Indiana Site Selection

By: Troy Whittington, Director of Business Development

Area Development’s Consultants’ Forum was an informative mix of major site location consulting firms and corporate real estate executives that provided interesting insight into the corporate decision-making process.
 
The Consultants’ Forum has an established reputation for consistently providing strong speaker programs coupled with outstanding networking opportunities.

The latest event was no exception.  Attracting the leading names in global site consulting, corporate real estate and economic development strategy, participants had a multitude of opportunities for growth and interaction. Over the two day session, I had the chance to share lively discussions with a roster of active consultants who shape the decisions on many of today's leading projects.

The conference program is designed to ensure that attendees leave with valuable takeaways such as broader insight into the corporate decision-making process, the latest practical applications for affecting this process, and new marketing ideas that can help you compete more effectively in today's marketplace.

CoreNet Global Summit
Atlanta, Ga. - November 6-8

By: Troy Whittington, Director of Business Development

Upon returning from the CoreNet Global Summit in Atlanta, Ga. earlier this month, I am excited to bring back to our Indy Partnership team the excellent ideas and discussions I shared with some of the country’s top corporate real estate (CRE) decision makers.

CoreNet Global is the leading professional association for corporate real estate and workplace executives. CoreNet Global Summits assemble a forum of the leading thinkers and strategists in corporate real estate from around the world. Discussions and break-out sessions focus on how CRE’s can keep pace on a global level. This year’s summit had an attendance of nearly 2,000 top corporate real estate (CRE) decision makers and focused on “Social Dynamics” with a series of educational and networking opportunities, along with a pavilion for companies to set up booths, network and learn more about the industry from its top leaders. 

Throughout the three day summit, I had the opportunity to attend roundtable discussions with leading site consultants, meet with corporate real estate executives and brokers on a regional and national scope:

Del Boyette, Principal, Boyette Strategic Advisors
Kate McEnroe, President, Kate McEnroe Consulting
Edward McCallum Jr., Senior Principal, McCallum Sweeney Consulting, Inc
Don Schjeldahl, V.P. & Director for Facilities, Location, The Austin Company
Kristin Beatty, Managing Director,Consulting, CB Richard Ellis
J. Michael Mullis, President/CEO, J.M. Mullis, Inc

I also extended the trip to include office visits and meetings with four corporate real estate firms in the Atlanta area which I believe will be extremely beneficial to our organization as we move forward.

About CoreNet:
CoreNet Global is the world’s leading association for corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace professionals, service providers and economic developers. With 7,000 members, who include 70 percent of the top 100 U.S. companies and nearly half of the Global 2000. CoreNet meets locally, globally and virtually to develop networks, share knowledge and network professionally.

Site Selection Magazine has chosen to honor the Indy Partnership as one of the 2010 Top Ten Economic Development Groups of the Year. The award recognizes Indy Partnership as a top tier economic development organization with a premier ability to create job growth and capital investment in the 9-county region.  Here is a link to the award article -  http://www.siteselection.com/promos/newPreview.cfm?id=1675&rep=MG

Below is a photo of Scott Fulford, Executive Director accepting the award for Indy Partnership yesterday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This month, Project for Public Spaces posted an article stating "Great cities don’t just happen. They are the result of dedicated citizens and public officials who care about their hometowns and who are wiling to shake things up to make them better places to live, work and play. This almost always involves imaginative innovations, which defy all the conventional wisdom about how to plan cities." Indy was mentioned in the article as one of these rare places, along with with Melbourne, Zurich and Hong Kong.   "Indianapolis, Indiana, is taking what may be the boldest step of any American city towards supporting bicyclists and pedestrians."

Read the whole article here.
Visit the Living Here portion of our web site here.

Congratulations to Brian Payne, of the Central Indiana Community Foundation for seeing the project to fruition.


 

Indianapolis’ Herron High School has reason to celebrate as it was named the 26^th best high school in the nation in a recent list from Newsweek magazine. The charter school located just north of downtown earned the recognition by challenging the majority of its students with college-preparatory Advanced Placement exams, designed to test entry-level college skills.

