|
www.ingenuityfrontier.com
 In 2003 the Northwest Minnesota Foundation the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), as well as area education institutions began survey work on identifying regional strengths for economic development initiatives. The survey work led to the development of local knowledge clusters, defined as "concentrations of industries and people with extensive knowledge in specific technologies, processes and markets."
The goal was to encourage growth within existing industries, spur entrepreneurial activity around those same clusters, and attract high-skill jobs. This analysis of regional assets has led to the development by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation of Ingenuity Frontier: Engineering at Work in Northwest Minnesota.
Marty Sieve, NMF program director, says the next phase for Ingenuity Frontier is the development of a comprehensive marketing campaign. "Our intention is to brand the region as a hub of engineering talent and innovation, which is exactly what has given local industry its competitive edge in the global marketplace."
The principal partners in the project are Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Headwaters Regional Development Commission (HRDC), Northwest Technical College - Bemidji (NTC), Bemidji State University (BSU), and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Through their initial research, they identified the knowledge area of applied engineering as a cluster in northwest Minnesota that provides the region with a competitive advantage. They subsequently concentrated their planning efforts around a handful of key objectives to spark innovation within the knowledge cluster and stimulate industry growth.
Working with BSU administrators, they investigated the possibility of public-private collaboration, and a potential site for the facility was found on the BSU campus. The center will be an integrator of first-class industrial technology and engineering education for secondary and post-secondary educational institutions throughout the region.
 BSU is conferring with NTC and 11 other two-year institutions to design curriculum for an Applied Engineering BAS degree program, and advice is being sought from a number of area businesses, including Marvin Windows, Polaris Industries, and Arctic Cat and TEAM Industries. BSU will submit the curriculum for approval by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and will seek to secure funding for an endowed faculty position in Engineering Physics. The degree program could be launched as early as the winter semester of 2006.
NMF worked throughout 2004 with the Minnesota Investment Network Corporation (MINC) to establish one or more RAIN funds in the region (RAIN stands for Regional Angel Investment Network). This will be a formal investment fund that pools the intellectual and financial resources of accredited individuals and institutions. It will provide seed and growth equity capital for emerging companies and their communities, and will be established by 15-20 local individuals and institutions contributing an aggregate investment of $500,000 or more. Four rounds of meetings with potential investors have been held to date and should be completed by the spring of 2005.
Ingenuity Frontier is part of a statewide initiative termed the RED (Regional Economic Development) Group. This is a public-private partnership supported by The McKnight Foundation and Blandin Foundation that seeks to create new wealth in Greater Minnesota by leveraging existing assets and aligning resources regionally throughout the state.
|
