Giving Compass' Take:

• Corporate Responsibility Magazine reports on the symbiotic relationship between businesses on either side of the US-Mexican border around San Diego and Tijuana.

• What can businesses learn from the cross-border collaborations? Sustainable business plans and cost savings abound.

• There is US-Mexican education collaboration as well. Read this.

Stereotypes of the US border abound, from the travails of immigrants to drug cartel excesses. However, another, future-looking story is emerging at the US Mexico border where the cities of San Diego and Tijuana have become a hub for innovative approaches to health care, transportation, education, government, manufacturing and workforce development.

San Diego and Tijuana are the two largest cities in the CaliBaja Bi-National MegaRegion which boasts more than 6.5 million residents and includes San Diego County, Imperial County and Baja California in Mexico.

Tijuana is home to more than 600 maquiladoras, factories in Mexico run by foreign companies who then export their products back to those countries.

“These businesses have developed a new cross-border manufacturing co-creation model that involves binational collaboration in the engineering and design of products, of manufacturing processes, of software and other business functions. says Flavio Olivieri, the executive director of CaliBaja. “This leverages the capabilities and talent of the bi-cultural workforce.”

Steven Pedigo, the director of New York University’s Schack Institute Urban Lab says that “in the case of San Diego and Tijuana, one side of the border excels in research and design, the other in manufacturing. One side is rich in capital, the other in skilled, cost competitive labor. In short, each has its own strengths and specializations.”

Andy Carey, executive director of the Border Philanthropy Partnership, puts it more simply, “Both sides of the border butter each other’s bread.”

Read the full article about innovation in the San Diego Tijuana border region at TriplePudit.