Community economic summit planned
Workshop slated for local leaders

County Executive Jack Doyle announced plans to host the 2nd Annual Community Economic Summit that will focus on applying innovative techniques to economic development challenges facing the community. The event will be held on Wednesday, March 19 at the Hyatt Regency Rochester and local business, corporate and community leaders have been invited to take part. The Rochester Business Journal, The Greater Rochester Enterprise, The Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster, the Monroe County Council of Governments, the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA), and the Monroe County Development Corporation (MCDC) are partnering to sponsor the summit.

The half-day summit will feature IDEO, an innovation strategy and design services company. IDEO helps its clients innovate. It designs products, services, environments and interactions for organizations seeking new ways to provide products and services. Not only is IDEO known for its award-winning designs, but also as a leader in the process of creative design itself.

This year's summit is designed to explore new ideas and stimulate creative thinking and strategies about the economic future of the community using an innovative way of thinking and result in an outline of a strategy to advance economic development within Monroe County using the ideas generated by participants. The ideas generated from the 2002 Summit resulted in the creation of the JOBSFirst program, a comprehensive plan to create jobs in the community. The Great Rebate incentive program is a key part of the JOBSFirst initiative.