Heike Mayer

Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning

Heike Mayer is currently a visiting professor in economic geography at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

Dr. Heike (pronounced Hi-ka) Mayer is an assistant professor in the Urban Affairs and Planning program at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center. She studied the University of Konstanz (Germany) and received a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Portland State University. Her research interests focus on the factors shaping the economic competitiveness of cities and regions. In particular, she examines the internal strengths a city or a region has to develop its economy, leading to so-called endogenous development. Heike focuses on three themes, each addressing certain aspects of the endogenous potential: 1) knowledge regions, 2) entrepreneurship and 3) place-making and competitiveness in small towns (with Dr. Paul L. Knox). Heike’s research has been funded by a variety of institutions such as the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, The Brookings Institution, the Small Business Administration, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and Arlington County, Virginia. Her work has been published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Urban Affairs, Economic Development Quarterly, Economic Development Journal, and by the Brookings Institution. Heike co-directs the Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech (with Dr. John Provo). She is a native of Germany and she enjoys whitewater kayaking, traveling, and hiking.

Dr. Mayer may be contacted at (703) 706 8122 or heikem@vt.edu.

To download Heike's CV, click here.

Publications

Monographs

• Mayer, H. 2007. A Review of State R&D Investment Funds: Ten Case Studies. Final
  Report prepared for The Pew Center on the States & The National Governors
  Association (NGA) for the NGA Chair's Initiative Innovation America (75
  pages). A final report for the project was published by NGA and Pew in July 2007:
  http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0707INNOVATIONINVEST.PDF
• Mayer, H. 2006. Completing the Puzzle: Creating a High-Tech and Life Science Economy in Kansas City . The Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program (59 pages).
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2002. Signs of Life: The Growth of Biotechnology Centers in the U.S. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy (90 pages). Appendices (metropolitan profiles) follow: Boston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Washington-Baltimore.
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2001. High Tech Specialization: A Comparison of High Technology Centers. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution, Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy (13 pages plus a 30-page methodology and data appendix).

Book chapters

• Mayer, H., & Knox, P. 2007. Pace of Life and Quality of Life: The Slow City Charter. In J. Sirgy, R., Phillips & D. Rahtz (Eds.), Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Practices III (pp. 20-39). Blacksburg, VA: International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS).
• Mayer, H., & Provo, J. 2004. The Portland Edge in Context. In C. Ozawa (Ed.), The Portland Edge. (pp. 9-34). Washington D.C.: Island Press.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles & Reports

• Hackler, D., & Mayer, H. (2008). Diversity, Entrepreneurship, and the Urban Environment. Journal of Urban Affairs, 30(3), 273-307.
• Hackler, D., Harpel, E., Mayer, H. (2008) Human Capital and Women's Business Ownership. Washington D.C.: Small Business Administration.
• Mayer, H. (2008) Segmentation and Segregation Patterns of Women-Owned High-
  Tech Firms in Four Metropolitan Regions in the United States. Regional Studies, pp. 1-27.
• Mayer, H. (2007). What is the role of the university in creating a high-technology region? Journal of Urban Technology, 14(3), 33-58.
• Mayer, H., Hackler, D., and McFarland, C. (In Press). Skills, Capital and Connections, too: A Regional Social Environment Perspective of Women Entrepreneurs. Canadian Journal of Regional Science.
• Mayer, H. and Paul Knox. 2007. Slow City – Città Lente: Ein Modell für lebenswerte Stadtentwicklung? Die Alte Stadt, 3, pp. 205-220.
• Mayer, H. 2007. Biotech Industry Clusters in the United States: The Case of Washington D.C. and Kansas City. Geographische Rundschau International Edition, 3(1), pp. 10-16.
• Mayer, H. and Paul Knox. 2006. Slow Cities: Sustainable Places in a Fast World. Journal of Urban Affairs, 28(4), pp. 321-334.
• Mayer, H. 2006. What is the Role of Universities in High-tech Economic Development? The Case of Portland, Oregon, and Washington, DC. Local Economy, 21(3), pp. 292-315.
• Mayer, H. 2005. Cluster Monitor: A Guide to Analyzing Industry Clusters in Regional Economies. Economic Development Journal, 4(4), pp. 40-53.
• Mayer, H. 2005. Planting High Technology Seeds: Tektronix Role in the Creation of Portland’s Silicon Forest. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 106(4), pp. 568-593.
• Mayer, H. 2005. Taking Root in the Silicon Forest: The Role of High Technology Firms as Surrogate Universities in Portland, Oregon. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(3), pp. 318-333.
• Mayer, H., Holzheimer, T., & Glidden, H. 2005. Fostering Emerging Technology Sectors in Arlington County: An Economic Development Strategy for Knowledge Creation and Innovation. Economic Development Journal, 4(1), pp. 7-17.
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2004. Increasingly Rank: The Use and Misuse of Rankings in Economic Development. Economic Development Quarterly, 18(1), pp. 34-43.

