Approach

The West Virginia Forward effort examined West Virginia across five dimensions of economic development – sector diversification, business climate, innovation and business development, infrastructure, and human capital – including assessing current strengths and weaknesses, defining opportunities for improvement, and detailing potential actions that the State can take over the short and long term to promote economic development and job growth. This strategy document summarizes the top-line findings from this effort. However, the work goes beyond this specific document, as the project was primarily focused on ensuring the findings are actionable, by defining a clear path forward on each dimension examined, building support among stakeholders, and setting up the conditions for implementation. 

The West Virginia Forward effort and the findings presented here are the result of a thorough fact-based research and analytic approach that brought together best practices and expertise from around the world, coupled with deep contextual knowledge of the State. West Virginia Forward’s team was based in Morgantown and Charleston, and traveled across the State, supporting data analysis, trend assessments, financial modeling, and research. The team also hosted 10+ workshops, organized and led meetings with stakeholders across the State, and provided capacity building assistance via training and development of tools. 

This strategy document synthesizes findings from 30+ national datasets from government and thirdparty sources, 80+ industry experts and researchers across topics as diverse as carbon fiber reinforced plastics, tourism, automotive manufacturing, energy, cyber security, broadband, human capital, innovation, infrastructure, project finance, and rural development, and more than 60 interviews with actors across West Virginia. The result is a perspective on solutions that are validated by extensive outside data, with sensitivity to the unique qualities of the local context in which they will function. Comparative analyses with other states and regional peers were performed to understand areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement to further strengthen West Virginia’s competitive position. Findings were shared and discussed with a West Virginia Forward working group of 12 members from WVU, Marshall University, and the West Virginia Department of Commerce. The working group met on a weekly basis to discuss findings, suggest areas to further explore, and align on most attractive solutions for West Virginia. Key decisions were also shared with a Steering Committee composed of senior leadership from the institutions and other stakeholders. 

The approach was anchored on five guiding principles: 

1. Build on existing assets: understand West Virginia’s assets and sources of competitiveness relative to peers and focus on opportunities that can leverage those assets (Exhibit 1). Specifically, West Virginia outperforms neighboring states (Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky) on workforce loyalty as measured by employee turnover, cost of labor, and business climate perceived by businesses as favorable (tax and legal)
2. Growth and diversification: the methodology focused on identifying opportunities that can both grow the economy and differentiate it beyond the sectors that are already established (Exhibit 2):  
   • Economic growth: focus was on sectors large enough to significantly grow the economy (defined as State GDP>$500M) a nd that are growing at a faster rate than the State (defined as forecasted annual GDP growth rate >0.8% ^[21] )
     
   • Diversification: looking at each industry’s location quotient (LQ) ^[22] , projected growth in West Virginia and projected growth nationally, sectors of West Virginia’s economy were segmented into ‘Win’, ‘Grow’, ‘Retain’, or ‘Capture’ segments 
     
     

    
   
   

3. Disruptive trends: within priority sectors, identify segments where technological disruptions offer opportunities for differentiation on which West Virginia can capitalize (Exhibit 3) 
   
   

   Exhibit 3: Description of major global technological disruptions ^[24]

   Technological Disruptions	Capitalization Opportunities for Differentiation
   Cloud Technology	Use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or the Internet often as a service
   Internet of Things	Networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making, and process optimization
   NextGen Genomics	Fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced big data analytics, and synthetic biology ("writing" DNA)
   Autonomous Vehicles	Vehicles that can navigate and operate with reduced or no human intervention
   3-D Printing	Additive manufacturing techniques to create objects by printing layers of material based on digital models
   Advanced Robotics	Increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity, and intelligence used to automate tasks or augment humans
   Automation of Knowledge Work	Intelligent systems that can perform knowledge work involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments
   Advanced materials	Materials designed to have superior characteristics (e.g., strength, weight, conductivity) or functionality
   Energy Storage	Devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries
   Mobile Internet	Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet connectivity
   Advanced Oil and Gas Extraction	Exploration and recovery techniques that make extraction of unconventional oil and gas economical

4. Regional impact: maintain a focus on regional assets and challenges when prioritizing industries. The diverse set of assets available across the State’s different regions can enable West Virginia to grow its economy across multiple sectors. For example, in addition to opportunities springing from the natural gas in the northern part of the State, the effort identified attractive tourism assets in the south and south east (especially second homes and adventure tourism), supplements to the historical chemicals manufacturing footprint in the West, and opportunities for major distribution hubs in the Northeast. 
   
5. Quick wins: highlighting opportunities within findings that can be implemented and have impact within the next year