WestGate: National Model for Public-Private Partnerships

(Note: the following appeared in several media outlets in Indiana, including Inside Indiana Business click here)

Partnering for Growth in Indiana

By Gene Shaw, President, WestGate @ Crane Authority

CRANE, Indiana (Monday, December 21, 2009)

Creating jobs, attracting investment and putting people back to work. These goals are simple to state, but difficult to achieve. In economic times like what we're now experiencing, achieving these goals requires a high degree of focused collaboration and partnership - particularly between the private sector and government at the local, state and federal level.

How can we more quickly advance these goals in Indiana?

A welcome signal that the need for critical collaboration is recognized at high levels appeared in a recent interview with Brian McGowan, the newly appointed U.S Deputy Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. In a discussion with Site Selection magazine, McGowan made these remarkable comments:

"I am a firm believer that economic development happens at the local level," he said in the interview. "My message to corporate executives is that we must create more public-private partnerships. If we are to turn this economy around, we need you to partner with government."

Initially to some this might appear troublesome to those who fear big government involvement, but McGowan has a refreshingly different view of EDA's future role in broad economic recovery: "We don’t for one minute pretend or assume that we know it all," he told Site Selection magazine. McGowan, coming to EDA from a similar post in California (whose Gross Domestic State Product is larger than that of many sovereign nations), wants a high degree of collaboration with regional and local economic development organizations.

That abodes well for Indiana, where a number of regional economic development organizations stretching from northeast Indiana to the southern region of the state are already active at work in building these critical public-private partnerships. The WestGate @ Crane Technology Park represents a strong example of this principle in action, where county governments, economic development organizations, private developers, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the administration at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division have all pooled expertise and resources to attract nationally ranked commercial defense companies to an otherwise rural area. This model of collaboration has been so successful to date that the WestGate is becoming nationally known as a strategic catalyst for the commercial creation of "Indiana's new technology region." With the advent of Radius Indiana, an all-new regional partnership representing eight counties (including NSWC Crane), we expect that emerging national brand to help attract further investment and new jobs to the area.

Where does Indiana go from here? As Gov. Mitch Daniels has stated, "Government does not create jobs; it only creates the conditions that make jobs more or less likely." With a balanced state budget, a refreshed Rainy Day surplus in state funds, a low cost of doing business from a tax perspective, and a first-time AA+ Standard and Poors credit rating, one could easily make the case that Indiana has created those conditions for proactive job growth. This fact is broadly recognized by high national rankings from Forbes, KPMG, Battelle and other major business groups.

Echoing Secretary McGowan's words, now we need to push forward and create or strengthen viable public-private partnerships that can leverage Indiana's considerable assets. As many now know, the $2 billion NSWC Crane operations punch more than $1.3 million a day into the Indiana economy. Among other opportunities, Indiana possesses the technology and workforce horsepower to push that number upwards across the state, adding to an already robust commercial defense industry.

The time for broader collaboration, shared assets and new thinking is now. The outcome will be new jobs, new growth and the potential of a new era for Hoosiers.

About WestGate@Crane Technology Park
Qualified as a state Certified Technology Park (CTP) by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), the WestGate @ Crane Technology Park represents a natural marketplace for defense contractors currently providing technical support, and research and development services to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division in southern Indiana. EG&G, a division of the $2 billion URS corporation, and SAIC, the nation's 7th largest defense contractor, in addition to ITT, CACI, CSC, Raydar & Associates, Novonics, NAVMAR, Stimulus Engineering and Technical Services Corporation (TSC), already maintain operations in the park. For more information, please visit www.westgatecrane.com. For media inquiries, please contact Michael Snyder at The MEK Group: 317-805-4870 or e-mail.