Indianapolis Region Economic Development Blog

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.

Last week, Project Manager Chelsey Soplanda braved the Chicago traffic (in particular, on the days that President Obama was in town) and made a few calls to four different consulting firms.  Each conversation brought up different ideas and conversation, but one reoccurring theme was the Headquarters Relocation Tax Credit that has turned a few heads in Illinois.  Multiple consultants were anxious to hear more on this opportunity and have expressed their clients interest in such a tax credit.  Those would be big wins for the Indianapolis Region!  A few of the consultants visited will be speakers at the International Economic Development Councils Spring Conference which will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Indianapolis from June 5-7. 

In this industry, one of the most important things a business developer can do is stay fresh in a consultants mind.  Making these calls is exactly what this accomplishes. 

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.


 

The Indianapolis Region is home to a variety of high-quality, free-to-the-public attractions – the Indianapolis Museum of Art and its award-winning exhibitions, the gorgeous and functional Indianapolis Cultural Trail, and the brand new Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, to name a few. What’s even better, the median disposable income, or the income available to save or spend after taxes, is 9.5% higher than the national median (Demographics Now, 2010). This means local families have the purchasing power to enjoy Indy’s other recreational and cultural amenities as well. 

The Colts are into their regular season, Broadway Across America is bringing Tony® Award-winning shows to the Old National Center, and the world’s largest children’s museum is gearing up for fall events for children and families. No matter your age or interests, Central Indiana has something to offer everyone.

Along with the Indy region’s increasing number of quality museums, events, and activities is a growing population – the reality of high disposable income has helped to attract 13% more households than a decade ago (Demographics Now, 2010). The 2009 year-end ACCRA Cost of Living Index showed it costs 11.2% less than the national average to purchase life’s necessities here, and housing costs in our region are lower than the national average by more than 17% (C2ER, 2010). 

Autumn in Central Indiana is the perfect time to enjoy all that the region has to offer, and thanks to our high-quality, low-cost lifestyle, Indianapolis-area residents have the power to do just that.

When employment goes up, unemployment goes down. The two are inversely proportional ... most of the time. It is possible, however, for a geography to experience a simultaneous decrease in the number of people employed and the number of people unemployed.

A decrease in both indicates that the overall size of the labor force has decreased. This may be due to an increase in the number of people removing themselves from the labor force and furthering their education (which is typical during a recession), or an increase in the number of retirees. Or it may be due to more troubling factors like an increase in the number of unemployed persons who have stopped looking for work altogether (also typical in a recession), or a decrease in overall population of the geography.

A review of some key definitions will shed additional light on the subject (or maybe confuse you further).

Labor Force
The labor force is the sum of all employed and unemployed individuals.  It is part of the civilian non-institutional population, which includes everyone over the age of 16 not serving military Active Duty or residing in an institution.

Those who are not looking for work or whose only activity in the reference week consisted of work in their own home and/or volunteer work are part of the civilian non-institutional population, but NOT part of the labor force.

The labor force is divided into two groups:

Employed

• Are counted only once, no matter how many jobs they hold
• Were paid for at least one hour of work during the reference week; or
• Worked in their own business, profession, or farm; or
• Worked at least 15 unpaid hours in an enterprise owned by a family member; or
• Were temporarily absent due to vacation/leave, bad weather, labor-management dispute, job training, or other personal or family reasons, regardless of whether he or she was paid or was seeking other employment.

Unemployed

• Have had no employment during the reference week; and
• Were available to work, except for temporary illness; and
• Made an effort to find employment during the previous four weeks; or
• Were laid off from a job and waiting to be recalled are also considered unemployed.

So, when you hear an economist or labor market analyst say "job growth", they are really talking about employment growth.  And you should never hear these folks use the word "workforce" when they quantify anything, because the term is not technically in the vernacular of any of the federal statistical agencies. If you are still not clear, you should probably talk to Morton Marcus, Indiana's foremost expert on labor statistics.

Business Facilities magazine released the results of its annual Rankings Report and Indianapolis earned two spots in the Metro Cities Rankings Report.

Indianapolis ranked #7 in the "Top 10 Metro Cities for Economic Growth Potential" and ranked #8 in the "Top 10 Metro Cities with the Best Cost of Living."

Top 10 Metro Cities for Economic Growth Potential:

1. CHATTANOOGA, TN
2. ALBUQUERQUE, NM
3. SAN ANTONIO, TX
4. CHARLESTON, SC
5. CHARLOTTE, NC
6. TUCSON, AZ
7. INDIANAPOLIS, IN
8. KANSAS CITY, MO
9. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
10. LOUISVILLE, KY

Top 10 Metro Cities with the Best Cost of Living:

1. TULSA, OK
2. MEMPHIS, TN
3. MCCALLEN-MISSION, TX
4. LITTLE ROCK, AR
5. NASHVILLE, TN
6. TOPEKA, KS
7. LOUISVILLE, KY
8. INDIANAPOLIS, IN
9. CHATTANOOGA, TN
10. KNOXVILLE, TN

Executive Outlook magazine’s summer 2010 issue ranked Indianapolis #4 in its feature on the “Top 25 Cities in the Country for Business”.

