Laserfiche WebLink
South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Regular Meeting -February 8, 201 1 <br />viable industry clusters and provide a path <br />for the development of Ignition Park. <br />Ms. Hathaway noted that there are known <br />benefits to having a successful tech park: the <br />ability to attract new businesses, the <br />opportunity to spur growth for our existing <br />businesses, local tax base increase, an <br />increase in emplo}nnent and intern <br />possibilities as well as opportunities to retain <br />our most valuable recent college graduates. <br />To increase these opportunities a proactive <br />approach is absolutely necessary. We must <br />fully investigate the needs of various <br />business types; we must honestly assess our <br />community's ability to meet those needs and, <br />hopefully, exceed those; we must identify the <br />unique assets of the community such as <br />Public Works with its combined sewer <br />overflow and the greenhouse energy sharing. <br />Those are getting national recognition. We <br />need to capitalize on that. And we need to <br />develop an honest, targeted marketing plan. <br />These allow us to be proactive in our efforts <br />to build a park with multiple clusters of <br />compatible, cooperative businesses. The <br />industries that are talked about here are life <br />sciences, advanced manufacturing, <br />inforniation technology and data. The best <br />we can hope for is that all of those might be <br />viable industries for Ignition Park. And, it is <br />phenomenally exciting that we have research <br />initiatives on the campus of Notre Dame that <br />address all those issues. And we have <br />mentoring efforts in this community from <br />Innovation Park to the Chamber, Project <br />Future, Jump Start and Tech Connect. There <br />is wonderful private and public effort to help <br />move industry to along so that we can fill <br />Ignition Park. <br />24 <br />