Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland,

Ohio 44103 USA

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The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) Open Source Economic Development (OSED) is one form of Open Economic Networks. OSED is a specific investment model of how you build these networks. It’s an approach to build strategy maps for open economic networks geared toward teaching and replicating. FAQ's about Open Source Economic Development Q: What is Open Source Economic Development and what does it mean to do economic development from this kind of approach? A: Open Source Economic Development is a way of thinking about leveraging the passion and knowledge of individuals to strengthen social networks in five areas of economic investment: Brainpower, Innovation, Education, Dialogue & Inclusion, and Branding Stories. This is accomplished by adhering to principles of behavior that build trust with one another. These principles are:

• Everyone is encouraged to participate • Everyone has something of value to offer • All participants listen carefully to each other and consider all ideas

and viewpoints • A positive and constructive atmosphere is maintained • Everyone understands that discussions are open forums and there is no

right or wrong answer

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland,

Ohio 44103 USA

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Q: If Open Source Economic Development means anyone can participate anywhere, anytime, does anyone organize it or is it just chaos or some kind of leaderless, hierarchy-free self-organization? A: Different from top down organization invitation-only meetings, Open Source Economic Development is an inclusive process that requires guided leadership. The need for innovation in education, for example, is a topic everyone can relate to. A successful way to establish a process leveraging individual initiative is to host an Open Space gathering in education. Areas of interest and new ideas about education will emerge. The next step is for committed partners to work together collaboratively to design next steps toward taking action. Q: Do the thousands of people now in corporate, government, funding, and civic leadership positions have any role or power in an Open Source model? A: Yes. Open Source Economic Development discriminates only by those who have initiative and are known for getting things done. Every individual has ideas of value. The challenge, regardless of prior experience, is to practice behaviors that build trust and encourage collaboration, enabling a free flow of diverse idea exchange. Once a climate of sharing is established, “group think” can evolve to the next maturation of thought resulting in new idea innovation.

2004 United Way Clean Up Day, PA Volunteers from Old Point National Bank and NASA Cleaning and sorting food, and painting fences at Salvation Army.

The String Quartet is a collaborative model we can learn from. The Matangi Quartet at the 8th Banff International String Quartet Competition. Photo Credit: Donald Lee

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland,

Ohio 44103 USA

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Q: Does Open Source Economic Development mean in the end everything is common property and no one "owns" anything? We need to be careful not to confuse property ownership with idea ownership. Innovative thinking is the result of a deep consideration of many perspectives of a single problem and does not happen in a vacuum. Open Source Economic Development activity is in service of the public good - providing opportunity to accelerate individual thinking and mature regional thinking. Trust is an important component, because it allows contributors to realize that what they offer will be returned exponentially in the form of ideas, social capital and professional services. Mutual respect of idea origination, that no two ideas are alike and the understanding that idea creation is not finite are important understandings to grasp. This kind of thinking allows individuals to "let go" of ownership, which impedes idea development. Everyone benefits cooperatively. Q: Do people need any new kinds of skills or knowledge or competencies in order to "do Open Source" and if so which, can they be learned, and how?

A: We have what we need; we're just out of practice. We need to trust one another, think in terms of abundance instead of scarcity, practice working together, use less, appreciate more and take leadership on things that matter. Acquisition of new and refresh existing competencies is critical in technology, dialogue and facilitation, project process and networking. We

Bungee jumping in Australia. We need to be comfortable multi-tasking on a high level and be able to "bungee-jump" from the 10,000-foot level to rock bottom.

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland,

Ohio 44103 USA

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need to be comfortable multi-tasking on a high level and be able to "bungee-jump" from the 10,000-foot level to rock bottom. By learning from local leaders and early adopters we can learn, re-up and invest in our region. Q: Can a region or community do Open Source Economic Development in an environment where big funders, big business, and big government defines economic development as investing in commercial, real estate, and hot big-ticket technology ventures? A: There are always obstacles in all kinds of sizes, shapes and forms. The challenge is to innovate far beyond any barriers and maintain the focus on what is important, always pushing ahead. Martha Layne Collins, Former Governor of Kentucky says we'll never have enough money and we will never have enough time. The key is to out perform! Q: How does I-Open intend to measure its success after 2 years, let's say, doing Open Source Economic Development? A: The success will be measured in performance of initiatives, quality of teamwork, and networks modeling behaviors that build trust and collaboration and accelerating change to build sustainable regions.

Start a forum to post discussion, new information and provide comment on activities related to Open Source Economic Development in your region and in the world.

(From the I-Open smartWorkspace, 2005. More: http://ow.ly/XONf)

The pit crew for Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2005 NASCAR race. We need to build high performance teams to accelerate new initiatives.