At the MIT Business for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT) Lab, we study how business coalitions can leverage their leadership strengths – developing a vision, making sense, and convening – to drive inclusive local economic development and a clean energy future. The starting point is a clear North Star vision that includes energy, an opportunity sector that is growing faster than the entire U.S. workforce and contributing as much to U.S. GDP as artificial intelligence.
The P33 Chicago Business Coalition is driving a larger regional strategy of quantum tech, semiconductors and biomanufacturing enabled by decarbonized technologies and infrastructure. In Minnesota, Greater MSP is spearheading a vision for advanced manufacturing, food science, biomanufacturing and medtech, supported by industrial decarbonization and a new sustainable aviation fuel hub. Both regions have secured billions of dollars in once-in-a-generation federal funding to advance their development strategies.
Talent Demand Signaling and the Clean Energy Economy in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is an example of how the visioning, sensemaking, and convening framework works. The Rhode Island Partnership, made up of the state's largest employers, helped develop a Grow Blue strategy that leverages the state's unique maritime, energy, and defense assets. Rhode Island is striving to become the first state to be powered entirely by renewable energy.
To advance this vision, the Partnership engaged the Boston Consulting Group to develop a playbook to understand the state's workforce needs and forecast talent demands. The Partnership then brought together state governments, labor unions, and workforce brokers to help build an Employer Signaling System. Modeled after a successful system developed by the Greater Washington Partnership, the system dynamically assesses and forecasts workforce needs, eliminating uncertainty in workforce development and helping to identify high-potential communities for investment within the rapidly growing blue and green economies.
Houston's path to a low-carbon future
In Houston, a key energy hub, the nonprofit Houston Future Center and the University of Houston led the way with a 2021 report that charted a path to a low-carbon, energy-rich future. The Center then worked with the business-led Greater Houston Partnership and McKinsey & Company to convene more than 100 stakeholders to develop a clean hydrogen market analysis and roadmap that could create 180,000 jobs statewide, increase GDP growth by $100 billion, and reduce carbon emissions by 220 million metric tons (MT) worldwide by 2050.
The Center currently leads a 40-company Hydrogen Steering Committee to grow Houston's clean hydrogen ecosystem through expanding international trade, supply chain development and a statewide transportation network. In 2023, the Department of Energy selected the industry-led Gulf Coast HyVelocity Hub to receive up to $1.2 billion in federal funding.
Revitalizing the Appalachian Economy
In Appalachia, a region struggling with the decline of its coal mining and steel industries, American Electric Power (AEP) is spearheading an economic revitalization strategy called Appalachian Sky. Created in collaboration with local partners, the strategy envisions an “all-of-the-above” energy platform that would grow the region’s aerospace industry while reducing AEP’s carbon footprint.
Appalachian Sky is taking a three-pronged approach: certifying regions as “aviation-ready” to meet the needs of the aerospace industry, passing legislation to create “business-ready sites” with pre-built energy infrastructure, and retraining skilled metalworking workers.
The strategy is paying off: Several airports in the region are AeroReady certified, and in 2024, West Virginia will secure a $3 billion investment from Nucor Steel to build a new facility that will create 800 full-time jobs. Partnerships with Marshall University and New River Technical College are also helping train a new workforce of pilots and aerospace mechanics.
Proactive business leadership for regional growth
Business leaders across the country are driving local economic growth that aligns with business and talent goals to revitalize local economies, create good jobs and advance a sustainable energy future.
Leadership strategies of visioning, meaning making, and convening can help regions secure funding at scale by aligning business priorities with community needs to meet federal grant requirements set by agencies such as the Department of Energy (DOE), including job creation, job quality, equitable access to opportunity, and meaningful engagement with community and labor stakeholders.
As each region looks to the future, key focus areas include expanding supply chains, expanding workforce development and strengthening two-way engagement with communities. Laura Goldberg, senior vice president of Houston's Center for the Future, emphasized that moving forward requires “early action and scaling with agile learning,” rather than waiting for the perfect solution and then implementing it.
