History of the EDC

In 1964, a group of island business and civic leaders called the San Juan County Economic Development Committee asked a question:

"Is it not un-reasonable to consider that if you have a method that must be improved, a product that must be built, a problem that needs to be solved or an idea that must be born, to provdie your thinkers with one of the most pleasant places in the U.S.A. to accomplish these needs? For a problem or a plant, a laboratory or an idea factory, there is no place better than the San Juan Islands."

Forty years ago, few could have imagined the Internet, broadband telecommunications, globalized markets or knowledge-based economies. Yet this farsighted study envisioned opportunities to create "industry involving research or scientific study." The authors noted that "living conditions here are conducive to imaginative thinking," and advocated "placing small research labs, plants or offices in the islands."

The San Juan County Economic Development Council is an Associate Development Organization (ADO). An ADO is defined in RCW 43.330.010 as "a local economic development nonprofit corporation that is broadly representative of community interests." Each county's ADO is designated by the county council and serves as its lead agency for economic development.