Newsweek reviewed the Advancement Placement exam participation throughout the nation’s public high schools to indicate how challenging each school is for its’ students. The challenge index was then determined as the ratio of number of AP tests given to number of graduating seniors. Newsweek honored those schools whose index was a 1.00 and above, with Herron’s index at 6.05.

But Herron is not the only recognized school in Indianapolis to make the list, as 14 out of the 28 Indiana schools listed as one of “America’s Best High Schools” are from the Indianapolis region.

Ron Gifford, President of Indy Partnership, said, “It is always nice and encouraging to see our Indianapolis schools being recognized on national lists, though no list will be able to show the big picture of the successes of all our Indianapolis schools.”

The state of Indiana also excells in higher education as it has many nationally recognized colleges and universities and more than 26 university and college campuses in the state.

• #11 School of Business – Indiana University
• #9 School of Engineering – Purdue University
• #4 Master’s of Business in Midwest – Butler University
• #1 School of Engineering – Rose Hulman Institute

The 14 Indianapolis schools ranked in Newsweek’s “America’s Best High Schools” list include:

No. 26: Herron.
No. 511: North Central.
No. 574: Zionsville.
No. 695: Carmel.
No. 1,099: Fishers.
No. 1,114: Hamilton Southeastern.
No. 1,276: Lawrence Central.
No. 1,289: Brownsburg.
No. 1,412: Pendleton Heights.
No. 1,451: Mount Vernon.
No. 1,476: Alexandria-Monroe.
No. 1,567: Center Grove.
No. 1,575: Southport.
No. 1,601: New Palestine.

The Indianapolis region is home to nearly 2,000 Indiana information technology firms, and IT executives predict that number to rise with the completion of another new state-of-the-art data center being built by LightBound on the west side of the city of Indianapolis.

President Jack Carr of LightBound said the new data center will be an asset to Indiana site selection and has the potential to bring more software service providers and even other leading IT targeted companies such as ExactTarget to the Indianapolis Region.

ExactTarget, a fast growing IT company with roots in e-mail marketing, will be a major tenant in the new data center. ExactTarget COO Scott McCorkle said the new facility was a critical aspect of ExactTarget choosing to expand and invest in Indiana and the Indianapolis Region.

PHOTO CAPTION: The new LightBound data center, located on the west side of Indianapolis at 650 West Henry Street.

This 47,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art data center is tornado proof; has the latest power, cooling and communications technologies; and is a Tier IV facility, meaning it guarantees 99.995 percent availability and is designed to host mission-critical computer systems. When it comes to data centers, there are different types or levels, and each is classified in terms of tiers being either a I, II, III or IV Tier. The higher the tier, the higher the accessibility.

Indiana and Indianapolis region IT executives are eager and excited for this new data center to further stimulate the growth of Indiana information technology. this excitement was captured in a recent press release from TechPoint, an initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and a sister organization in technology-related Indiana economic development to Indy Partnership:

Despite last year being the worst year in more than a decade (since 1997, to be exact) for venture capital nationally, investors are betting on Indiana’s high-tech entrepreneurs, with Indiana growing in total revenue investment by nearly 70 percent over 2008, which surpassed 2007 by 40 percent, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers National Venture Capital Association Money Tree Report.

“The latest Cyberstates report from the TechAmerica Foundation shows that the state added tech jobs during the downturn, even as the rest of the private sector was making cuts,” said Jim Jay, president and CEO of TechPoint. “When the rest of the economy starts catching up, Hoosier high-tech companies will be leading the way.”

Read the INside Indiana Business Article and learn more about Indiana information technology.

European Trade Mission Mission
Day 1 - Arrival (Tuesday April 20th)
 
Hats off to the Dutch!
 
