At a glance
| Booth | S7330 |
| Country | US |
| Website | www.iedc.in.gov |
Company profile
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) is Indiana’s public-private economic-development partnership, charged with helping launch businesses and driving economic development across the state. The Indiana Secretary of Commerce and an 11-member governing board manage initiatives that include performance-based tax credits, workforce-training grants, innovation and entrepreneurship resources, public infrastructure assistance, and talent attraction and retention efforts. One IEDC pillar is to upskill the Hoosier workforce by training incumbent workers to support high-value, high-wage jobs. Another pillar is to strengthen existing Indiana businesses by supporting business needs and pursuing investments that help Hoosier companies continue to operate and grow in Indiana. IEDC also identifies Main Street innovation and entrepreneurship as a pillar, with support for current and aspiring business owners across Indiana. Its regional sector-strength pillar calls for activating visions, strategies, and plans around core strengths on a regional basis. Taken together, these functions give IEDC a statewide business-launch and expansion role that combines incentives, workforce development, entrepreneurship support, infrastructure assistance, talent programs, and regionally organized sector development.
Exhibits
IEDC presents Indiana as a location for companies to relocate, expand, or start operations, and directs companies to a Workforce Data Center for hard data supporting location and investment decisions. For semiconductors, the state highlights a Purdue comprehensive semiconductor degree program identified as 1st in the U.S., alongside specialized talent, cluster assets, and manufacturing advantages. The workforce figures presented include 294,000+ employees in EV, semiconductor, and other manufacturing, 54,000+ employees in life-sciences manufacturing and services, and 32,000+ employees in computer and data-related services. IEDC’s industry promotion also cites $1 trillion of investment by tech companies over the next 5 years, $13 billion of investment developing EV battery technology, and a #1 in the U.S. position in pharmaceutical exports. IEDC highlights a planned state-of-the-art advanced packaging facility in Indiana as a foundation for a Midwest semiconductor ecosystem described as a new Silicon Heartland. IEDC also highlights plans for a second battery plant intended to establish the largest electric-vehicle-battery production base in North America and for Microsoft’s first Indiana datacenter campus to be built in La Porte. READI builds on the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative and the 21st Century Talent Initiative by encouraging neighboring communities to collaborate on a shared vision for their future. The APEX team offers Indiana businesses no-cost services, including training and workshops, and its experienced counselors help companies identify, compete for, and win military and government contracts. Connect IND uses EcoMap to connect entrepreneurs with Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and provide continuously updated intelligence about relevant people, places, organizations, and resources. Indiana’s Small Business Development Center operates 10 regional offices across the state and supports small businesses at different stages of the entrepreneurial journey, including startup, growth, and strategic transition needs. The Entrepreneur Resource Site aggregates critical resources in a virtual support environment covering needs and phases associated with starting and growing a business. Indiana’s $29 million Legend Fund is distributed throughout the state to support small-business lending with an emphasis on underserved businesses and to add financing capacity to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Legend Fund is supported by IEDC through SSBCI funds and connects Indiana small businesses with participating local lenders for financial support intended to help them grow. Businesses can pre-apply with details about their operations and capital needs and be matched with potential lending programs, while approved Legend Fund lenders determine whether a capital option fits the business. The Legend Fund does not make direct loans, does not offer forgivable loans, is not associated with the federal Paycheck Protection Program or another SBA program, and its loans are not guaranteed by the State of Indiana. Borrowers are required to repay the full loan amount with interest according to terms established by their selected lender, and participating lenders determine rates and loan terms. Funding is limited, not every applicant is expected to receive a loan through the program, applications are reviewed by participating lenders on a rolling basis, and submitting an application does not establish eligibility or mean that a loan will be approved or funded. Businesses that are not ready to apply or do not find a match can use SSBCI Technical Assistance resources to prepare for a loan application with greater confidence. IEDC’s entrepreneurship platform describes ConnectIND as the place where Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem comes together and organizes support into Entrepreneur Support, Capital Access, and Industry Partnerships for businesses at different stages of their journey. IEDC positions Indiana as a supportive, comparatively low-cost place to grow a business and lists external rankings of #2 state in the country to start a business in 2024, #7 most active venture-capital investor in the U.S., and #5 cost of doing business. For companies evaluating Indiana, the combined support set therefore spans business launch assistance, site and workforce data, sector-specific talent and cluster positioning, regional development, government-contract counseling, entrepreneurial-network mapping, small-business advising, lending connections, technical assistance, and links to infrastructure and talent programs. For semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing companies in particular, IEDC’s materials combine a stated semiconductor education pipeline, a 294,000+ manufacturing workforce spanning EV, semiconductor, and other manufacturing, expansion and relocation support, public infrastructure assistance, workforce-training grants, and entrepreneurship resources that can connect suppliers, startups, and established companies to statewide programs. This support is complemented by performance-based tax credits and talent attraction and retention efforts managed through IEDC’s statewide economic-development framework. IEDC also points companies toward a search for plugin-ready properties intended for businesses preparing to start or grow operations in Indiana, adding a site-search element to its relocation and expansion support. The property search is intended to help businesses identify a place to start growing their Indiana operations. Indiana’s entrepreneurship ecosystem gives companies access to customers, mentors, collaborators, and investors, complementing ConnectIND’s resource mapping and the program structure around Entrepreneur Support, Capital Access, and Industry Partnerships.
Capabilities and products
- administration of performance-based tax-credit programs
- administration of workforce-training grant programs
- public infrastructure assistance
- talent attraction and retention support
- military and government procurement bidding assistance
- entrepreneurial resource-matching platform
- small-business startup, growth and transition assistance
- upskilling training for incumbent workers
- small-business financing program matching
- technical assistance for small-business loan applications
- entrepreneurship support