Welcome!
The Morehead State University Innovation Center at West Liberty is proud to offer this New Economy Census site to the greater MSU service region, and to the world at large. This site is an effort to help track and promote New Economy businesses within a 26 county area including MSU's traditional service region as well as several additional counties serviced by MSU programs. All but one of these 26 counties (Mason) are located in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky, one of the most impoverished regions in the United States.
The idea behind this site is that a New Economy is coming into being around the world. Hallmarks of this "new economy" are technology- particularly Information Technology, or IT- and entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, while the world is becoming "flat", to use Tom Friedman's term, it isn't flat yet. Not all areas in America have enjoyed the same prosperity that the New Economy has yielded to some parts.
This is especially true in Appalachia where low education rates and lack of entrepreneurial networks have slowed New Economy growth. Thankfully, however, a few hearty pioneers are working to change all this! Quite a few companies have thrived in spite of- and sometimes because of- the challenges the region faces in growing a New Economy! And quite a few more are waiting in the wings to take their place among the ranks of New Economy companies the world over!
The purpose of this site is to locate these pioneers, identify ways they can work together and with the various economic development professionals whose job it is to help them, and to publicize their successes.
We invite those who own, work for, are affiliated with, or just aware of a New Economy company within the greater MSU service region to come on this site and register those companies. We want to cast a broad net so we're going to err on the side of being inclusive rather than exclusive. So if you think a company fits into the category of being a New Economy company, please take the time to register it and we'll be in touch.
Don't forget to check out the New Economy in Eastern Kentucky Blog.