innovation Archives - CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership

Amplifying Stories of Innovation in Indiana

Courtney Kerr2026-04-21T10:09:55-04:00April 21, 2026|

Indianapolis (April 15, 2026) – Across our state, innovation is happening in classrooms, research labs, and startups — yet too often, the stories of student founders, faculty innovators, and alumni entrepreneurs remain siloed within individual campuses or industries. The CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) has announced the launch of INfluence: Stories of Indiana Innovation, a strategic effort designed to amplify and share these stories of entrepreneurship and innovation happening across Indiana, ensuring the state’s success is visible, connected, and understood beyond individual campuses, industries, or networks. “By creating an interconnected ecosystem that turns ideas into action, we are ensuring Indiana’s innovators and programs have the visibility and support they need to succeed,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of CICP. “Indiana is no stranger to innovation. From life-saving medicines to advanced manufacturing breakthroughs, discoveries in  agbiosciences to new businesses and technologies, Hoosiers have a long history of turning ideas into impact.”  Early INfluence stories highlight the [...]

Case Study: Internships Help Students Find Careers, Grasp Advanced Manufacturing

Courtney Kerr2025-11-25T09:12:05-05:00November 25, 2025|

This story is part of an initiative led by the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) to highlight entrepreneurship and innovation across Indiana’s universities. Learn more about the initiative here. Background A company launched at the dawn of the 20th century and still owned and operated by its founder’s descendants, Grote Industries has thrived into the 21st century by constantly pursuing innovation. A manufacturer of safety lighting and visibility systems, the company has been recognized as a top employer in the Madison area and as a global leader in its industry. More than a century ago, William Grote saw a future not only in a particular line of products but also in groundbreaking production processes. Even as the company he launched established itself as a leading supplier of visibility and safety products, it also emerged as a manufacturing trailblazer. It was first to introduce injection-molded plastic products to the nation and to create a plastic-injection molding machine. A reflector technology Grote Industries developed decades [...]

New EntreWorks report outlines opportunities to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in Indiana

Ronnetta Spalding2025-02-10T19:38:08-05:00December 17, 2024|

Indianapolis, IN – With a focus on expanding Indiana’s entrepreneurial environment, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and AgriNovus Indiana today unveiled their new report, Unlocking IP: Leveraging Indiana’s R&D Assets to Boost Entrepreneurship. In partnership with EntreWorks Consulting, the report outlines opportunities to increase support for startups, identify emerging programs and priorities, and create a base of home-grown tech talent and an expanded innovation network across the state. “Indiana is often cited as one of the best places to start a business, which is a great starting point,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “The data released in this report confirms that while we have some great strengths to build up, we have more work to do to as we still lag behind our peers in number of actual new business start-ups per year. The [...]

Embracing a Culture of Creativity: Indiana’s Overlooked Economic Engine

Ronnetta Spalding2026-05-29T11:22:42-04:00November 27, 2024|

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UNLOCKING IP: Leveraging Indiana’s R&D Assets to Boost Entrepreneurship

Ronnetta Spalding2024-12-02T11:53:45-05:00November 27, 2024|

In recent years, Indiana’s leaders have placed a renewed emphasis on encouraging innovation and Hoosier entrepreneurship. To further support these new efforts, leaders at the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and AgriNovus Indiana—CICP’s branded initiative focused on growth of the state’s agbioscience industry—began investigating how to leverage Indiana’s existing R&D landscape and IP assets to further stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation across Indiana. Now is the time to scale up on all fronts: to invest more in innovation and entrepreneurship, to become more ambitious in our expectations for companies and support programs, and to do a better job of promoting Indiana as an innovation hot spot to Hoosiers and to others around the world. From universities to major corporate innovators to intermediaries and public sector investments, Indiana has many of the ingredients needed to leverage its R&D assets to boost [...]

TechPoint announces 2025 Mira Awards gala date and venue

Ronnetta Spalding2024-07-23T04:42:48-04:00July 11, 2024|

Annual gala moves to notable venue and will be held in February INDIANAPOLIS (July 11 or 17, 2024) — TechPoint, the industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s digital innovation economy, today announced its annual Mira Awards gala will be held Thursday, February 27, 2025, at The Palladium in Carmel. The event known as “the Oscars of Indiana Tech,” has traditionally been held in April in Indianapolis. “Elevating Indiana’s digital innovation industry is one of our key community-building strategies,” said TechPoint President and CEO Ting Gootee. “The Mira Awards gala is a proven platform to engage stakeholders across talent and innovation, across all tech-driven sectors and across all regions in Indiana.” The 2024 Mira Awards had record-breaking participation of nearly 2,000 stakeholders. “We were intentional in engaging audiences new to Mira, such as educators, early-in-career professionals and students,” Gootee said. “The [...]

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