The JDC Institute for Leadership and Governance focuses on the top leaders of Israel – philanthropists, lay leaders, senior government officials, mayors and municipal leaders. Its vision is to bring leaders together to achieve wide, measurable, and sustainable social impact in Israel. This includes improving the quality of life of the most vulnerable populations and closing social gaps. One of the projects operated by the Institute is Regional Clusters — an innovative model for boosting local authorities in selected areas.
The cluster is, in essence, an advanced municipal tool created to achieve a few main goals:
- Enhancing the quality of local services and widening the variety and availability of the services offered
- Establishing partnerships among the local authorities in the region
- Deepening the collaboration between the local authorities and the public sector, the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
On Monday, 31-Jul-2017, the Regional Clusters forum held a special learning session focused on Regional Economic Development Worldwide, featuring Prof. Rafi Segal (MIT) and Prof. Yesha Sivan(CIV). Prof. Segal is an award-winning designer and Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at MIT. Segal’s practice engages research and design on both the architectural and urban scale with projects in Israel, Africa, and the United States. Prof. Yesha Sivan is the Executive Director of The Coller Institute of Venture at Tel Aviv University Coller School of Management — a knowledge hub focusing on research and advancement of the global venture and innovation ecosystem.
At the forum, comprised of government officials from the Israeli ministries of Interior, Finance, Economy and the Prime-Minister’s Office, in addition to municipal leaders and regional cluster players, Yesha Sivan presented our recent work, “Employment Black Holes” (co-authored with Nathan Zeldes), exploring policy measures that city leaders must take to discover their city’s unique advantages and use them to create, develop and sustain quality jobs. Rafi Segal discussed models of regional economic development employed in China, Poland, and the USA.
Originally published by the Coller Institue of Venture.
