Understanding Tomorrow's Industries Today: The Landscape of the Future

The International Economic Development Council's 2011 spring conference, held June 5-7, in Indianapolis, IN, will prepare economic developers for the transformation of their community's industries and provide insight on emerging opportunities.

The landscape and competitiveness of industries are changing dramatically - strengthening some sectors, while weakening others. Traditional industries have transformed, consolidated, gone offshore, or disappeared entirely - taking jobs and investment with them. As an economic developer you need to prepare for retaining your workforce, retooling your incentives, reorienting your marketing, revitalizing existing industries, replanting your "economic garden," and recruiting the industries of the future. We can no longer build rockets with stone hammers - we need to understand tomorrow's industries today. Learn how to identify emerging opportunities; attract, expand and grow new industries; and diversify your community's economy.

The Indianapolis economy was once predominantly based on a manufacturing sector with a particular focus on the domestic auto industry. However, today the region's economy is recognized for its diversity and growth in the areas of life sciences, alternative energy, value add logistics, and digital marketing and media. Indianapolis is also home to several cutting-edge initiatives in educational reform and workforce development. This dynamic and progressive city will provide a rich learning laboratory for conference attendees.

Project Plug-In

Find out what companies in Indianapolis are doing to effectively address the technical, business, regulatory, and consumer challenges to meeting our Federal government’s goal of one million plug-in cars by 2015. Learn more about Project Plug-In (PDF).