The strategy includes six Foundation Initiatives that focus on rebuilding these cornerstones of the economy:

Education: Ensure a vibrant, well-educated and adaptable workforce with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Prosperous economies require a workforce that has the necessary skills, the ability to continue developing skills as technologies and markets change, and a commitment to performing high-quality work. Education and job-skill training prepare a region's populace for the world of work.

Technology Commercialization: Improve the movement of technological innovations from research institutions to the marketplace.
Tomorrow's truly competitive regions will support the institutions that research, discover, and develop new ideas and products. A region's public and private research institutions must have the ability to innovate. Technology commercialization-the transfer of new ideas out of the lab and into the market-will be crucial.

New & Small Business Support: Nurture entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Innovation is a major factor in a region's economic vitality. Entrepreneurs and startup businesses not only create jobs, they also innovate, resulting in increasingly vibrant clusters. A region that has a talent pool of entrepreneurs, along with the infrastructure to support them, is highly likely to be more successful than one that does not.

Tax Structure: Implement balanced, pro-competitive tax reforms.
The state tax system has markedly different effects depending on the type of company. The lack of a state corporate income tax helps profitable companies but hurts less profitable or smaller margin companies, such as startups.

Transportation: Build an effective transportation system to support a world-class region.
Transportation has long been a challenge facing the central Puget Sound region. Prosperity Partnership research has confirmed that it remains a critical issue requiring sustained regional and state leadership. Most leaders surveyed and interviewed by the Prosperity Partnership during 2004 felt that highway transportation congestion has remained bad, and perhaps worsened-even during the recession of 2001-2002. The region is far behind in making the transportation investments that are needed to support a competitive economy and our regional growth goals. This is true for many modes, including automotive, transit, freight, and others.

Social Capital and Quality of Life: Secure broad based prosperity in all parts of the region through a strong civic and nonprofit community.
"Social capital" is a term used to describe community functioning and problem-solving attributes. Definitions range from the academic - "social relations of mutual benefit characterized by norms of trust and reciprocity" - to the pragmatic - "the glue that binds." Social capital can be viewed as a set of formal and informal community networks among business and trade organizations, ad hoc problem-solving groups, and other nonprofits engaged in community "quality of life" issues. Social capital is a key economic foundation, as important to the economy as other factors such as the availability of capital. By developing and deploying social capital we join two imperatives: economic competitiveness and social values.