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Here is today's summary of economic development news, a free service of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, representing Alabama's private sector investment in economic development. If you enjoy NewsFlash, thank an EDPA Partner.
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National Business Incubator Association recognizes Innovation Depot for helping international companies
Published: Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 6:00 AM
By Martin Swant --- The Birmingham News
Innovation Depot's ability to help international companies enter the U.S. has received added clout that could help attract more foreign firms interested in relocating to Alabama and the Birmingham region.
The National Business Incubator Association has added Innovation Depot to a small list of incubators from around the world verified for helping international entrepreneurs and companies navigate their way into the U.S. market. The designation, known as the NBIA Soft Landings Business Incubator designation, has been given to 25 incubators worldwide, and only half of them are in the U.S. Other cities with a Soft Landings incubator include Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Spain's Madrid and Taipei in Taiwan.
Innovation Depot, founded in 2007, is home to nearly 100 start-up companies and is estimated to have a $1 billion economic impact on the Birmingham region. It is the first incubator in the Southeast to win the Soft Landings award.
The designation is another tool that economic developers can use in efforts to persuade international companies to move to Birmingham and other parts of Alabama, according to Steven Ceulemans, vice president of innovation and technology for the Birmingham Business Alliance. Because the NBIA is the "gold standard" incubator organization, the award increases Innovation Depot's exposure overseas.
more...
[The Birmingham News]
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This partnership has big dividend potential
Published: Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 6:23 AM
By K.A. Turner, Press-Register
The agenda behind much of what we do in Gulf Coast Business magazine is never hidden -- we've sounded the clarion call to regionalism from day one.
Usually, we define the region rather broadly to include coastal Alabama and Mississippi. But for today, I'd like to narrow the focus a bit to study a partnership that has potential to pay big dividends for the future economy of the central Gulf Coast.
The excitement of Airbus' decision to locate a final assembly line for its A320 family of aircraft at Mobile's Brookley Aeroplex has not disappeared. But it is now tempered with the knowledge of the work we must do to be a capable partner to the company. In fact, every large industrial recruitment win or expansion -- ThyssenKrupp, Chevron, Gulf LNG, even the latest contract won by BAE, Austal, Signal or Ingalls -- sets a new bar for demands on the local workforce.
That's why I was interested in a new partnership among two community colleges, the K-12 education system in Baldwin County, an airport and the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. Together, they plan to build and operate a new aviation training center that could draw students from five Baldwin County high schools into the aviation industry.
more...
[Press-Register]
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Governor announces new road and bridge projects
July 30, 2012, 3:39 p.m. CDT
AP
MADISON, Ala. (AP) - Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced Monday that 34 additional road projects and bridge projects will be undertaken in Alabama as a part of the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.
The governor announced in May projects that would be included in phase 1 of the program. On Monday he named additional projects that will move forward as part of the program.
The governor announced the new projects during a news conference in Madison Monday afternoon.
The new projects are in the following counties: Choctaw, Chambers, Calhoun, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Etowah, Houston, Jackson, Lee, Macon, Madison, Marshall, Mobile, Morgan, Russell and Tuscaloosa.
more...
[al.com]
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Medical supply company negotiating with city to turn Perry St. property into headquarters
12:48 AM, Jul. 31, 2012
By: Kala Kachmar, Montgomery Advertiser
Montgomery city officials will know Wednesday whether a locally based medical services company will purchase and renovate a city-owned downtown building as its headquarters, creating about 60 new jobs here in the process.
Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said InMed Group Inc. hasn't signed a purchase and sale agreement for the building, which is at 401 N. Perry St. next to the Riverwalk Stadium parking lot, but that the sale is being negotiated. If he gets word Wednesday that the company has signed the agreement, the City Council will then need to approve it.
In the next year, InMed Group also plans to double the number of people it currently employs in Montgomery, which is 60, Strange said.
The company, which has an office at 5303 Vaughn Road and others in the state, has also signed an agreement with the city to lease 15,000 square feet of space on the third floor of 1 Dexter Plaza for up to three years. The company will temporarily move its offices there, Strange said.
more...
[Montgomery Advertiser]
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Sam Grimes
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