By now you may be aware that I was the only lucky Hoosier to be on the only flight leaving from the US to Amsterdam on Monday evening (as scheduled).  To top it all off, just before I boarded the plane in New York, I was notified by a Delta representative that they had given me a last minute seat change on the plane.  At first, I was a little annoyed because I had booked an exit row seat in coach, and anyone who has traveled internationally understands just how difficult it can be to secure an exit row seat with extra leg-room.  Of course, my annoyance completely evaporated when she told me that I would now be seated in FIRST CLASS.  Seriously!  What are the chances!?!?  If there are any Seinfeld fans out there, this was like "Elaine's bizarro world."  I had entered bizarro world!!!
 
So I arrived in Amsterdam around 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning feeling rested and completely invincible.  My luck couldn't run out, right?  I was so excited about what the next few days would bring -- considering my recent windfall of good fortune.  What would be next?  Maybe I would meet with a company considering immediate plans for expansion in the U.S.!  Maybe that company would be considering the Midwest!  Even better, maybe that company would be considering Indiana, in particular!  These were the "sugar plums" dancing around in my head!  Hey, don’t laugh -- I was in bizarro world!  Anything can happen in bizarro world.

Ahhh, but you may recall in the Seinfeld episode, your time in bizarro world is brief.  Remember how reality eventually came crashing down on Elaine?  So was my fate as well. 

Indeed, it was clear I had left bizarro world when the immigration officer at Schipol airport took one look at my passport and informed me that I could not enter the country without a valid passport.  To my horror, after taking a good look at my passport, I realized I had inadvertently picked up my old passport with my maiden name.  My current, valid, passport with my married name was safely stored away in my safe at home where I keep all important documents.  (As a side note, my husband has been evaluating our insurance policies and had been shuffling around in our safe a few days earlier -- which had to be why this old passport was on the top of the stack.  So you see, clearly this was my husband’s fault!).  Miraculously enough, I was able to get through JFK airport with an invalid passport that didn’t even match the name on my boarding pass.  Of course at that time, I was still technically in bizarro world where anything can happen. 

I couldn’t believe it!  I had come so far, conquering a volcano for goodness sake!  Now, I might be forced on a plane back to the US because I don’t have a valid passport.  I was the “last hope” for my Indiana colleagues who had all watched their flights get canceled one after another!  How could it end this way!?!?  Naturally, I began to feel sick.  How could an expert traveler like me let something like this happen? 

After valiantly pleading my case and explaining my dire situation (all the while holding up the line of other happy passengers who had their passports), the nice immigration officer kindly asked me to step out of line and report to the immigration services office.  “I am so sorry for you and I understand, but this is not a decision for me to make,” she said.  “You will have to ask my superior what we will do about this.”  I was devastated!  Not only was I letting everyone down by having to cancel all of our meetings after all, but I was also fearful that I might have to wait days for a returning flight to the U.S. under the circumstances.

The Dutch immigration officers were all very kind and extremely professional.  After hearing my very, sad story, they contacted a U.S. officer working at Schipol to provide guidance on the situation.  Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, I met Richard, (my saving grace/guardian angel) the U.S. immigration representative they had called to my rescue.  Richard made a few phone calls and was able to verify that I was, in fact, a U.S. Citizen by pulling up my current passport on his blackberry.  Then he made an impassioned request to our Dutch friends in the immigration office to consider granting me a temporary approval to enter the country so that I could apply for an emergency passport at the American Consulate’s office located in downtown Amsterdam.  They certainly did not have to help me.  In fact, there was about 90 minutes-worth of paperwork they had to prepare in order to grant me approval to enter the country.  They also had to prioritize my case so that I could make it to the Consulate’s office before they closed at 11:30 AM.    Otherwise, I would have had to stay in the Netherlands overnight and try again the next morning (which would have required me to cancel all of my appointments arranged on Wednesday in Hannover).  I was a truly touched by their willingness to help me.  Maybe I’m being nostalgic or a bit dramatic, but I got the sense they were all rooting for me in some way.  Certainly, they could have been doing it just to get me out of their hair, but it sure seemed like they really cared. 

