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Governments

Around the world, governments play an important role in advancing innovation districts, drawing important connections between people, places, and ideas

The role of government

The role that governments play in advancing innovation districts is both diverse and significant:

Government leaders can serve as conveners, providing a platform for the development of a collective vision on the 21st-century imperative: collaborate to compete.

Drawing on their skills as leaders, government heads can be champions by offering a vision for growing a successful innovation economy.

Given on their regulatory powers, government leaders can be catalysts by devising new tools or streamlining old rules to incentivize district growth.

National or Federal governments

Known to introduce the concept of innovation districts to political and economic leaders. Some have played both a champion and convening role, by financing research and planning efforts to help leverage cities with strong universities and medical institutions. In a few cases, national governments passed resolutions to partially finance new projects and programs.

State governments

They have also introduced and championed the economic model for their respective states. In some cases, they developed competitions to spur cities and their institutions to devise a district that builds on their assets. In other cases, they have directly financed catalytic infrastructure, financing for early stage companies, and critical planning activities. Lastly, they have devised supportive policies to advance innovative sectors and place-based development.

City governments or municipalities

Have been known to support new and existing district efforts. Their support includes important changes in zoning, financing new infrastructure, enabling smart tax incentives, and, in some rare cases, city governments have given unique powers to district organizations to develop master plans and issue tax abatements.