Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter.
ICIC's mission is to promote economic prosperity in America's inner cities through private sector engagement that leads to job, income and wealth creation for local residents. ICIC brings together business and civic leaders to drive innovation and action, transform thinking, and accelerate inner city business growth.
ICIC’s team is led by President and CEO Mary Kay Leonard. ICIC’s nationally recognized Board of Directors includes CEOs, scholars, venture capitalists, and community leaders.
ICIC was founded on the conviction that the only sustainable path out of economic distress is to leverage the existing assets in inner cities to enable them to participate in the market economy. Their mission is to promote economic prosperity in America's inner cities through business development and private sector engagement that leads to jobs, income and wealth creation for local residents. They bring together business and civic leaders to transform thinking, drive innovation and action, and accelerate inner city business growth and investment.
Working from a distinctive market-based approach, ICIC's path-breaking research and unique programs highlight the competitive advantages of inner cities, document the thousands of thriving companies that are already capitalizing on these advantages, and point the way to new economic development strategies.