The graduate students' union of the School of Public Administration successfully held the 8th lecture of SCUT Public Management Tribune at the lecturing hall of SHAW Builing of Humanities on the 20th. April, 2011. Prof. Edward W. Hill from the Levin College of Urban Affairs of the Cleveland State University was invited to deliver his speech topic on “the usage of economical clusters in regional economical development”.
The lecture started at 7:00 p.m. Professor Hill excitingly began with a literature review on foreign economical clusters and regional development and defined the concept of a cluster clearly. Then he introduced the application of cluster analytics and cautions while using it. According to Professor Hill, clusters analytics can be applied in the four areas, economical reform research, roles of different sectors in regional economicalal development, economical strategic planning and integration of production, teaching and research. But he also pointed out clusters analytic is only a kind of tool analysis, a descriptive analysis and clusters does not necessarily entail rapid GDP growth. Using a diamond model, he analyzed the advantages of clusters from the perspectives of supply chain, production chain. By selecting related indicator variables and making substantial data analysis, Professor Hill came up with a conclusion that the industrial design will gradually become the centre of industrial development in future, maintaining the balance and sustainability of development. Professor Hill held a strong belief in his research career that economical development is of both science and art. China, as a developing country, was thirstying for greater economical development scientifically, in order to gain high-quality development.
At the Q&A stage, the audience expressed their special interests on the topic of economical cluster and regional development, and further raised a lot of thought-provoking questions. Professor Hill shared his viewpoints and exerted constructive responce. Finally, the audience are greatly convinced by Professor Hill’s humor and academic passion. In spite of short-time touch, one thing is sure that students learn a lot from this fruitful exchange.
Introduction to the Speaker: Edward W. (Ned) Hill is the Dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. In addition to the outstanding chair professor of CSU, he is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution and a Nonresident Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California at Berkeley though his membership in the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Building Resilient Regions. Prof. Hill enjoys a great reputation in the field of the regional economy, public affairs and urban planning etc, and he also acts as the editor of Journal of the American Planning Association, Economicalal Development Quarterly, Journal of Urban Affairs etc. Prof. Hill has been Interim Dean of the College since October 2007. In addition, he has been CSU’s Vice President for Economical Development since July 2005, a position he will now relinquish in order to devote his full attention to the activities of the Levin College.
