Salem State establishes economic think tank

SALEM – Salem State College is opening a “think tank” for the region’s businesses and municipalities.College officials Tuesday unveiled the establishment of the Center for Economic Development and Sustainability (CEDS) on its North Shore campus. The facility was described as “a “think tank for the region’s businesses and municipalities and a central repository for research and project data on the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the north-of-Boston region.”Dr. Patricia Maguire Meservey, the college president, said the mission of the think tank is to bring together Salem State’s considerable resources to benefit the regional economy.Margo Steiner, a college spokeswoman, said that as a result of funding and collaborative initiatives over the past 20 years, Salem State faculty and students already have a substantial inventory of research and project data upon which to build.Dr. Lorri Krebs, associate professor in the Geography Department, will serve as executive director of the new center, imparting her research focus on econometrics, economic development and tourism initiatives to the greater North Shore.”How excited I am that Salem State has created this new regional center,” said Krebs. “Over time, there has been a considerable duplication of studies and research results, in part because until nowthere has been no central repository for this valuable and essential information. Salem State’s Center for Economic Development and Sustainability fills this void by working with existing organizations to avoid duplication while providing research, resources and education for the broader North Shore region.”According to Steiner, for years Salem State faculty and students have conducted ongoing research on the environment, geography, biology, urban development, cultural resources and social issues for the region that extends as far south as Winthrop and Revere and as far north as the Maine and New Hampshire borders through a broad range of academic disciplines. With the founding of the Center for Economic Development and Sustainability, the college now becomes the preeminent “go to” source for individuals, fellow academics and companies seeking basic demographic, economic, environmental or socio-cultural information, she said.The center will be funded through a combination of grants and revenue income from services it provides.”This center is vital to the region’s efforts to increase its economic clout because it will provide the data to make our case clearly and compellingly,” said Meservey. “The center combines the strength of our faculty, our GIS (geo-information science) program and our databases to provide an essential new resource to the region.”As one of the first efforts of this initiative, the college will host a GIS in Business Conference on April 22 from 8-10 a.m. in Veterans Hall on the college’s North Campus. The purpose of the conference is to introduce the new center to North Shore businesses, non-profits, educational institutions and local community groups and to discuss how the facility can help them grow.