Tactics organize the EDS cluster, support business growth and investment, strengthen talent pipelines, and accelerate innovation and commercialization. Cluster Organizing • Establish a consensus sector coordinator to organize and boost EDS cluster- building activity across relevant groups. • Foster connectivity among and responsiveness to large, established firms, including those with intramural EDS capabilities. • Evaluate the potential for establishing a formal industry-led tech alliance over time, similar to other regions. Business Attraction, Retention, and Expansion • Focus mainstream economic development efforts on EDS attraction and expansion, including proactive lead generation and international engagement strategy. • Execute a unified communications campaign that defines and articulates the region’s value proposition, both internally and externally. • Maintain an EDS Asset Inventory for application to ecosystem navigation / development and marketing. • Cultivate relationships with specialized EDS investors. Talent Pipeline • Conduct a deep regional assessment of priority EDS occupational demand and regional training pipelines. • Establish a regional talent leadership group among large EDS employers. • Create a “cooperative marketplace” to ease the connections between workers and employers. • Target regional talent attraction and retention initiatives toward the EDS sector. • Evaluate expansion of apprenticeship and on-the-job training pathways, integrating the offer across talent developers. Innovation and Entrepreneurship • Expand anchor firm engagement in regional start-up and scale-up growth. • Facilitate “sector sandboxes” linking EDS firms with enterprise customers. • Launch a Global EDS Accelerator problem-solving competition. • Form an EDS-relevant applied research and innovation consortium among regional universities as a resource for companies and entrepreneurs. • Strengthen connections with investors and capital sources focused on EDS and enterprise technologies, building on existing capacity.

Tactics strengthen manufacturing competitiveness through regional organizing, workforce development, firm capacity‑building, and improved coordination. Regional Organizing • Create a consolidated and enhanced region-wide manufacturing alliance, replacing existing small, fragmented groups. Talent Pipelines • Undertake a comprehensive regional manufacturing talent study. • Close equipment gaps and facility constraints of workforce training providers. • Improve instructor availability via new dedicated funding sources, institutional reforms to pay scales and formal certifications, and mechanisms to jointly recruit instructors on loan from industry. • Focus mainstream workforce development resources to support the sector, including more incumbent worker training. • Launch dedicated “industry navigator” functions to reach more employers. • Initiate new technical assistance programs to enhance internal human resources capacity to engage in talent demand planning and access. • Undertake a regional youth engagement campaign to elevate awareness and interest in manufacturing careers. Supports for Small and Medium-Size Manufacturer (SMM) Capacity-Building: • Launch a succession planning technical assistance program for SMMs, including employee ownership options for greater local retention. • Scale and enhance technical assistance offerings to help firms navigate product and process improvements that facilitate ongoing competitiveness amid growing market penetration of emerging technologies. • Establish a testing and demonstration platform to vet and raise visibility of new technologies to improve SMM productivity, especially AI applications. • Create a physical center of gravity for regional SMMs to access acceleration, capital, and technical assistance; enable shared facilities. • Convene private equity actors to identify solutions for retaining local SMM firms. • Facilitate greater intra-regional supply chain matchmaking to bolster market opportunities and sector cohesion. Business Development and Land Use: • Develop a comprehensive regional site inventory and readiness assessment to improve response to firms on business attraction and expansion inquiries and identify opportunities to bring sites closer to delivery. • Assess local land-use policies — especially those that constrain the growth of existing manufacturing firms — to inform engagement with sub-regional jurisdictions.

Tactics expand the industry within life sciences by strengthening coordination, talent pipelines, and pathways to capital, partnerships, and local manufacturing scale. Regional Organizing • Institutionalize a permanent regional life sciences cluster initiative. • Reinforce mainstream economic development activities targeted at the sector and priority specializations. • Expand regional commercialization and tech transfer functions. Sector Diversification • Organize and engage medical device firms to understand and serve ongoing competitiveness needs • Establish a common front door for firms to access regional healthcare systems for device clinical trials • Support enhanced navigation and matchmaking between medical device innovators and regional contract manufacturers to capture more local production. Executive and Enterprise Talent • Launch a campaign to steward, retain, and attract C-suite life sciences talent • Organize industry executives as a collective to welcome and build a stronger community of high-level regional C-suite industry talent. • Engage universities to target entry-level and MBA business talent for recruitment into the sector. Skilled Technical Workforce • Undertake a comprehensive regional life sciences talent study • Advance alignment among existing workforce development programs and shared uptake of proven models for designing high-demand occupational training • Deploy a regional youth engagement campaign to elevate awareness and interest in life sciences manufacturing careers • Galvanize more employer champions to invest in and partner with workforce/educational institutions Capital Access • Identify and size existing resident capital sources in a comprehensive map to more clearly define resources and gaps. • Engage philanthropy, high-net worth individuals, and other “non-traditional” investors on opportunities to invest in early-stage start-ups.