Delaware Business Roundtable – Delaware Investment Agenda

Challenge

The 2016 Delaware Growth Agenda outlined a transformative strategy for reinvigorating The First State’s economic trajectory and implementing a reset of its economic development approach, most notably through the establishment of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. In the years since the Growth Agenda’s release, Delaware has experienced significant economic growth—on multiple measures—particularly when compared to other states in the region. While growth in state GDP and public revenues has painted a generally positive picture of Delaware’s economic health, there are signs that future economic growth and progress cannot be assumed. These indicators, including the state’s tightening fiscal situation and low labor force participation rate, suggest underlying issues that, left unaddressed, could imperil Delaware’s future economic competitiveness and prosperity.

Response

In 2023, the Delaware Business Roundtable engaged TIP Strategies to help develop a follow-on report to the influential 2016 publication that would identify those issues and propose new solutions for addressing them. The Delaware Investment Agenda (delivered in March 2024) proposes an ambitious set of recommendations designed to strengthen the state’s long-term economic competitiveness. Like the prior effort, the 2024 Investment Agenda incorporated input and ideas offered by dozens of state, community, and business leaders from across the state. It also included examples of successful initiatives and programs other states and regions have enacted to tackle similar challenges. While the Investment Agenda offers recommendations in three areas—innovation and entrepreneurship, talent and workforce, and long-term competitiveness—it is not designed to be a comprehensive economic strategic plan for the state. Rather, it is a blueprint that should serve as a basis for developing such a plan. The Investment Agenda recommended the creation of an independent nonpartisan entity, the Delaware Futures Council, to lead the plan’s development. The Delaware Futures Council would complement the work of the state’s economic development organization, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, by raising awareness among state leaders on the fundamental challenges impacting Delaware’s future prosperity though data-driven research, analysis, and planning efforts.