Regardless of motive, the Dutch immigration staff all worked very diligently to process my paperwork and I was able to make it the U.S. Consulate’s office by 11:28 AM.  The staff there was phenomenal as well and they went above and beyond to get me processed.  Normally, you would have to make an appointment to apply for an emergency passport.  However, after explaining my situation and my business obligations, they made an exception for me and went ahead and processed my application immediately so that I would have time to get to Hannover and make my meetings the next day.  I was finally issued a valid, temporary passport at 3:00 PM -- just enough time to buy a train ticket and catch the next train from Amsterdam to Hannover, Germany.

I arrived in Hannover by train at approximately 9:30 PM.  What an adventure!  I will forever feel indebted to the fine people of Holland!  My hat is off to the Dutch.  We as Hoosiers are known for our hospitality.  However, I think the Dutch might just be giving us a run for our money!!! 

No one living anywhere near Indianapolis could imagine the nation's 14th largest city without White River State Park -- home to the Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens; Indiana State Museum and IMAX Theater; Eiteljorg Museum of Native American art, history and culture; NCAA headquarters and the NCAA Hall of Champions; Victory Field and the Indianapolis Indians Triple-A baseball team; The Lawn outdoor concert venue; and the Central Canal waterway.

However, without a plan developed in cooperation with the American Institute of Architects in the 1970s, the west edge of downtown Indianapolis might never have become the laudable quality of life and economic development engine that it is today.

Forty years later, Indianapolis and indeed the Indianapolis Region as a whole is at another major crossroads that will have significant and long-term impact on the people who live in the region, on Indiana site selection and Midwest economic development in general.

This time, the plan takes a comprehensive look at regional public transportation, with a blueprint developed by a task force led by Allan Hubbard, co-founder of locally based acquisition firm E&A Industries and an economic adviser to both Bush administrations. The group also included representatives of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (the nonprofit parent organization of Indy Partnership) and Central Indiana Community Foundation.

This group evaluated transportation investments with an eye towards return on investment, using a rigorous cost-benfit model and focusing on issues like workforce mobility, transit-oriented development and neighborhood redevelopment.  (Read more about the potential economic benefits of the plan here on the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership blog.)

Major enhancements to public transit such as the proposed new in-street light rail, ground-level commuter train, and expanded bus service, bike and pedestrian paths are helpful to the economic development cause. According to an IBM study conducted for Indy Partnership, these types improvements will be viewed by SOME site selection consultants and their clients as a "key project driver," and by ALL consultants and their clients as a positive contributor to the Indianapolis region's business climate, infrastructure and living environment. 

Visit indyconnect.org or read the official press release to learn more about the proposed comprehensive regional transportation plan. Click on the map to view specific proposed routes and transportation modes.

In partnership with fellow Central Indiana Corporate Partnership organization Conexus Indiana, I penned the following column -- now appearing on the Inside Indiana Business website -- highlighting some of the monumental clean-tech energy and Indiana advanced manufacturing success stories coming out of the first 45 days of 2010.

 

About Conexus: Conexus Indiana is the state’s advanced manufacturing and logistics initiative, dedicated to making Indiana a global leader in these high‐growth, high‐tech industries. Conexus is focused on strategic priorities like workforce development, creating new industry partnerships and marketing our competitive advantages.

Here is the column as it appears on insideindianabusiness.com:



2010 Off to a Fast Start in Green Manufacturing Success Stories

What do you get when you combine cutting edge technologies, a legacy of engineering expertise, and a rich manufacturing heritage? A flurry of good news that puts central Indiana in the driver's seat of activity to put more electric vehicles on our highways and make renewable energy a practical reality. And if the rest of the year looks anything like the first few weeks, 2010 will be known as the Year of Clean-Tech here at the Crossroads of America.

Let's run down a few of the highlights:

In Anderson, Ind., Remy International announced a new business unit dedicated solely to the development and manufacturing of electric and hybrid motors. Remy is already the largest U.S. producer of hybrid motors, and last year earned a $60 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of an initiative to fuel development of electric vehicle batteries and components.

The move could spur significant investment and create hundreds of new jobs over the next few years, and appears to already be paying dividends – Remy just announced a major contract to supply Mercedes with hybrid motors.

