Christopher Wink

2 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Traditional economic development hunts for economic winners and big infrastructure, while ecosystem building focuses on stitching together many disparate parts, yet practitioners increasingly note they have much in common. The two approaches are converging under “entrepreneurship-led economic development,” with certifying bodies adding courses and professionals code switching between the terms to build broader coalitions.

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

An American ideal is that each person has a chance at ending up better off than their parents. This idea — known in policy circles as economic mobility — is no fair fight. Where a child is born influences how much they’ll earn well into adulthood. But these inputs can be changed, and we are beginning to better understand how. Research from Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his Opportunity Insights team was updated last fall, and has influenced civic circles around the country.

3 weeks ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

In 2026, the United States will celebrate 250 years since its revolution. Nearly all cities and states will contribute something to the complex anniversary, but Philadelphia can lay claim to being that revolution’s center. The semiquincentennial is more than a chance to remember history and celebrate the present. It’s an opportunity to imagine our future.

1 month ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Author Ursula Le Guin put it best: “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”Decades of brain science demonstrate why: Our world is too complex for our brains to process everything, and exchanging experience in the environment became a survival adaptation. Storytelling didn’t evolve from the development of language, one theory holds; instead, humans invented language to advance storytelling.

1 month ago | technical.ly | Christopher Wink

Though the US already has more liquid capital than any other country, regions short on institutional money still chase outside investors with tactics like subsidizing direct flights and flying in VCs for 1:1 meetings. Research does show startups gain measurable innovation advantages (more patents and citations) when direct flights link them to VC centers — with effects far stronger on international routes than domestic ones.