Keynote Case Study: Mississippi Economic Development Council: The Growth Was Already Arriving.

Jim Carroll’s keynote challenged Mississippi economic-development leaders in Biloxi to build the skills, infrastructure and mindset required to capture growth from fast-moving technologies and industries.

The keynote, “The Growth Was Already Arriving,” laid out the challenge and the path forward.

Regions were competing for investment in a world where manufacturing, logistics, technology and workforce requirements were changing at high speed.

Six trends are shaping that shift.

• Smart Factories. Digitized manufacturing was changing the skills, facilities and supplier ecosystems regions needed to attract.
• Autonomous Mobility. Self-driving technologies were reshaping transportation, logistics and the infrastructure around them.
• 3D Printing. Additive manufacturing was creating new production models and new opportunities for local specialization.
• Artificial Intelligence. AI and cognitive systems were creating new industries while reinventing existing ones.
• Connected Infrastructure. The Internet of Things was raising the value of digital infrastructure and data-rich operating environments.
• Skills + Mindset. Growth followed regions that built future-ready skills and chose adaptation over defeatism.

The future you are looking for, Jim told Mississippi’s economic-development leaders, is often right in front of you. Turn emerging trends into regional opportunity.

Economic-development audiences are used to competing on incentives and tax breaks. Jim’s challenge in Biloxi was to compete on readiness instead — the regions that build the skills and infrastructure first are the ones that capture the growth, incentives or not. Explore more keynote case studies.