CEDAR FALLS - Richard Longworth says it's time to end the border wars.

"The Midwestern system is based on individual states, and that system is simply incompetent to cope with something as big and complicated as globalization," Longworth, author of "Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism," told a gathering of Greater Cedar Valley Alliance investors at a luncheon Tuesday at Park Place Event Centre. "Globalization couldn't care less about state lines drawn two centuries ago. Regions and countries with much in common are coming together to cope with global pressure."

Longworth, finishing up a two-day visit with business and educational leaders in the Cedar Valley, said the region-wide economic initiatives currently under way put the region on the right track to successfully competing in a global marketplace.

He cited the TechWorks project, now under construction in downtown Waterloo, as a crucial step in transforming the region's economy.

"I think you're ahead of the game since you're talking together," he said of the green-based TechWorks endeavor that is bearing fruit as a result of regional cooperation. "You'd be amazed at how many people aren't talking together. TechWorks is a big help. Thinking regionally is a big help."

The lesson in TechWorks and other trans-regional economic efforts is to invest the area's diverse resources to build an economic infrastructure equipped to handle the 21st century's emerging global competition.

"Use all the resources at your command, and don't wait for a city government," Longworth said. "Make maximum use of every intellectual resource you have."

He mentioned the University of Northern Iowa and Hawkeye Community College as key players in that vein. "Get them all around the table," he said.

Longworth also met with business and educational leaders to share his observations of where the Midwest has been and its opportunities and challenges to compete in a globalizing world.

Longworth, a Boone native, is a lifelong Midwesterner who has focused on the economic trials and opportunities of the Midwest as a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. He is a fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His views on competitiveness in the global economy are thought-provoking, focusing on leadership, collaboration and a regional approach.

He said it was time for the Midwest, as a whole, to work together, to keep up with competitors from other parts of the world.

"We're in a global competition, not just with the South or California or even with Europe or Japan, but with the entire world, with factory workers in China, office workers in India and, yes, with farmers in Brazil," he said. "All the technology that has made this possible, the Internet, the Web, fiber optics, is all younger than this year's UNI freshmen. Something like 3 billion new workers have joined our economy in the past two decades and they compete with us every hour of every day."

That's why regional efforts like Cedar Valley initiatives are crucial to the success of the region.

"Globalization couldn't care less about state lines drawn two centuries ago," he said. "Regions and countries with much in common are coming together to cope with global pressure. The Midwestern states have everything in common. But they're trying to fight this battle on their own, and they're just too small, too outdated, too parochial to do the job."

Courier Communications, Deere & Co., University Book & Supply and the University of Northern Iowa are sponsoring Longworth's visit. The alliance, the region's community and economic development organization, is serving as host.

Contact Jim Offner at (319) 291-1598 or jim.offner@wcfcourier.com