Heartland Forward announced today that Angie Cooper will lead the mission and operations of Heartland Summit, the think and do tank’s annual event in Bentonville, Ark. The Heartland Summit showcases innovation between the coasts, sparks honest conversations about the challenges of the region, ignites systems for sustained economic growth and inspires problem-solving in the heart of the country.

Ross DeVol -- “It’s not small firms that create growth, its young firms that scale up,” he said. “It’s important to innovate and create new firms because eventually your anchor firms are not going to be as dominant.” Young entrepreneurs matter.

In Northwest Arkansas, the tour will partner with the Heartland Summit, an annual gathering to kick start economic growth in the middle of the country. In St. Louis, following a day focused on agricultural innovation, the pitch competition will feature AgTech startups from across the country pitching for the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund investment.

Insightful analysis about the growth of the high-tech innovation sector and the need to position more Heartland metro areas as tech centers

He was living in Los Angeles at the time and working in a high-profile, internationally recognized position. The offer to join a new, untested "think and do tank" in Arkansas might not have appealed to some people, but to DeVol, it was all but irresistible.

Ross DeVol gives keynote at the CPEX Smart Growth Summit in Baton Rouge

Author, Richard Florida is a senior Fellow at Heartland Forward, co-founder, and editor at large of CityLab and a senior editor at The Atlantic.

Ross DeVol Delivers keynote address at the annual CPEX Smart Growth Summit in Baton Rouge, LA

An economic briefing hosted by the Little Rock branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis and Heartland Forward, a research institute established recently and based in Bentonville.

Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward, discusses the new ‘think and do tank’ with Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Editor Paul Gatling.

Listen to Ozarks at Large interview with Heartland Forwards CEO Ross DeVol

Research institute aims to foster economic growth in the central U.S.