The Alliance Working Teams will meet today (Tuesday, June 3) for the first quarterly follow-up meeting at Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Indiana. The all-day event is an opportunity for the Teams to report on progress and plan strategies for the next phase of activity, and will include a tour of Purdue’s Center for Innovation through Visualization & Simulation (CIVS). The Alliance would like to thank Dr. Chenn Zhou, CIVS Director and Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, for hosting the meeting.
At today’s meeting, Alliance Working Teams will move forward goals and projects in the following areas:
GREEN GROWTH
Team Goal: Promote a cluster strategy of the Southern Lake Michigan Basin as the world leader on all water related industries and research
Project: Expanding the footprint of the Water Council as a key avenue to expanding the national and global reputation and opportunities of the region relative to water technology and innovation
HUMAN CAPITAL
Team Goal: Collaborative Branding of the Region’s Workforce Capacity and Resources
Project: Produce series of brief videos that illustrate this collective strength
INNOVATION
Team Goal: Developing a common understanding of the region’s innovation ecosystem, its key challenges, and common goals
Project: Creation of an Internet portal
TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS
Team Goal: Determine needs and prioritize potential infrastructure projects
Projects:
- 1Create regional asset map to be used to identify underutilized assets and development opportunities
- Organize private sector to identify needs to better get our goods quickly and efficiently into the hands of customers across the nation and around the world (based on Conexus as best practices)
As work proceeds, Working Team members are aiming their efforts at building towards the Second Annual Summit on Regional Competitiveness on December 19 to be able to present concrete evidence of regional collaboration. (See below for more on the Summit.)
As always, the Alliance is grateful to the hardworking volunteer members of the Working Teams. We look forward to continuing to work together throughout the year!