Transformation Strategies

All of our WIRED efforts are focused around four strategies for transformation. We’re confident that if we can accomplish these goals, North Central Indiana will become one of the nation’s most vibrant regional economies.

Creating Globally Competitive Industries

WIRED has decided to build on our region's industrial strengths and our focus in this area is on moving university innovations into the region’s advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, and agribusiness firms in an effort to create clusters of innovation. We’ve developed pilot networks of industries by linking them to university innovations - technologies, technical assistance, and skill development - and integrating those innovations enterprise-wide within participating firms. Examples of some of the projects in this strategy area, can he found here.

Building an Entrepreneurship Super-Region

WIRED’s focus here is to create a fertile region where new business can start and grow and where existing businesses have the tools to think and act more entrepreneurially. To do this we’re working with two key groups: (1) emerging and existing entrepreneurs, including K-12 students and individuals in new or early-stage businesses as well as (2) community leaders and supporting organizations that make up the entrepreneurship infrastructure. Examples of some of the projects in this strategy area, can he found here.

Developing a Workforce with 21st Century Skills

WIRED is focusing our 21st Century Skills efforts primarily on two groups at opposite ends of the workforce age continuum: older workers(45-plus) and K-12 students. Why older workers? Our region has a lot of them, a higher share than most parts of the country. Some are retiring and we would like to hang on to them a little longer. Others are transitioning, due to the changing economy, from long-tenured manufacturing jobs. We are helping them gain 21st Century Skills to broaden their choices as they look to the future. Our K-12 initiative is focused primarily on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. We’re helping schools adopt new STEM project-based learning models and helping to build teachers' capacities to teach in the STEM disciplines. Examples of some of the projects in this strategy area, can he found here.

Weaving Supportive Civic Networks

Today’s economy requires new models of civic governance (notice that is govern-ance, not govern-ment). Governance is everyone’s responsibility. Our political institutions are set up with boundaries we call cities, counties, and services areas that are completely irrelevant in a global economy. How do we work together across jurisdictional lines? How do we support entrepreneurship? How do we innovate the way we govern? In Indiana, we talk a lot about high performance - high-performance manufacturing, high-performance workers and students (not to mention high-performance racecars!). None of this will be possible without high-performance governance. Our approach is to create opportunities to weave supportive civic networks. Examples of some of the projects in this strategy area, can he found here.