The ReDesign Consortium has been emerging since 1974 when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded the “Innovation & New Enterprise Formation” at the University of Maine: Portland .  This project was based upon an MIT Foundation proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1973 for the transfer of intellectual property to facilitate new enterprise creation in rural states like Maine.  It was rejected by the NSF and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The search for patents; nonetheless, the entanglement of intellectual property is often complicated and expensive.  Small and medium sized companies (SME) seldom have R&D departments to scout for complementary services, products or manufacturing process trade secrets.  But they do license products where they can scale with limited risk.

The ReDesign Consortium  works with SME’s that are manufacturing (Mfg) and service companies with 100-500 employees. These companies often have  core manufacturing competencies, management experience and cash flow to scale with minimal risk around niche product- markets under $100,000,000 in annual sales.

These companies are also valuable income generating assets to a city, state and possibly to the entire U.S.   We agree with the Walton Family Foundation’s 2018 Heartland Summit conclusion that the time is NOW to revitalize mid-America!  On October 22, 2019 they founded the Heartland Forward Institute   (click on link) which will sponsor a Spring,  2022 Heartland Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas on May 11-12, 2022.

The ReDesign Consortium, by sponsoring a national Design Cities Network, works with regional cities willing to allocate financial and human resources to shape a sustainable  economy.  By focusing on design, actually “re-design,” American cities might contribute to the intellectual property “IP” Economy to replace the Knowledge and/or Information Economy  by 2040.  As a result, cities that embrace this challenge will thrive as they produce primary jobs and local company headquarters.

Intellectual property “IP” already impacts every profession and industry.  Because of what we have learned from the pandemic crisis, America’s decision makers could be playing catch up to international competitors and their commitment to intellectual property in the 21st century.  America & its middle class cannot afford to fall behind…and they won’t if “uncommon friends” gather periodically in cities and states around America.