What will $20 million from Lilly Endowment do for Northeast Indiana? The expansion of Centers of Excellence for systems engineering and wireless technology development. The creation of New Tech High Schools. Advanced manufacturing program expansion. The retraining of at least 1,200 adult workers in three years. Business and civic leaders from Fort Wayne and the Northeast Indiana region came together with executives from Lilly Endowment to celebrate the awarding of the largest private grant ever received in the area to fund the TOpS 2015 (Talent Opportunity Success) regional development program. Over the past year, MEK was privileged to play what John Sampson, CEO of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, described as a “critical role” in achieving strategic change toward securing the grant.

Targeted Relocation Strategy If your county has the potential of attracting upwards of $10 million worth of new jobs, how do you go about it? When NSA/NSWC Crane began conducting interviews for 430 new engineering and technology positions, Daviess County in Indiana got aggressive. The county directed MEK to create an all-new attraction package to profile the top-ranked schools, high quality of life and excellent attributes available to new scientists and engineers moving into the Crane region. With the package on hand NSWC Crane job fairs, job applicants walked away with a surprising alternative for a future high-quality life in Daviess County.

Building Real-time Collaboration Leaders in eastern Indiana wanted to capture new opportunities and re-position highly attractive tourism opportunities, so they asked MEK to demonstrate how real collaboration achieves real change. In a keynote address at the first annual Regional Collaboration Conference near Richmond, Indiana, leaders from the region saw how focused teams can bring about innovative solutions for strategic growth. [Presentation]

Capturing Stimulus Funding Opportunities The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) created unprecedented opportunities for Indiana cities and counties. In April, the Shelby County Commissioners tapped MEK to help organize available resources. MEK delivered what the Commissioners later described as “outstanding work.” MEK also profiled ARRA funding insights from the national B&D Consulting firm on Midwest Business out of Chicago.

Building Indiana’s Aerospace Industry To help capture real national growth opportunities for Indiana’s aerospace and space industries, MEK and the Indiana Office of Defense Development teamed up to outline emerging prospects at the annual ATAIN Aerospace and Space Science Conference in Northeast Indiana. [Presentations]

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