Episode 43: Turning Evidence into Action: ANL’s Alison Peoples on Building Regional Manufacturing Ecosystems

It was a pleasure to welcome Alison Peoples from Argonne National Laboratory to the podcast. Alison is a statistician and economic development researcher whose career has taken her from the municipal bond trading desks of Boston to the Economic Development Districts of New Mexico — and ultimately to one of America’s premier federal research institutions, where she 

We talk about the big challenge that has driven AMCC’s work for over 15 years: how do regional leaders get organized around the best available data to assess their manufacturing ecosystem of support and craft smarter interventions? Alison walks us through Argonne’s important work in this area, including the National Economic Resilience Data Explorer (NERDE) and the Economic Development Capacity Index (EDCI). We discuss the need for building a clearer picture of siloed public data that regional leaders need but rarely have easy access to, in order for their decisions to be driven by the best available data..

We also explore what it will take to close the gap between economic research and economic development practice and why Alison is genuinely hopeful about the next generation’s ability to bridge the worlds of technology and humanity. Thanks to Alison for a great conversation, give it a listen! 

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AMCC’s podcast is made possible in part by the expertise of Mike McAllen, founder of Podcasting4Associations. Are you part of an association also looking to produce a podcast? Let us get you in touch with Mike.

Thank you to the Economic Development Administration for their partnership in producing this podcast. This podcast was prepared in part using Federal funds under award 3070145 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

David Van Siclen, Project Operations Director
David Van Siclen, Project Operations Director

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