Rally conference sees growth in second year
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe second Rally Innovation Conference is in the books, and founder Christopher Day says attendance was up double digits over the previous year.
Several thousand entrepreneurs, investors and executives attended last week’s event in Indianapolis, and Day believes it is more evidence of Indiana’s emerging status as an innovation hub.
“I truly believe that when we embrace each other, cross-sector, we can advance each other’s companies and technologies and innovation faster than anybody on the planet.”
Speaking from the conference with Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick, Day said he believes Indiana is already the innovation capital of the world, but the world just doesn’t know it yet.
“When you look at things like our infrastructure and our talent, mission-critical industry, lifestyle, cost of living, regulatory environment…these are all the things that are very intentional activities that companies, institutions, universities, are all starting to realize,” he said. “I think there’s a massive pent up demand for growth capital in the state. I think that also is going to help us keep, attract and retain more talent.”
Day said talent was one of the key topics discussed this year, noting his opinion that talent is more important than capital.
“If we create environments where people can flourish and always self learn and grow and disrupt themselves, disrupt the company, better serve the customers, great talent flocks to those types of environments,” he said. “So I think it’s not only about making sure you serve your customers and keeping ahead of the competition, but then also attracting the talent you need to go execute that strategy.”
Public policy also plays a big role in the innovation economy, from regulation to funding and investment that helps create jobs. One example is SK Hynix Inc., the South Korea-based chip manufacturer that recently confirmed it will receive up to $450 million in federal CHIPS and Science Act funding to support is nearly $4 billion semiconductor packaging facility in West Lafayette.
One of the key players in making that legislation reality, Senator Todd Young, R-IN, was very visible at Rally and said Indiana is positioned for explosive growth as an innovation center.
Young told IIB one of the overlooked value propositions of the SK Hynix project is that it not only doubles the assessed value of West Lafayette, but it also advertises the state of Indiana to the world.
“We’re already making highly sophisticated things. The most challenging things to manufacture in the world are manufactured here,” Young said. “So as other semiconductor manufacturers and manufacturers of other sophisticated systems look for places to locate, they’re going to be looking at Hoosiers.”