Subscribe to Access the Economic Developer’s Executive Toolkit
Launching in November 2025, Economic Development World will provide:
Insights, guidance and professional development resources
Free foundation course on local and regional economic development
Online videos, courses, podcasts
A vibrant community with podcast, webinars, live cohort courses and chatrooms
A real live community with interaction, live events, expert Q&A and live cohorts of courses.
Flexible lean learning: learning when you need it
You can access any course at any time, when you need it. Need to learn about FDI for your meeting next week? we’ve got it covered.
A free foundation course in Economic Development
A free 60-minute foundation course for those new to local and regional economic development.
Regular articles, tips, guides and industry news
Short form news and tips, and long-form expert reviews and guides.
A paid membership that includes all courses, resources and access to live content and webinars
Membership gets you access to 50+ hours of courses, that are being refined and expanded all the time – in response to your needs.
Mentoring and coaching
Structured mentoring programmes with specialist expert advisors and mentors.
Our experts
Glenn Athey
Glenn (BA, MA, PhD) has 31 years of experience in local and regional skills and labour market policy and analysis. Glenn has held senior roles at Futureskills Scotland, London Development Agency, Centre for Cities, The East of England Development Agency, and Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP.
Our Clients are Superfans
“Glenn delivers high quality advice and insights based on years of experience with no fuss, he just delivers the results you need.”
“
“Glenn’s work is highly professional, demonstrating a very high level of stakeholder management, workshop and facilitation skills.”
Local London
“Glenn is an uber-consultant, a cut above the rest.”
UK Innovation Corridor
“Glenn, Mike and Hannah delivered us a high quality and locally focused employment, careers and skills strategy and action plan that allows us to take our approach and reputation for skills to the next level.”
𝗧𝗵𝗲 **𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗬𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀** 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
Let's cut the fanfare. Economic Development is not a press release, its not a claim of a golden future in a manifesto or strategy. It's a job, on the ground, in a neighbourhood. In the UK, we've perfected the art of the launch event—the glossy, aspirational strategy,...
𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸: 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨
At Economic Development World, we like to think "what if" and how we'd respond professionally to a challenge. Here's our thoughts on this one - what would you do? 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 £𝟤𝟢𝟢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦...
Beyond the Brochure: Elevating your Investment Attraction Game
I'm writing and recording the video lessons for the new Economic Development Community of Practice I'm launching later this year over at economicdevelopment.world One of the issues that causes me endless frustration is that many localities in the UK fail to get beyond...