When it comes to electric vehicles, the "green-tech" juggernaut known as EnerDel continues to produce new jobs and investment in the Indianapolis Region, along with cutting-edge batteries. As the only U.S. manufacturer of the lithium ion batteries that power hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles, EnerDel has tapped the rich reservoir of engineering talent that created General Motors' EV1 and other groundbreaking projects here in the region. EnerDel just announced a major new manufacturing facility in Greenfield, Ind., that will ultimately employ 1,100+ -- thus expanding a footprint in greater Indianapolis that includes its northeast Indy headquarters and a battery pack assembly facility in Noblesville, just north of the city.

Throughout the state, tremendous wins are being registered in attracting clean tech manufacturing. Think North America, an electric car manufacturer, has chosen Elkhart as the site of its first U.S. manufacturing plant, joining Electric Motors Corp and NaviStar as the hub of a growing green vehicle cluster along Indiana's northern border.

Brevini Wind (in Muncie, Ind.) has earned $12.8 million in federal tax credits to manufacture gear boxes and other technologies for its massive wind turbines. Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chu visited Columbus, Ind., to announce $54 million in federal stimulus grants to Cummins to increase engine fuel efficiency.

Like any high-tech, innovation-driven industry, the clean tech sector demands a skilled workforce. Here too, Indiana is making great strides, as the state's Department of Workforce Development recently secured a $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to help workers from other manufacturing sectors take advantage of new jobs in the clean tech space.

The Indy Partnership has aggressively pursued companies in the energy innovation and green manufacturing arenas, both here and abroad – including multiple visits to Europe and China. We plan to continue these recruiting efforts in the years to come, and the level of activity so far in January tells us that our hard work is paying off.

Download our Indiana Clean-Tech Energy Industry Report.

Central Indiana has a long-term strategy designed to strengthen our world-class clean tech sector and re-energize our manufacturing base. Our sister initiative, Energy Systems Network, is playing a leading role in making Indiana a center for energy innovation. The success stories that have marked the start of 2010 are early dividends, but we're confident the best is yet to come.

As the economic development arm for the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and the 10-county Indianapolis Region, Indy Partnership will be doing its part to tell this story and maximize our potential in this booming area of cutting-edge clean technology industries. In Indiana, green tech means green jobs; in other states, they're just green with envy at our success.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels recently made the claim, "Indiana is becoming a location of choice for companies in the renewable energy industry." As a director of research, I reject broad, sweeping claims -- particularly those made by politicians -- unless they are backed up with credible data. It's a "show me the numbers" approach that would make any high school forensics/debate teacher proud.

Governor Daniels, it seems, has the numbers on his side. Hoosiers are already benefiting from an emphasis on alternative fuel vehicles and clean-tech or renewable energy. From 1998 to 2007, the number of sustainable energy jobs in Indiana grew by 17.9 percent, nearly double the growth rate of the rest of the United States, according to The Pew Charitable Trust.

PHOTO CAPTION: Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (left) and Charles Gassenheimer, chairman and CEO of Ener1, the parent company of Indiana company EnerDel, pause for a photo together inside one of EnerDel's manufacturing facilities. Gassenheimer is holding one of the company's lithium-ion battery cells.

Furthermore, consider these recent announcements:

• Lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel will locate its newest manufacturing operation in Hancock County (within the 10-county Indianapolis region) and create hundreds more jobs than originally projected. EnerDel, a developer of batteries and energy storage systems for hybrid, plug-in electric and electric vehicles, will soon have more than 1,400 employees working at three Indianapolis region locations.
   
• THINK, a leading international manufacturer of pure electric vehicles, plans to locate its North American production facility in Elkhart, Ind., creating more than 400 jobs by 2013.
   
• Delphi Corp., a global electronics maker, will establish a new production facility in Kokomo, Ind. (just north of the Indianapolis metro) to manufacture products for the electric drive vehicle market, creating an estimated 190 new jobs by 2014.
   