Papers in refereed conference proceedings

• Mayer, H. 2006. Economic Trends and Location Patterns for Women High-Tech Entrepreneurs. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research 2006, pp. 298-312. Conference proceeding of the annual Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference.
• Mayer, H. 2003. Corporate Restructuring and the Creation of the Innovation Milieu: The case of a second-tier high technology region in: Clusters, Industrial Districts and Firms: The Challenge of Globalization. Conference in honor of Professor Sebastian Brusco. September 12th to 13th, 2003. Modena, Italy.

Book Reviews

• Mayer, H. 2007. People and the Competitive Advantage of Place: Building a Workforce for the 21st Century. Economic Development Quarterly, 21(1), pp. 101-102.
• Mayer, H. 2005. Cities of Knowledge: Cold War science and the search for the next Silicon Valley. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(4), pp. 468-469.
• Mayer, H. 2005 Contribution to a roundtable discussion of Richard Florida’s Book “Cities and the Creative Class” in Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(2), pp. 206-218.
• Mayer, H. 2004. Regional Economic Development: Analysis and Planning Strategy. Journal of the American Planning Association, 70(1), pp. 117.

Other papers and reports

• Mayer, H. & Provo J. 2007. Farmshoring in Virginia: Domestic Outsourcing Strategies for Linking Urban and Rural Economies in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Summary Report of the Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech. April 2007 (36 pages).
• Mayer, H. 2005. The Homeland Security Industry and its Impact on the Arlington, Virginia, Economy. Issue paper Number 7. Arlington Economic Development (9 pages).
• Mayer, H. & Zalneraitis, R. 2005. The Homeland Security Industry and its Impact on the Arlington, Virginia, Economy. Final Report for Arlington Economic Development. Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
• Mayer, H. 2004. Fostering Emerging Technology Sectors in Arlington County: An Economic Development Strategy for Knowledge Creation and Innovation. Issue Paper Number 5. Arlington Economic Development (12 pages).
• Mayer, H. 2004. Fostering Emerging Technology Sectors in Arlington County: An Economic Development Strategy for Knowledge Creation and Innovation. Final Report for Arlington County. Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (91 pages
• Mayer, H. 2003. Over the Horizon - Targeted Technology Industry Study: Arlington County. Preliminary Assessment. Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
• Mayer, H. 2003. Cluster Monitor: A Guide for Analyzing Industry Clusters in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Region. Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University (38 pages).
• Mayer, H. 2003. A Clarification of the Role of the University in Economic Development: Oregon's Network Approach to Foster Nanotechnology Research and Development. NanoExpress, December, Volume 3, pp. 15-28.
• Mayer, H. 2003. Metropedia: Emerging Industry Clusters and the Region's Recent Economic History. Metropolitan Briefing Book 2003. Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University, pp. 15-30.
• Cortright, J., Mayer, H., Provo, J., & Seltzer, E. 2003. A Regional Economic Development Strategy for our Region? Metropolitan Briefing Book 2003. Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University, pp. 31-38.
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2000. The Ecology of the Silicon Forest. Portland, OR: Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University (21 pages).
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2000. Spin-offs, Startups and Fast Growth Firms in the Portland Regional Economy. Portland, OR: Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University. Working Paper 3 (20 pages).
• Cortright, J., & Mayer, H. 2000. Portland's Knowledge-Based Economy. Portland, OR: Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University. Working Paper 2 (17 pages).
• Cortright, J. & Mayer, H. 2000. Overview of the Silicon Forest. Portland, OR: Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University. Working Paper 1 (20 pages).

Outreach Publications, Editorials, Columns, etc.

• Mayer, H. (August 27, 2007). Universities Can No Longer Be Called Mere Ivory Towers. Guest Column in Richmond Times-Dispatch. http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-27-0211.html

• Harpel, E., Mayer, H., and Hackler, D. (April 2007) Identifying Sources of Economic Growth. Session description published by the American Planning Association (3 pages). http://www.planning.org/conferencecoverage/2007/sunday/identifyingsources.htm

• Mayer, H. and Knox, P. (October 23, 2006). Can the U.S. learn from the Slow City movement? Weekly lead opinion editorial for the urban planning website Planetizen. http://www.planetizen.com/node/21630

• Mayer, H. (December 4, 2005). The Matriarch Economy. Lead Opinion Editorial for the Sunday edition of The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon.

• Mayer, H. (December 2005) Arlington County: A Leader in Technology-Based Economic Development. Austrian Embassy's Office of Science and Technology (Newsletter sent to over 3,500 interested parties). http://www.ostina.org/html/bridges/article.htm?article=1314