GPEC’s Economic Monitor Wins 4 National Awards for Excellence

Published: 08/20/2026

The Economic Monitor 2.0, which provides insights on local, state and national data, earned recognition from IEDC, Center for Public Sector AI, C2ER, and Business Facilities

GREATER PHOENIX (Aug. 19, 2026) — The Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s (GPEC) Economic Monitor was awarded Silver in the Digital Media category at the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) 2026 Excellence in Economic Development Awards on Thursday, the fourth time this year the Economic Monitor has earned an award since its redesign in October.

“Research and data are at the core of all GPEC’s work, and I’m honored that the efforts of our department are recognized by so many as a helpful, informative tool,” said GPEC President & CEO Christine Mackay. “GPEC takes pride in being at the leading edge of our field, and by blending data and AI in a unique way available to all users, we’re harnessing innovative and creative ways to make an impact.”

IEDC, the world’s premier international economic development council, celebrates organizations and initiatives that make a powerful, lasting impact on their respective communities in the Excellence in Economic Development Awards. This is one of four national awards the Economic Monitor has earned in 2026, also being recognized in the AI 50 Awards by the Center for Public Sector AI, the C2ER 2026 Economic Workforce Development Applied Research Award in the Business Development category, and Business Facilities’ 2026 Economic Development Awards.

GPEC’s Economic Monitor is a free, public-facing, AI-powered economic intelligence platform that makes complex economic data understandable and actionable. It democratizes access to local, state and national economic analysis by combining expert curation, automated data ingestion, and generative AI into a single tool. The platform aggregates 36 public data series spanning 22 key indicators across Greater Phoenix, Arizona and the United States, covering employment, housing, inflation, consumer spending, industrial production and more.

The platform has evolved over its two iterations. GPEC initially launched the Economic Monitor in April 2023 as a straightforward data table tracking core economic indicators. In October 2025, it was redesigned, with additional stats, context, graphs and AI-powered features that earned this year’s recognition. Since then, the platform has run without downtime, automatically ingesting and reconciling new government data each day.

“So much data is only available behind paywalls and government sites that require higher-level analysis. We sought to remove barriers to this time-intensive task by compiling the data in one location and offering a daily AI-generated briefing to help summarize the underlying numbers and make the data as accessible as possible,” said Albert Stanton, GPEC Vice President of AI & Technical Operations. “We’re pleased with the result and are grateful to the organizations who have recognized the hard work and dedication that went into the Monitor.”

Explore the GPEC Economic Monitor here.