantages, existing economic base, and external competition and trends.
Key questions addressed by the strategy include:
- What are San Jose's goals for its economy?
- What are the desired outcomes for people, for companies, for government?
- What distinctive assets and advantages does San Jose have to build on
to evolve its economic base?
- What challenges and concerns do we need to address?
- How can San Jose overcome competitive disadvantages?
- What unique role can San Jose play in the regional, national, and global
economies?
- How will we differentiate San Jose from competitor communities, including
other "technology regions"?
- What can city government do to enable evolution of the economy toward
key goals?
Why does San Jose need an economic development strategy?
San Jose cannot continue to be a great community without a strong, resilient economy.
San Jose has become the 11th largest city in America and an important contributor to the Silicon Valley economy, and to the national and world economies. The region has exceptional rates of productivity and a highly educated workforce, but faces aggressive competition from other innovation centers globally and has no guarantee of future success.
To sustain competitiveness, San Jose will need to compete through innovation and quality of life, and to differentiate itself from other advanced regions. This will require the kinds of real estate improvements and public infrastructure investments that have characterized the City's economic development efforts in the past (i.e., build, expand, improve facilities), as well as creating and leveraging other important success factors, such as education and training, research, entrepreneurship, community image, and the arts.
Having a "big picture" economic strategy will help the City and other partners in economic and community development shape policy and prioritize investments in a proactive manner. The strategy will serve as a guide for understanding choices and making decisions.
How will the strategy be implemented?
The strategy is intended to serve as a framework for decision-making for the
City of San Jose. The City will translate the strategy into specific tactics
in areas like the following: land use, permitting, promotion, new business
incubation, small business support, infrastructure investment, service delivery,
and downtown development.
It is also intended that the strategy inform the activities of a range of business
and civic institutions to move the community in the same desired direction.
To view the entire economic strategy, click here.
If you would like the executive summary of the strategy, please click here.
For all supporting documents related to the strategy, please click here.
|
