Business leaders talk growth at Engage Indiana in South Bend
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Inside INdiana Business, IBJ Media and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. hosted this year’s second Engage Indiana event on Wednesday. A crowd of about 300 business, academic and community leaders gathered in South Bend to hear from Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers and a panel of local business leaders focused on issues, including workforce development, talent attraction and quality of life initiatives.
The panel included University of Notre Dame Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan, Graham Allen Partners Managing Principal Tracy Graham, South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership CEO Bethany Hartley, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County President Rose Meissner, and Kem Krest CEO Amish Shah.
Speaking with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick, who moderated the panel, Shah said the technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the South Bend-Elkhart region is driving growth.
“You’re seeing amazing innovation and technologies that are now being able to be commercialized,” said Shah. “We’re seeing a blockchain companies, SIMBA Chain, who’s now working with the U.S. government and many other big, big companies. You’re seeing more and more instances of great startups actually becoming more mature, which is inspiring other people to want to say, ‘You know, we’ve got the resources. We’ve got the infrastructure. Now, we can find the funding, and we could actually do this.'”
Graham says the region has benefited of the economic boom of the last 10 years and is set for continued growth.
“Like almost all economies right now, people are worried about what the future’s going to look like. What’s it going to do to our RV industry? What’s it going to do to the manufacturing industry? But where we’ve done a really good job is we’ve made some advancements in technology. We’ve done a lot in the form of advanced manufacturing and starting to see some benefits from there. We have the foundational pieces to continue to prosper over the long term.”
IBJ Media’s Engage Indiana platform was created to bring together business, education, philanthropic and government leaders to promote and explore best practices for corporate social responsibility and engagement in the community.
The IEDC and IBJ Media have partnered to host Engage Indiana in Indianapolis for the past six years. This year, in addition to South Bend, Evansville and Indianapolis, Engage Indiana is scheduled for Fort Wayne.
“The expansion of the Engage Indiana franchise is part of our commitment to bring regions around the state together on important issues that will shape the future of the Hoosier economy,” Gerry Dick said in written remarks. “Conversation and collaboration can lead to action in tackling some of the challenges that threaten our future prosperity.”
You can see more from the Engage Indiana event on this weekend’s edition of Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.