T HE
C YLINDER
N ARRATIVE
CBTs use Wayne Gretzky’s principle, “Skate to where the puck is going , not to where it is.” Within each cluster, the CBT will ask, “How is the cluster evolving?” “How are the workforce needs evolving?” “How is innovation impacting the cluster?” “How do we maximize the cluster’s growth?”
Governance & Thinking Task Force
Whereas the CBTs operate at the cluster level, the Governance and Thinking Task Force operates at the system level — analyzing, learning, adapting, and optimizing how the operating system components behave across all clusters, adjusting macro- strategy in response to new threats, opportunities, and trends. In plain terms, the TTF acts like the system-wide strategy team that monitors everything across all clusters, identifies emerging opportunities or issues, and recommends adjustments to keep the entire operating system aligned, efficient, and moving in the right direction.
The Thinking Task Force and Cluster Brain Trusts each serve as intelligent governance layers, ensuring the EKC Operating System remains adaptive, efficient, and aligned with its mission to grow enterprises and drive regional prosperity.
The Front View of the Cylinder Model
The front of the Cylinder Model displays 20 distinct industry clusters that collectively define the region’s most promising economic opportunities. These clusters are not arbitrary—they are the result of rigorous data analysis, extensive enterprise mapping, and an understanding of the region’s capacity for export-driven growth. In the framework of EnterpriseKC’s operating system for economic development, these clusters serve as execution environments— modular domains that provide the context, constraints, and requirements for deploying talent, capital, and innovation strategies leading to enterprise growth. The EKC operating system operates within cluster-specific environments, each with unique enterprise composition, workforce demands, innovation trajectories, and economic multipliers Legacy economic development approaches have too often treated industries monolithically — resulting in fragmented and ineffective growth strategies. EKC’s Cylinder Model, by contrast, uses cluster execution environments to:
• Isolate variables and tune strategies with precision.
• Tailor the deployment of system functions—workforce programs, innovation support, business incentives—to the real needs and dynamics of each cluster.
• Accelerate deployment of Pillar functions like workforce development or capital access and applications like the TalentSphere. • Benchmark results at the cluster level — just like OS monitoring tools measure CPU or memory usage by process group. By treating clusters as execution environments—not just categories — EnterpriseKC ensures that each Pillar strategy is context-aware, each program is fit-for-purpose, and the region’s economic OS runs at maximum efficiency — with enterprise growth, talent development, and innovation aligned and optimized in every environment. This also allows the system to operate concurrently across clusters,
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