The state of Indiana has a variety of industry sectors when growing companies are considering an expansion or relocation. The sectors include advanced manufacturing, life sciences and information technology, and the state has industry-specific initiatives in each.

In the advanced manufacturing sector, Indiana offers a low-cost, pro-business environment and a highly skilled, educated and capable work force. Its location has helped make the Hoosier state one of North America’s leading logistics hubs. Strong collaborative ties between Indiana’s universities, businesses and public sector benefit innovative companies.

In life sciences, Indiana is one of the nation’s top four life sciences leaders (as defined by number and concentration of life sciences-related jobs), according to the Battelle Memorial Institute report, “Growing the Nation’s Bioscience Sector: State Bioscience Initiatives 2006.”

As with advanced manufacturing, collaboration is vital in the life sciences field through partnerships between industry, academia and government. The state has four major life sciences programs — BioCrossroads, Novus Sport, the Indiana Health Industry Forum and the IU Kelley Healthcare and Life Sciences Initiative.

In information technology, Indiana invests heavily in its infrastructure. The state’s fiber optic network is among the best in the nation. Indiana’s educational institutions have numerous IT programs. In 2001, Indiana University acquired the largest university-owned super computer in the United States.

The state also has a variety of programs designed to help expanding and relocating companies, including work force training initiatives, grants and incentives, and the new Shovel Ready Program, which was created to help communities certify sites as “ready for development.” Shovel Ready is designed to help companies locate and develop property sites quickly.

IBM Grows Operations in the State

IBM is making a major commitment in Indiana. The company announced in September that it will establish a worldwide center for developing products and applications using its advanced cell chip technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). It’s the first such IBM facility on a college campus.

IBM plans to staff the new 2,000 square foot Future Technology Solution Design Center, located in the university’s Informatics and Communications Technology Complex, with five professionals, who will develop new products and applications based on advanced cell processor technology.

IBM’s investment in the facility is about $3.8 million, including equipment and staffing costs, with lab space and data center support leased from IUPUI. Academic institutions and business customers will have access to the center to design, test and optimize new devices based on IBM’s “supercomputer on a chip” technology.

Home to Indiana University School of Medicine, the nation’s second-largest medical school, the IUPUI campus offers the new center access to researchers and life sciences leaders in the state to identify possible uses and applications for the new high-speed computing technology.

The growth of the life sciences sector in Indiana and the state’s colleges and universities were two of the site location advantages for IBM.

“We chose Indiana because of the proximity of leading institutions like Indiana University, IU School of Medicine and Purdue, as well as its well-earned reputation as a hot bed of life sciences expertise,” said Robert Eades, manager of the center. “We believe we can couple this expertise with the advanced capabilities of our cell technology to benefit not only medicine, but a broad range of industries and applications.”

In addition to the new technology center at IUPUI, IBM and its partners have committed to creating 1,000 jobs in the state following their selection to modernize the computer services of the Family and Social Services Administration. IBM partner Affiliated Computer Services Inc. announced it would locate a customer care center in Anderson, creating 500 jobs. That announcement followed an announcement earlier this year by IBM that it would locate a new call center in Daleville with a work force of about 500.

In addition to the job creation commitments, IBM also committed to upgrade the supercomputer located at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Central Location Plays Expansion Role

Life sciences company Sunrise Medical HHG Inc., a manufacturer of wheelchairs, crutches, walkers and other patient-care products, announced in August that it will consolidate its North American operations in Plainfield, creating 70 jobs. The company will close its manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tenn., and relocate its Florida- and Massachusetts-based engineering and assembly operations to a new 180,000 square foot facility here.

The expansion follows the company’s decision to locate a pilot facility in Indianapolis in 2006 to test the business climate and capabilities of Central Indiana’s work force, said Allen Traylor, vice president of distribution and logistics for Sunrise.

“Our new facility offers us a central location to major shipping lanes, and Indiana is providing us with an excellent work force that will allow us to meet our objectives,” he said.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Sunrise up to $250,000 in performance-based tax credits and $36,000 in training grants based upon the company’s job creation plans. The city of Plainfield offered the company a property tax abatement worth more than $436,000.

A grant from the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund will assist Rest Assured LLC. to further develop and market its Web-based alternative to residential convalescent care.

The company’s $519,897 grant will allow Rest Assured to complete the final stages of testing and commercialization of its Rest Assured System, a software application that links patient-monitoring systems with a staffed Central Indiana response center.

Created by a joint venture between ResCare Inc. and the Wabash Center, the Rest Assured software uses broadband wireless technology to link in-home patient monitoring components with the company’s 24-hour response center in Lafayette. By providing real-time reports of patient condition and emergencies to the response center, technicians are able to alert the patient’s on-call staff or family.

Established in 1999, the 21st Century Fund assists Indiana-based companies in the development and launch of market-changing innovations. The fund focuses on entrepreneurial ventures with proven commercial market potential.

Rest Assured is one of 45 businesses awarded a 21st Century Fund grant since January 2006. In that time, the fund has invested more than $54 million in high-tech entrepreneurial companies. Those businesses, which expect to create nearly 6,000 jobs, have leveraged the fund’s grant monies to raise an additional $75 million in private funding.

It’s an example of how the state of Indiana is using public funds to create private sector jobs and help startup companies establish themselves.