Success Factors for Implementation

In order to make West Virginia Forward successful, West Virginia Forward can learn from best practices from other states, as well as previous experience from other initiatives. In fact, past experience has shown that successful implementation will require strong leadership, ensuring all stakeholders have buy-in, and targeted focus on well-defined projects with specific scope. At the same time, experience from other states has shown that successful economic development initiatives can create significant impact (e.g., 100K+ new jobs and $6.3B investments in Columbus since 2010, $500+M in venture capital funding raised in one year in Atlanta ^[99]), as long as initiatives rely on effective and early stakeholder engagement, implementation plans that include clear milestones and targets, clear owners for each activity, and effective monitoring and tracking of progress. As West Virginia Forward’s partners pivot toward taking joint and individual action against the findings of this effort, there are three main questions that partners would want to address:

How will initiatives be designed and implemented ?
What is the structure that will drive execution?
How will relevant stakeholders be effectively engaged?

9.1 HOW WILL INITIATIVES BE DESIGNED AND IMPLEMENTED?

Across the full set of options for consideration, each major stakeholder in this effort (i.e., West Virginia University, Department of Commerce, and Marshall University) will have a role in implementation (Exhibit 27), with some actions driven individually and others via coordinated effort across the three entities and with organizations beyond.

Exhibit 27A: Summary of opportunities identified for Economic Sectors
Economic Sectors	Joint action items	WVU/Marshall action items	State action items
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)	Commercialize infrastructure IP Become a CFRP recycling hub	Develop industry partnerships Create educational CFRP programs	-
Fine Chemicals	-	Develop industry partnerships	Attract producers directly downstream of existing production Invest in upstream and downstream connections
Higher end tourism	-	-	Attract higher spend adventurers Expand second homes market in the eastern part of the State Attract higher income retirees
Cybersecurity	Invest in cybersecurity talent Create enabling innovation environment	-	Attract anchors companies and progressively expand to other segments

Exhibit 27B: Summary of opportunities identified for Economic Enablers.
Economic Enablers	Joint action items	WVU/Marshall action items	State action items
Business Climate	-	-	Rebrand WV’s business climate Establish action plan to combat rising utility costs Ease administration of TP P
Innovation business development	Launch enhanced small business support program	Launch startup catalyst progra m	Set up an innovation council Change mix of incentive types Expand role of development office
Infrastructure	-	-	Create a financing mechanis m/s for capital projects Launch site certification and outreach program Build middle mile network
Human Capital	Expand STEM talent pool Encourage returning/relocating to West Virginia Train workforce in jobs that are high in demand	-	Integrate existing human capital efforts across State Increase workforce participation Combat the opioid crisis

Given that, each major stakeholder will work to define a set of initiatives that they can drive forward, based on their capabilities, mandate and resources. As an example, WVU can consider focusing on four key initiatives (Exhibit 28).

Exhibit 28: Example initiatives for WVU
Key initiatives	Observation/aspiration
Innovation and R&D leadership	Develop an enriching innovation environment for students, faculty, and local startups that effectively generates and commercializes the University’s intellectual property
Local business support	Offer business and legal support services to small businesses in partnership with the State Commerce Department
Talent expansion	Create the educational programs required to expand the talent pipeline for West Virginia, especially in new sectors that will diversify the economy such as advanced materials, cybersecurity and life sciences Partner with leading firms in diversification sectors (e.g. cybersecurity, advanced materials, life sciences) to develop tailored training programs that meet their human capital needs and offer exit opportunities for university graduates
Alumni outreach	Establish connections with university alumni across the country in order to create business partnerships, attract investments as well as talent back to the state

Each initiative could cover a specific set of opportunities (Exhibit 29).

Exhibit 29A: Breakdown of opportunities for each WVU initiative for Economic Sectors
Economic Sectors	Innovation and R&D leadership	Local business support	Talent expansion	Alumni outreach
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)	Commercialize infrastructure IP Become a CFRP recycling hub	-	-	-
Fine Chemicals	-	-	Develop industry partnerships	-
Higher End Tourism	-	-	-	-
Cybersecurity	Create enabling innovation environ ment	-	Invest in cybersecurity talent	-

Exhibit 29B: Breakdown of opportunities for each WVU initiative for Economic Enablers
Economic Enablers	Innovation and R&D leadership	Local business support	Talent expansion	Alumni outreach
Business climate	-	-	-	-
Innovation business development	Launch startup catalyst program	Launch enhanced small business support program	-	-
Infrastructure	-	-	-	-
Human Capital	-	-	Expand STEM talent pool Train workforce in jobs that are high in demand	Encourage returning/relocating to West Virginia

As each initiative will require different degrees of collaboration, an effective governance mechanism that allows each stakeholder to drive their own action items while effective coordinating on overlapping topics will be important.

9.2 WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE THAT WILL DRIVE EXECUTION?

Initiatives will have the greatest chance of success if there is a governance authority that ultimately owns the strategic plan and can work to coordinate actors across West Virginia to drive it towards implementation. As such, WVU, the Commerce Department, and Marshall University will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that formalizes the partnership through commitments from each signatory on cooperation, implementation of specific initiatives and resources dedication. The MOU will help create a structure of accountability for all signatories.

To help ensure effective cooperation, two governing entities could be created:

A convening unit to manage process, track and drive progress of the various initiatives against targets, identify and convene potential implementation partners for each initiative
A steering committee that includes leadership from each signatory (e.g., WVU and Marshall University Presidents, Commerce Secretary). The Committee is tasked in setting overall direction, prioritizing initiatives, and directing stakeholder outreach

9.3 HOW WILL RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS BE EFFECTIVELY ENGAGED?

A diverse group of stakeholders across West Virginia can be involved at different stages of the project to get input, buy-in, and partnership on implementation (Exhibit 30).

Exhibit 30: Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder Group	Organizations	Nature of involvement	Risks	Major concern
Legislature	House Senate	Key influencer and partner on policy related topics	Expect to be engaged and provide input Will seek alignment with policy agenda	Local constituents Public perception
Executive	Governor Commerce	Decision maker Implementation partner	Will look for align ment with own priorities Expects to be engaged during process	Local constituents Public percep tion Advancing own objectives
Private Sector	Chamber of Commerce Investors & VCs	Influencer Potential implementa tion partner	Can have vested interest in sector focus Will want to be involved in questions on business climate	Profitability of business
Vocational/educational organizations	Community and technical colleges Private universities Workforce WV K12 schools	Implementation partner	Will want to weigh in and be involved in human capital recommendations Important to get buy-in to partner in implementation	Funding from state Enrollment
Other	ARC TechConnect National Guard Economic development NGOs	Implementation partners	Important to get buy-in in order to leverage their resources in implementation	N/A (depends on organization)

Effective and timely engagement of stakeholders will be key for the success of this project, as it will allow for the creation of partnerships for implementation of specific initiatives. A preliminary engagement plan has been developed during this project, which will be updated to reflect how best to engage each stakeholder on specific action items based on their mandate, capabilities, and capacity to dedicate to this effort (Exhibit 30).

*Citations available upon request.

Success Factors for Implementation

9.1 HOW WILL INITIATIVES BE DESIGNED AND IMPLEMENTED?

9.2 WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE THAT WILL DRIVE EXECUTION?

9.3 HOW WILL RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS BE EFFECTIVELY ENGAGED?

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