In order to identify the 25 top cities, the magazine cross-referenced current population growth, small business owner/franchise satisfaction rates, cost of living, median household income, and corporate tax burden and unemployment rates for the 52 largest markets in the U.S.

Many of the cities that ranked well, the magazine stated, rely on a fundamentally strong industry, while others remain strong due to a low cost of living.

When it came to Indianapolis, Executive Outlook credited the city as having one of the most skilled workforces in the country with a higher than average worker productivity rate.

Other supporting factors that earned Indianapolis the #4 position included:

• Indianapolis is supported by a diversified economic base
• Indianapolis-based corporations include Simon Property Group, Anthem Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Duke Realty Corp., Hunt Construction Group and National Wine & Spirits.
• Indianapolis’ sporting events and business pack are a powerful punch to the Midwest City
• Indianapolis is situated in the agricultural region known as the “corn belt”

Top 10 Cities ranked from Executive Outlook's Top 25:

1. Dallas/Fort Worth
2. Houston
3. San Antonio
4. Indianapolis
5. Phoenix
6. Austin
7. Denver
8. Atlanta
9. Oklahoma City
10. Salt Lake City

Indianapolis has been named a leader among the country's exporting elite, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.

The Brookings Institution’s recently released study ranks the nation’s 100 largest metro areas on exports in 2008, and between 2003 and 2008.

The Indianapolis area ranks 20th in the value of exports produced in 2008 and ninth in the share of the local economy that came from exports, according to the report.

"To have that much of your (Gross Metropolitan Product) going abroad means that Indianapolis is in the export business," said Jennifer Bradley, co-director of the Brookings Institution's Great Lakes Economic Initiative. "Indianapolis is in the global economy."

Key findings from the study:

• An estimated 85,159 jobs in the Indianapolis area were supported by exports in 2008
• Nearly one in 10 jobs in the Indianapolis area rely on exports
• Currently, the U.S. imports more than it exports
• U.S. metro areas are leading the nation in export production
• Indianapolis' largest export industry is chemicals, which includes pharmaceuticals produced by Eli Lilly and Co.

Indianapolis’ major export industries:

• Chemical Manufacturing
• Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
• Machinery Manufacturing
• Royalties from Intellectual Property
• Medical Equipment
• Sporting Goods
• Jewelry
• Misc. Manufacturing

How Indianapolis compares to its surrounding cities:

Indianapolis
Annual Exports: $12.8 billion (Rank 20)
Exports as Share of GMP: 15.2% (Rank 9)

Chicago
Annual Exports: $52.9 billion (Rank 3)
Exports as Share of GMP: 10.9% (Rank 45)

Louisville
Annual Exports: $6.7 billion (Rank 44)
Exports as Share of GMP: 12.6% (Rank 27)

Cincinnati
Annual Exports: $11.8 billion (Rank 22)
Exports as Share of GMP: 12.9% (Rank 24)

St. Louis
Annual Exports: $14.6 billion (Rank 18)
Exports as Share of GMP: 12.1 % (Rank 35)

Detroit
Annual Exports: $26.9 billion (Rank 9)
Exports as Share of GMP: 14.7% (Rank 12)

Indianapolis' Export Profile Report

Read the Indy Star's article on this report
 

Robotics is growing rapidly as it has become a $20 billion global industry with nearly 9 million robots in use today worldwide. In fact, the world robot population has nearly doubled within the past four years, according to the International Federation of Robotics. As robots begin to make their mark around the world, PrecisePath Robotics’ President and COO, Jason Zeilke, believes Indiana’s resources are an opportunity and reason for the industry to make its mark in the state.

Zeilke believes that robotics is a practical tool that has the potential to increase productivity in businesses as well as allow humans to be more creative and innovative with robots doing menial tasks. With that in mind, Zeilke recently introduced PrecisePath's new automated mowing equipment initially tageted for golf courses but with potential applications ranging from construction and landscaping to painting and snow removal.

"While Indiana's robotics industry is far from established, we do several key competitive advantages that will enable this booming field to become an important pillar of our growing technology sector," he said.

Reasons why Indiana has a future with the robotics industry:

• Indiana has a growing information technology and software engineering sector
• Home to world-class engineering and computer science programs like Purdue, Rose-Hulman, Notre Dame and Indiana University
• Indiana’s solid manufacturing heritage
• Close proximity to natural customer base
• Advanced manufacturing firms are more aggressively incorporating robotic systems into their industry to improve productivity; more than one million robots currently at work in manufacturing facilities worldwide.
• Indiana is the most manufacturing-intensive state in nation by per capita income and economic output
• Indiana ranks among leaders in medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing, where high-tech automation is necessary to meet industry standards.
• Growing defense and homeland security sector with a need for specialized robot applications

Read Jason Zeilke’s full article on Robotics in Indiana at Inside INdiana Business