Holcomb bullish on Indiana’s innovation future
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana is coming off a big week on the economic development front.
At last week’s Global Economic Summit in downtown Indianapolis, Eli Lilly and Co. announced plans to invest an additional $5.3 billion in a massive manufacturing campus now under construction in Boone County, bringing its total commitment there to $9 billion and 900 jobs.
Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures also announced a $100 million fund to support growth-stage companies throughout the state.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick, Gov. Eric Holcomb said record economic development activity in the state is sending a message that is resonating.
“[Lilly] is a world-class company that had other countries as options, other continents, and they chose to double down again in Indiana,” Holcomb said. “And that means high-wage careers are going to be available for adults and for students to be on a pathway right into a career from early on.”
Holcomb called Lilly’s investment “truly transformational,” emphasizing how Hoosiers will benefit because of the company’s confidence in the Indiana workforce.
The governor also noted that the Elevate Ventures Growth Fund will provide opportunities to support smaller startups who previously might have had to look outside of the state because of a lack of funding sources.
“Small startups that got help through Elevate Ventures in terms of funding will now be able to stay in the same portfolio,” he said. “We’ll be able to help companies not just get acquired, they’ll look to acquire as they go from one stage to the next. So as they continue to get larger and bigger, they don’t have to spin off to somewhere else; they can stay here, grow roots here.”
Holcomb said providing venture capital funding was a key tool missing from the state’s portfolio, and they have already seen great interest from potential recipients.
Another big announcement from the summit was a partnership between Purdue University and Greenfield-based Elanco Animal Health to develop a shared-use facility on three acres near the future Elanco global headquarters in downtown Indy.
Part of newly-created OneHealth Innovation District, the facility is expected to help create and improve innovation where industry and academia can collaborate, and will include office, wet lab and incubator space.
Holcomb said he loves the way Indianapolis is leaning into what he calls the innovation economy and the industries of the future.
“When we think about plant, animal, and human health, research, development, and then distribution of these new products, Indianapolis will be the epicenter on this front,” he said. “And to have Indiana University, to have Purdue University, to have Lilly, to have Elanco right here on this urban patch of property is going to be tremendous.”
The governor said the efforts in downtown Indy, as well as at the LEAP Innovation and Research District in Boone County where Lilly is making its big investment makes an “incredible statement to the world about our strength and all the possibilities that they too can join in.”