Area Development’s 17th Annual Shovel Awards Recognize State and Local Economic Development Efforts — First Two Platinum Shovels Awarded
18 Jul 2022
News
The national news headlines in 2021 shifted dramatically, from wall-to-wall pandemic coverage to stories of extraordinary economic growth and recovery. After a dramatic downturn in 2020, the economy came roaring back with unexpected gusto — and that enthusiasm is reflected in the economic development activity that was bringing smiles and applause across the country last year.
The 2022 Shovel Awards recognize the best of all that good economic development news from the past year. These state honors are based on information provided by economic development officials, and though it’s always possible for plans to be revised or delayed by unforeseen circumstances, the information was current at the time it was provided.
More Topics

Breaking the Cyber Color Barrier
Jul 15 2022The pronounced shortage of cybersecurity workers has been exhaustively chronicled, as has the low participation rate of Black people and other minorities among technology industry professionals. According to the 2021 Cybersecurity Workforce Study issued in October by the non-profit International Information System Security Certification Consortium — (ISC)2 — unfilled cybersecurity...

Pressed by a sense of urgency among scientists and the wider public, and by governments and investors who must fulfil promises made at COP (Conference of the Parties) summits, major businesses are facing ever more stringent sustainability reporting requirements. Big energy users, such as data centers, are in the firing...

How Smart Is Your City?
Jul 13 2022How many Urban Planning 101 courses have begun with the instructor asking the class, “What is a Smart City?” It’s a question that’s sure to set the stage for a semester’s worth of theories, lectures, papers and exams aimed at introducing the students to the many notions and practices they...