Program areas at CICP
Techpoint is the industry-led growth initiative for Indiana's digital innovation economy and overall tech ecosystem focused on working with public, private and industry partners to expand tech talent pipeline, enhance resource connectivity for enterprise organizations and startups alike, and elevate the industry by activating the community and amplifying stories of success. Visit www.techpoint.org. Techpoint continued its focus on recruiting and retaining top tech-skilled students, post-graduates and career changers, primarily through the xtern program (launched in 2014) which is designed to attract and retain entry level talent while encouraging them to view Indiana as a great place to begin or grow their tech careers. The 2021 xtern class included 139 students from 17 states, 7 foreign countries and 27 u.s. Universities. The 2021 s.o.s. Challenge was rebranded as the pitch for 2022 with a class composed of 94 students.techpoint launched mission41k, an effort to inclusively add 41,000 Hoosier tech workers by 2030. Focus areas include adult apprenticeship, skills-based hiring practices and programs aimed at bringing more blacks, hispanics, and women into Hoosier tech careers. More than 50 tech leaders took the mission41k pledge. Early success stories include allegion and eli lilly and company, which together will employ nearly 30 apprentices in fields including software development, it support, cloud, project management and computer numerical control program and systems control. The Indiana office of technology enrolled more than 45 adult apprentices in a range of tech roles. Cummins and cornerstone information services plan to hire apprentices in early 2023. In addition to carrying out its traditional talent programs, for the first time, techpoint partnered its xtern program, billed as the ultimate internship experience, with the orr fellowship to jointly hold finalist day for college students and recent graduates to meet with prospective employers. Techpoint hosted or supported more than 30 events, including the mira awards, the joint cto of the year and tech 25 awards with ibj media, two vc-related events, and many events connecting techpoint talent program participants to experts and leaders in the tech industry.
For more than a decade, conexus Indiana has been positioning the Hoosier state as the best place for advanced manufacturing and logistics industries to innovate, invest, employ and succeed. By collaborating with industry, academic and public sector partners on a shared vision for an innovative, skilled workforce and stronger business climate, conexus Indiana has helped to create opportunities for advanced manufacturing and logistics companies, prepare hoosiers to succeed in the state's largest industry sectors and maintain Indiana's competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.conexusindiana.com. Conexus Indiana in 2021 forged a three-year strategic plan focused on increasing manufacturers' productivity, entrepreneurship and aligning talent programs to an industry 4.0 economy. Conexus released its annual industry 4.0 technology adoption survey, that for the first time, shows a continuous and measurable trend in the technologies that are defining Indiana's factory of the future. Conducted in collaboration with Indiana university kelley school of business center for excellence in manufacturing, the 2022 study analyzed responses from nearly 200 Indiana manufacturers. Key findings show that cobots, cybersecurity, sensor technology and internet of things (iot) are the top four technologies manufacturers expect to adopt in the next five years, each more highly anticipated than in years past. The percentage of manufacturers reporting plans to adopt collaborative robots (cobots) and cybersecurity in the next five years has doubled from 2020 to 2022, followed closely by a 25% increase in those planning to adopt sensor technology and a 68% increase in those planning to adopt iot. Conexus Indiana supported the Indiana economic development corporation (iedc) sixth round of awards totaling nearly $4 million in manufacturing readiness grants to 43 Indiana businesses, supporting a projected $46.1 million in technology-enabled capital investment across Indiana. Launched in 2020, the manufacturing readiness grants program was created to stimulate private sector investments to modernize Indiana's manufacturing industry. Since then, $17.4 million in grant funding has been awarded to 212 companies in 60 counties, prompting proposed projects with combined budgets of $138.9 million and $22 million in estimated new wages. Over the past three years, conexus Indiana, its industry partners, and public sector leaders have convened a public-private Partnership (p3) working group with the goal of identifying and developing a critical freight-related infrastructure project that can be delivered via a p3 model. The most recent output of this group was a commodity movement study that identified heavy freight corridors, commodities being moved at large scale as well as the value of those commodities and the cost to the manufacturer/shipper for these shipments experiencing congestion. In support of the joint Indiana department of transportation (indot) and conexus Indiana research priorities, hntb was engaged in 2020 to identify costly areas of congestion and identify opportunities to broaden the scale of existing projects or move forward with the development of up to three priority projects for consideration by indot for delivery. This analysis will reflect a broad range of geographic areas in the state to ensure regional diversity.
Energy systems network (esn) is focused on the development of the advanced energy technology and transportation sectors to leverage its network of global thought leaders to develop integrated energy solutions to increase quality of life for today and tomorrow by reducing costs, emissions and waste; influencing policy; and advancing technological innovation. Visit www.energysystemsnetwork.com.in july 2022, upon approval by the executive committee of the cicp board of directors, cicp announced esn became an operating entity under the battery innovation center (bic) which was created by esn in 2010 to advance Indiana's ability to develop, test, manufacture, and commercialize battery and related energy systems technologies. Bic became a separate entity in 2012 but has continued to work closely with esn in developing industry-led initiatives that are accelerating technology development and commercialization through a broad global network of Corporate partners. This move for esn provides several synergies and efficiencies between esn and the bic, allowing for additional global opportunities that will continue to bolster economic development in Indiana. Esn moved several major projects forward including the indy autonomous challenge (iac) and together in motion Indiana, which were made possible by strong partnerships with the Indiana economic development corporation (iedc) and toyota mobility foundation, among others. The indy autonomous challenge (iac) hosted the autonomous challenge @ ces at the las vegas motor speedway in january, making history as the first head-to-head autonomous racecar competition champion, competing in a field of 5 teams from 5 countries representing 7 universities. Together in motion Indiana fosters innovation through industry partnerships and propels research and development in advanced mobility technologies in Indiana. The autonomous shuttle service moved to the city of fishers in december 2021 to serve the nickel plate cultural district through the first half of 2022.