Adam Belz -- Michael Porter was in the Twin Cities on Monday talking about regional clusters, American stagnation and the country's failed economic development efforts. He was helping roll out Cluster Mapping, which he, the U.S. Department of Commerce and many others hope will be a tool for better economic development policy. For the purposes of this blog, here are five takeaways from Porter's presentation, and from the data:

1.  Most Americans are struggling in the economy and it's not because of the recession.

Adam Belz -- Economic development efforts in the U.S. have typically focused on cutting taxes and regulation, or giving incentives to individual companies. None of this works, according to Michael Porter, a strategist at Harvard Business School who spoke Monday at the University of Minnesota. What drives high-wage job growth, higher patenting rates and economic resiliency is industry clusters, Porter said, and government should be investing in them by helping to launch training initiatives, for instance.

MINNEAPOLIS—Michael E. Porter, Harvard’s Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School, launched the new U.S. Cluster Mapping tool this morning in Minneapolis as part of a two-day conference called Mapping the Midwest’s Future and held by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

The RENACER program and framework consists of highly customizable and practical training programs, prepared and delivered by the specialized institutions and individual stakeholders collaborating with the program, which will:

On July 29 and 30, 2014, the LMI Institute held its latest training session in Sacramento, CA. The training covered two different economic analysis topics: Cluster Mapping and the Basics of Economic Impact Analysis. Over twenty participants spent two days learning about these topics through a variety of presentations, group exercises and other interactive activities. On July 29th, Sarah Jane Maxted and Jenny Zhao of Harvard Business School instructed participants about the U.S.

On Capitol Hill on July 22, 2014, I joined leaders of JP Morgan Chase as they announced a five-year, $30 million philanthropic investment to support the pioneering work of American small businesses joining “regional clusters.” Clusters are public-private partnerships that convene a region’s corporations, small businesses, universities, investors and regional economic organizations to achieve synergies and productivity levels that a single company could not. Chase’s commitment is believed to be the largest private-sector contribution to date in support of clusters.

Taking an active leadership role on a regional level, the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation invited the Harvard Business School to give one of the first demonstrations in California of its new ‘industry cluster’ mapping data tool. As defined by experts, an industry cluster is a regional concentration of related companies and industries, like the aerospace industry. Industry clusters drive regional economic performance including job growth and motivation, and serve to attract investments, export op

The third annual U.S. Department of Energy National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition will take place on June 11-12, 2014 in Washington, DC. This event is the culmination of six regional contests throughout the country. Regional finalists have been crowned after facing intense competition and judging panels of industry and financial experts. The six finalist student teams represent an array of technologies, including algae production from brewery CO2 waste, advanced turbomachinery systems, and inverters to improve the efficiency of solar panels.

The Global South Summit is one of the most dynamic, agile, innovative and fastest growing forums for today’s global leaders. Each November, the Summit convenes top senior level decision makers from around the world with a distinctive focus on innovation to create abundance of food, health and prosperity. As the keystone of the CumberlandCenter’s convening activities, the Summit is a neutral forum without bias. The Summit builds on the idea that business is the economic engine of global prosperity and innovation.

The TCI Network invites you to its 2014 Global Conference that will take place in Monterrey, Mexico, on November 10-13, 2014.