Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Missing Infrastructure: Reimagining Economic Development for Inclusive Innovation
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Missing Infrastructure: Reimagining Economic Development for Inclusive Innovation
In this episode of Ecosystem, Scale!, Aaron is joined by Mike Green and Johnathan Holifield for a timely conversation on economic development, innovation, and equity.
They unpack the history and limits of “big game” economic development—strategies that prioritize national competitiveness and large-scale growth—while confronting a persistent reality: many communities, particularly Black America, remain disconnected from the modern innovation economy.
Introducing the framework of inclusive competitiveness, Mike and Johnathan challenge how success is defined and measured, and offer new ways to think about ecosystem design, connectivity, and long-term impact.
This episode is essential listening for ecosystem builders, economic developers, founders, and policymakers working to build innovation systems that are not only competitive—but inclusive by design.
About the Speakers
Mike Green is a cultural economist, consultant, and strategist focused on inclusive competitiveness and systemic equity within economic and innovation ecosystems. He has served as Chief Strategist at the National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness and is co-founder of Common Ground Conversations on Race in America, a paradigm-shifting process that helps institutional and community leaders build shared understanding and productive dialogue across divides. Mike has worked extensively on designing strategies that address entrenched racial and economic disparities and has co-authored a playbook for improving diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship centers. HBCU Making and Innovation Initiative
Connect with him here: linkedin.com/in/amikegreen2
Johnathan Holifield is an ecosystem-builder, attorney, author, and architect of the Inclusive Competitiveness framework — a strategy that links economic inclusion, innovation, and national competitiveness. He has brought this vision to life through roles spanning public policy, regional economic strategy, and venture formation, including serving as Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs and co-founding ScaleUp Partners, a consultancy advancing competitive, equitable economic systems. His book The Future Economy and Inclusive Competitiveness reframes how we think about economic development and innovation as tools for broad-based prosperity.
Connect with him here: linkedin.com/in/thetrimtabber
Resources:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap
https://commongroundconversations.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Future-Economy-Inclusive-Competitiveness-Demographic/dp/0692877703
View all episodes
By Aaron D. TaylorIn this episode of Ecosystem, Scale!, Aaron is joined by Mike Green and Johnathan Holifield for a timely conversation on economic development, innovation, and equity.
They unpack the history and limits of “big game” economic development—strategies that prioritize national competitiveness and large-scale growth—while confronting a persistent reality: many communities, particularly Black America, remain disconnected from the modern innovation economy.
Introducing the framework of inclusive competitiveness, Mike and Johnathan challenge how success is defined and measured, and offer new ways to think about ecosystem design, connectivity, and long-term impact.
This episode is essential listening for ecosystem builders, economic developers, founders, and policymakers working to build innovation systems that are not only competitive—but inclusive by design.
About the Speakers
Mike Green is a cultural economist, consultant, and strategist focused on inclusive competitiveness and systemic equity within economic and innovation ecosystems. He has served as Chief Strategist at the National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness and is co-founder of Common Ground Conversations on Race in America, a paradigm-shifting process that helps institutional and community leaders build shared understanding and productive dialogue across divides. Mike has worked extensively on designing strategies that address entrenched racial and economic disparities and has co-authored a playbook for improving diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship centers. HBCU Making and Innovation Initiative
Connect with him here: linkedin.com/in/amikegreen2
Johnathan Holifield is an ecosystem-builder, attorney, author, and architect of the Inclusive Competitiveness framework — a strategy that links economic inclusion, innovation, and national competitiveness. He has brought this vision to life through roles spanning public policy, regional economic strategy, and venture formation, including serving as Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs and co-founding ScaleUp Partners, a consultancy advancing competitive, equitable economic systems. His book The Future Economy and Inclusive Competitiveness reframes how we think about economic development and innovation as tools for broad-based prosperity.
Connect with him here: linkedin.com/in/thetrimtabber
Resources:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap
https://commongroundconversations.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Future-Economy-Inclusive-Competitiveness-Demographic/dp/0692877703