Archive for Innovation
Innovation
Innovation has been a hallmark of the Twin Cities economy. The reasons for this innovative behavior are many. The Twin Cities is where three eco-systems come together along the Mississippi - northwoods to the north, great plains to the west and big woods farmland to the east. Some of the world’s global innovators were born and continue to thrive in the Twin Cities - 3M, Cargill, General Mills, Medtronic. Dakota County has its share of innovative companies. In Minnesota, one measure of innovation vitality is the MN High Tech Association’s Annual Tekne Awards. In 2008, the following Dakota County firms were finalists: Thomson Reuters for technology leadership and technology service; Cool Clean Technologies in the cleantech category; Eco-lab in the cleantech category; and Biothera in the biotechnology category.
Innovation as an economic driver is critical to our economic future. Minnesota’s weather (one of four beautiful seasons) is seen by a few as harsh. Our tax climate is generally been viewed as a negative for business development. But innovation has been fueled primarily by a very high quality workforce created through excellent k12 schools, abundant community colleges, technical colleges and state university campuses and the powerhouse University of Minnesota - one of the top research universities in the country.
In Dakota County, we continue to rely on education to drive innovation. At Inver Hills Community College, they partner with CISCO to provide cutting edge education in network security. This supports our area companies who have global data centers in Dakota County - Thomson Reuters, Unisys, Delta Air Lines, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN. Dakota County Technical College has a unique two-year program in nano technology in a collaborative approach with the University of Minnesota. These students graduate prepared to work across industry lines in biosciences, electronics and other industries.
The four private sector examples below provide a snapshot of the type of innovation occuring in Dakota County. Goodrich Sensor and Integrated Systems is a global powerhouse in all things that make flying aircraft safer. Imricor is a start-up medical device company with a product that will address a widespread medical condition in heart disease. Performance Office Papers is competing in a mature marketplace through strategic use of technology and workplace practices. Thomson Reuters, as Dakota County’s largest employer and Minnesota’s largest software development company, partnered with colleges outside of Dakota County to obtain quality software development work at low costs, exposed college students to career opportunities in IT and created a pathway for recruiting high qualilty, work ready talent.
The public sector examples center out of the Dakota County government but generally rely on collaboration with the cities of the county for their success. The High Performance Partnership (HiPP) institutionalizes collaboration as the preferred approach to problem solving and increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Property taxes in Dakota County are the lowest in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area due to our ability to attract development and to our ability to work collaboratively on problems and avoiding duplicate solutions.
UMORE Park is a new center of innovation emerging in Dakota County. UMORE Park,located in Rosemount, is a 5,000 acre parcel of land acquired by the University of Minnesota after World War II. This land has served as an agricultural experiment station for many years providing the environment for uninterupted soils, crops and climate data. For several years, the University has been engaged in a master planning exercise that will result in a new community. Our goal is to ensure that this development spurs innovation and economic development for our entire region and we are engaged with the University to make this happen.
Performance Office Papers
In 2008, Performance Office Papers converted 45,644 tons of paper compared to 20,444 in 2002. This was accomplished with fewer employees in 2008 compared to 2002 due to the equipment upgrades and their employees’ capabilities to embrace the new technology.
Imricor
Imricor is developing the world’s only MRI guided cardiac ablation system. This revolutionary system will allow doctors to cure atrial fibrillation (AF) in half the time as conventional ablations systems, with far better results, and using no dangerous x-rays.
Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems
Success in the commercial and defense aerospace industry depends on two critical factors: speed and innovation. Speed in understanding and responding to customer needs by being in tune with the voice-of-the-customer, and innovation, not just in products but, in having the right team to effectively respond to rapid changes in the marketplace. No one understands this better than Goodrich.
Minnesota-based Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems (SIS) has become one of the most innovative players in the aerospace industry by building a portfolio of highly skilled people, best practices in innovation and leading-edge technologies. SIS has a well-balanced global business mix across all aerospace markets with one third of its sales outside of the United States and more than 3,000 employees strategically located around the world.