• White Construction Inc., a contractor for renewable energy projects throughout North America, will expand operations and build its new headquarters in Clinton (between Indianapolis and Chicago), creating up to 70 new jobs by 2012.
   
• According to the American Wind Energy Association, Indiana is a leading state in adding new wind capacity -- ranking second in the nation in 2009 and first in 2008.

Google introduced its Nexus One wireless phone last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and that's good news for Brightpoint North America, a global leader in the distribution of wireless devices. Brightpoint is located in Plainfield, Indiana, near the Indianapolis International Airport.

Through an agreement with Taiwan's HTC Corp. -- the original equipment manufacturer of the Nexus One -- Brightpoint will provide logistics services supporting Google's web store channel, including bundling and shipping the Nexus One to end users.

I personally worked in the consumer electronics industry for close to a decade, attended and exhibited as a manufacturer at CES, and helped to launch hundreds of consumer electronics products. In my experience, nothing kills a product faster than a.) too many bugs or outright product failures, and b.) poor logistics.

Google has a lot riding on its first foray into the wireless hardware marketplace. I would imagine bringing the Nexus One phone itself to market was a monumental challenge for an on-line, software-centric company with little experience in manufacturing (even with the help of an OEM).

With resources focused on launching a product intended to compete with the iPhone, issues with availability, fulfillment or shipping could be disastrous, since Apple has such an exemplary reputation for customer satisfaction and overall product experience.

It's testament to the strength of Indiana transportation logistics and especially to Brightpoint North America that Google and its partner HTC Corp. have chosen a company located in the Indianapolis region to play such a pivotal role in the launch of a make-or-break product.

For those unaware of the transportation, distribution and logistics prowess of the Indianapolis Region, here are a few of the more salient details:
 

• More than 50% of the U.S. and Canadian populations lie within a day’s truck drive of Indiana
• About 75% of the U.S. and Canadian populations lie within one and a half day's drive of Indiana
• The Indianapolis Region ranks first among metro areas in interstate access with four intersecting interstate highways
• Indianapolis International Airport is home to the world's second-largest FedEx hub
• Indianapolis International Airport is the eighth-largest cargo airport in North America.

LEARN MORE about transportation, distribution and logistics in the Indianapolis Region.
Read the logistics FEATURE STORY from the Indianapolis Region magazine.

Photo courtesy of Banayote Photography.

President Barack Obama today praised a program that will place hundreds of highly qualified math and science teachers in Indiana classrooms and announced an expansion of the program to Ohio, Michigan and up to two additional states in 2010.

The Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship, created at the direction of Gov. Mitch Daniels with financial support from the Lilly Endowment and state funds, provides stipends to prospective teachers who agree to spend a year in exemplary teacher education programs and teach for three years in low-income rural and urban secondary schools. 

“America’s leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in science, math and engineering,” said President Obama. “That’s why I’m pleased to announce the expansion of our “Educate to Innovate” campaign today and applaud the several new partnerships launched that will help meet our goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.”

“The Wilson Teaching Fellowship is helping Indiana address a critical shortage of great math and science teachers,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said. “I agree with President Obama and Secretary Duncan that providing our students great teachers is imperative to increasing academic achievement. Hoosier students will benefit greatly from having expert teachers in their classrooms through the Wilson Teaching Fellowship, and I am encouraged our state’s success means students in other states will have the same opportunity.”

Four Indiana universities were chosen to participate: Ball State University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Purdue University, and the University of Indianapolis.

Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows hold baccalaureate degrees in math or science and are high achievers, academically and professionally. They complete an intensive, field-based master’s program in teacher education at a participating university, overseen by both the university’s STEM faculty and its education faculty in cooperation with partner school districts. Fellows receive $30,000 during the Fellowship year and commit to teach for three years, with on-site mentoring, in some of the state’s high-need urban or rural secondary schools.

Interested applicants can find program and application information at http://www.woodrow.org/.  Applications for the 2010 cohort of Fellows are due on January 12, 2010.

The White House press release is available here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-expands-educate-innovate-campaign-excellence-science-technology-eng