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

2024-12-02T11:50:17-05:00November 27, 2024|

Economic prosperity is driven by creativity in more ways than many people realize. The most successful communities are those that best leverage their creative talent and embrace art and culture to unlock their economic potential. Doing so requires an understanding of, and support for, the creative economy. The creative economy’s impact is extensive, with major implications for talent development, innovation and entrepreneurship, economic prosperity, and quality of life and place. The last century has seen extraordinary proliferation in brand new creative industries, from television and video games to animation, podcasting, music streaming, and augmented reality. Creative industries are often responsible for the creation of technical innovations. With technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, new creative industries are sure to emerge in the future as well. To outcompete its neighbors, Indiana must deepen its focus on the creative [...]

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

2024-12-02T11:53:45-05:00November 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 [...]

Central Indiana Corporate Partnership marks 25 years of contributing to prosperity for future generations and economic growth across Indiana

2024-06-13T08:42:10-04:00June 13, 2024|

WATCH the CICP 25th Anniversary Video Here. INDIANAPOLIS - The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) started in 1999 with a bold vision to bring together corporations, foundations and educational institutions to transform the economy of Indiana, and through significant achievements, today is marking 25 years. “Indiana is a unique place where collaboration is central to what we do to drive the Indiana economy,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “Throughout the past 25 years, CICP has brought together leaders from industry and educational institutions to take on big challenges and create opportunities to move our economy into the future. It is that kind of collaboration that has sustained Indiana and helped to create strong, emerging sectors that will lead us into the decades ahead.” To advance its mission, CICP sponsors five key talent and industry sector initiatives AgriNovus [...]

Central Indiana Corporate Partnership public education program helps young people explore careers and jobs in Indiana’s advanced industries

2024-06-10T10:00:06-04:00May 22, 2024|

INDIANAPOLIS - With a dedicated focus on our state’s economic future, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) is showcasing See Yourself IN – a new public education program to help young people explore career and job opportunities within Indiana’s advanced industries. “Indiana is a leader in advanced industries that drive our economy’s prosperity,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “However, many of our Gen Z population are not aware of the many career paths and opportunities in these industries so they can’t see themselves in the future and how they fit. We want to help inspire more young people to dream big and help them explore innovative companies, jobs and programs so they can see themselves in great jobs and a great life right here in Indiana.” Through See Yourself IN, Gen Z Hoosiers and those here [...]

Indiana leaders form coalition to build, grow youth apprenticeship

2024-01-23T08:25:38-05:00January 23, 2024|

Business, education, government and philanthropic leaders join forces to help solve workforce development crisis INDIANAPOLIS – More than 100 Indiana leaders, including corporate CEOs, university presidents, K-12 superintendents and state government officials, have joined a coalition to develop a statewide modern youth apprenticeship system in Indiana as one potential solution to the state’s mounting workforce crisis. The group recently kicked off a 10-month Implementation Lab (referred to as an iLab), an intensive collaborative that will result in a comprehensive, statewide plan to increase the number of available modern youth apprenticeships. The youth apprenticeship model allows 11th grade high school students to participate in a three-year, paid work-and-learn program. The apprenticeship culminates in a high school diploma, college credit and an industry credential, while at the same time preparing students for in-demand careers. CEMETS iLab Indiana is the brainchild of Ursula [...]

Ascend Indiana names new President and CEO and New Board Chair

2023-12-21T08:17:18-05:00December 21, 2023|

INDIANAPOLIS – The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and Ascend Indiana announce that Conexus Indiana COO and Chief Talent Officer Brad Rhorer has been named president and CEO of Ascend Indiana, CICP’s talent and workforce development initiative, and will succeed Jason Kloth in January. Concurrently, Board Vice Chair Bridget Boyle, head of people and culture for Roche Diagnostics, has been named chair of the Ascend Board of Directors, succeeding founding chair Mark Hill, who will step down at the beginning of the year. In October, Ascend Indiana announced that President and CEO Jason Kloth would step down on January 1, 2024. Kloth helped to create the talent and workforce development initiative nearly nine years ago and grew it into an organization that received more than $50 million in philanthropic funding since its inception in 2016 and has connected more than 4,700 [...]

CICP launches See Yourself IN program with webpage, videos, podcast

2023-12-12T08:21:56-05:00November 15, 2023|

The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) is embarking on an exciting new program, See Yourself IN, to make sure that Indiana's Gen Z population is aware of the incredible opportunities for them in Indiana after high school, trade school, or college. The program features a new webpage with videos about cool Indiana companies, jobs, resources, information about the skills young people need to succeed in jobs in the advanced industries and a podcast. Explore and learn more at See Yourself IN.    

Jason Kloth, Ascend Indiana president and CEO, to step down

2023-10-24T09:20:16-04:00October 24, 2023|

Jason Kloth, president and CEO, Ascend Indiana INDIANAPOLIS – Ascend Indiana today announced that President and CEO Jason Kloth, will step down on January 1, 2024. Kloth who helped to create the talent and workforce development organization nearly nine years ago, will serve in a consulting capacity after the first of the year to ensure a smooth transition. In addition to consulting for Ascend, CICP, and others, Kloth plans to focus on his family and spending more time with his two young children. Ascend Indiana is an initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP). “Jason and his talented team have created an organization built on values that have led to impactful work in helping thousands of Hoosiers find jobs, internships and apprenticeships,” said Mark Hill, managing partner of Collina Ventures, and founding chairman of the Ascend Indiana [...]

IBJ: Feds pick Indiana as biotech hub, putting it in running for millions in funding

2024-03-15T13:35:29-04:00October 23, 2023|

The Applied Research Institute, Inc. (“ARI”) announced today that the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration has designated Heartland BioWorks as a Regional Tech​nology and Innovation​ Hub. Heartland BioWorks will now compete against other designated hubs for implementation grants of up to $75 million each later this year. The Regional Tech Hub designation, and the funding that follows, will support the acceleration of workforce development and help dismantle barriers to success for entrepreneurs and small business owners with new biotech products. Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and its branded initiatives joined ARI and local stakeholders to develop the tech hub application. "The collaborative spirit in Indiana is truly unique," said CICP CEO Melina Kennedy.  "When you pair that strength together with a hotbed of research and innovation, a talented workforce, and the advanced industries of the 21st century such [...]

Melina Kennedy: Indiana needs more and better supported entrepreneurs (IIB)

2023-10-08T21:50:24-04:00October 6, 2023|

Melina Kennedy, CEO, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Melina Kennedy, CEO of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), highlights the need for more and better supported entrepreneurs in the latest Inside INdiana Business newsletter. With competing narratives regarding entrepreneurship in Indiana, last year, CICP engaged NORC at the University of Chicago to complete the Entrepreneurship in the Population–IN (EPOP-IN) study. The EPOP-IN data reinforces the fact that the health of Hoosier entrepreneurship is indeed complicated. EPOP-IN found that nearly 60% of Indiana adults have taken at least some steps toward entrepreneurship. While this demonstrates that a large number of Hoosiers are interested in entrepreneurship, it falls below the national data which indicates slightly more than 65% of Americans have pursued entrepreneurial activity. [READ MORE]

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