In our workforce development area, we are focusing on the 2015 Regional Workforce Study being prepared by consultant, TIP Strategies. We have had our first round of company and individual interviews, during the week of January 12th, and we are preparing for another visit the week of February 16th.

In conjunction with the onsite visits, we are preparing a business and employee survey to go out later this month. This survey is critical to the study's overall success so please take the time to respond!

In our business development area, we are responding to numerous proposals from businesses interested in locating new opportunities in our region.

We are also working on implementing our 2015 attraction strategy regarding data centers, UAV, distribution centers and IT development companies. We have also established new performance matrices around our business retention and expansion program to better understand the trends associated with our existing businesses.

Our entrepreneurial area continues to grow and expand both locally and regionally. In conjunction with Emerging Prairie, we have designated 2015 the "Year Of The Entrepreneur" in our region. How can the EDC and other regional organizations support Emerging Prairie and the entrepreneurial community? How can we work more closely with existing businesses to help them take the next step toward success?

Look for an announcement in the next several months on exciting partnership opportunities being created! 

Portable homeless shelters, a vibrating steering wheel to alert drivers who may be falling asleep, an app to support people experiencing cyber-bullying and an app-controlled robotic snow plow. These are just a few of the problem-solving ideas that local 7th graders presented at the Innovation Fair on NDSU's campus Friday.

The West Fargo Liberty Middle School students presented their innovation and received real-time feedback during a Q&A with the audience. The questions and comments were intended to help the students improve their ideas before submitting them to the eCYBERMISSION competition, a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math competition at state, regional and national levels.

Other solutions the STEM students devised included a net that skims garbage off of lakes and rivers, touchscreens at bus stops, an elliptical that generates energy to power devices, a way to generate electricity from city water flowing to homes and businesses and other assorted apps and websites.  

Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations, Lisa Gulland-Nelson, hosted the fair.

"These students did such a great job. It's fun to see their innovative solutions to real-world problems. Authentic learning experiences like these are what will prepare students for the future," said Gulland-Nelson.

The Innovation Fair was held at the NDSU Memorial Union Century Theater and was sponsored by the NDSU College of Engineering. 

Check out our updated quality of life brochure. Let us know if you would like hard copies to use as a workforce recruitment piece. You can also embed the document on your website. 

The GFMEDC recently hired Martha Bartels as Project Manager.  

Martha has nearly 10 years of project management, customer service and research experience and brings unique strengths to the Fargo Moorhead region building upon the success of the GFMEDC.

Prior to accepting her position, Martha worked for a local advertising firm, Results Unlimited. Martha also did business development at Microsoft vendor, APAC Customer Services Inc.

Martha attended North Dakota State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English and Mass Communications.

The Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota Metro Statistical Area (MSA) has received numerous accolades in recent years. Among them #2 overall among mid-sized metros by Area Development Leading Locations, #2 in Forbes Best Small Places for Business and Careers, #5 Milken Institute Best Performing Cities Index and #3 Fastest Growing Cities by NerdWallet.com.

While North Dakota has become known as an energy hub driven by the Bakken gas play, Fargo-Moorhead has been steadily building on its own unique assets. Fourth Economy was hired by the Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation (GFMEDC) to assist their team in preparing a five-year economic plan. The region has strong representation in manufacturing, information technology, agriculture, and bio-energy industries.  What is most compelling is how each of these sectors converge and complement for maximum job growth and new market opportunities.

Market opportunities are revealed first by examining the NAICS cluster data and then determining what unique assets or resources exist to serve existing or emerging markets. The assets can include (but are not limited to) core industry competencies (their services, products, assets) natural resources or research assets.

The Fargo-Moorhead MSA offers research capabilities at NDSU to support both "Big Data" and Agriculture. The region's rich agricultural resources and relatively flat topography also differentiate the region. North Dakota's oil and natural gas industry presents a niche opportunity for Fargo-Moorhead's businesses and research assets. Research and product development into new drilling techniques, advanced materials, well control and monitoring and geo-spatial mapping and information gathering are key market drivers that align with both industry competencies and research assets at NDSU.

These factors combined with the data point to unique market opportunities both within the energy sector and beyond for businesses within the Greater Fargo-Moorhead MSA to include IT-Software, Embedded Systems, Precision Agriculture and Unmanned Systems. While traditional industry sector data and modeling tell part of the story, the larger opportunity can be found by looking at the markets the businesses actually serve.

GFMEDC is building on this base and approach by working directly with their regional businesses to learn more about those market opportunities and what they can do to help accelerate future growth.  A good lesson learned for any regional economy. 

The ND District Office of the SBA is now accepting applications for the 2015 Emerging Leaders program in Fargo.  This is a high level training program geared for business leaders who are ready to move their businesses into next-stage growth.  The course consists of 13 sessions where participants receive training on topics that help them create a strategic growth plan, leverage peer relationships and interact with experts who can provide relevant guidance. 

The criteria for participants include:

• Have been established for at least three (3) years.  This curriculum is not for start-up companies.
• Have annual revenue between $400,000 and $10 million per year.
• Have employees  (i.e. at least one employee besides the CEO participant).
• Be represented by the key decision maker of the qualified business who will implement the growth plan (i.e. CEO, COO, CFO, Owner, President).
• Key decision maker must be committed to attend 13 workshops and complete required homework.

The Expression of Interest form can be found at www.interise.org/sbaemergingleaders, and must be submitted by March 13, 2015.  There is no cost to participate, and more information can be found at www.sba.gov/emergingleaders.

If you have any questions feel free to contact Brittany Sickler, the ND Program Manager, at 701-239-5131 Ext 208 or brittany.sickler@sba.gov.   

The GFMEDC is highlighted in the latest Fargo Monthly magazine which focuses on the local tech scene.

Fargo Monthly

A spotlight on our programs...

Here at the GFMEDC, we work many collaborative initiatives, support community efforts and manage some sizable projects of our own. Please take a look at what we have going on here. You can see the complete list in an online booklet on our website under What We Do.  

Technology- GFMEDC utilizes Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a content management system. GFMEDC staff continues to implement and refine the system to track business retention and HR visits, projects and data to better service our primary-sector companies. 
 

Presentations - Our organization reaches out to the public through presentations and speaking engagements such as: Chamber Economic Outlook Forum, FMHRA, Park Company, Small Business Innovation Summit, Governor's Summit, CareerX held at NDSU, Kiwanis and Optimist's Club, MSUM panel discussions, and International Legislators Forum. 

Dakota Fiber Initiative - GFMEDC helped fund and participates in this statewide initiative focused on broadband policy and assessment. We have provided active leadership toward this effort to include a focus on the legislative and funding process to provide affordable, world-class internet speed and reliability to residents and businesses.

1 Million Cups 

Every Wednesday 9:15

FMCT The Stage

http://fargo.sites.1millioncups.com/   

E-Commerce Breakfast

February 17

7:30 a.m. - 8:30

The Boiler Room

210 Broadway
Fargo

Tickets ($10)

Startup Drinks
February 18

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Boerth's Gallery

Sign up

The complete annual meeting is now available to watch.

Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation