NORTHEAST INDIANA INNOVATION CENTER

The NIIC believes there are four fundamental pillars of entrepreneurial success -- access to capital, talent, workspaces, and networks to increase the odds of success of its clients and to assist companies and entrepreneurs to take their ideas and businesses to the next level in creating the cool jobs and businesses of the future.

Our passion and difference produce:

•The creation of "home-grown" jobs & companies: A community mandate for Northeast Indiana to create and produce higher paying jobs (raising per capita income levels). The higher the level of per capita wage rate, the better the economic and social prosperity of the region. The NIIC has a long-standing track record of supporting the creation of higher quality, higher paying jobs and companies. Over the last sixteen years, the average NIIC Park wage rate exceeded $52,845. This is a 30%+ increase in Allen County and Northeast Indiana's average wage rate.

•The growth of our region's entrepreneurial mindset: Community employers openly complain about finding qualified candidates for important jobs and graduates who require re-skilling and retraining when they graduate from College. For the past eight years, the NIIC has supported the development of entrepreneurial training and engagement for high school and college students. Gaining soft skill development in the entrepreneurial mindset - intellectual curiosity, opportunity recognition, lifelong learning, self-awareness, self-confidence and initiative skills has impacted nearly 4,000 students. Also, over 70 students have advanced their own entrepreneurial skills by starting their own companies at the NIIC. The NIIC is the entrepreneur's equivalent of a football player's football stadium.

•The delivery of entrepreneurial excellence through an inclusive, innovation-friendly community: More established companies in our region (defense communication contractors, health systems & educational institutions) are using innovation to change the culture, to be more adaptive and competitive, and to differentiate their products and services in the marketplace. The NIIC has played a key role in supporting, advising, and enabling innovation and entrepreneurship in the corporate setting to address and connect entrepreneurial mindset to demand-driven skills, to strengthen employee engagement and to address marketplace competitiveness issues and gaps to make Northeast Indiana a great place to live, work and to start a business. The NIIC is passionate about inclusion- focusing and fostering an entrepreneurial environment for underserved, economically marginalized women and immigrants.

Since 2005, NIIC clients have applied for or been granted over 162 patents and launched nearly 424 innovative products creating over 816 direct jobs and over 2,100 total jobs in our local economy when considering the indirect multiplier for jobs creating in the community as a result of the direct employment on the NIIC Campus adjacent to IPFW and Ivy Tech North. Today, over

NIIC's strategic planning process and environmental scanning are based on a "community of practice" model that is highly inclusive, dynamic and iterative. It involves leveraging best and next practices in entrepreneurship and innovation to create a flexible and adaptive strategic roadmap for the organization and its priority allocation of resources. Through comprehensive benchmarking and rigorous self-assessment, the NIIC is a highly engaged and active learning organization that leverages industry critical success factors, innovative thinking frameworks, and data analytics (modeling) to inform our decision-making and rapid marketplace responses. NIIC leverages three interrelated components including:

•Continuous Improvement through our ISO9001:2008 audit and surveillance process (NIIC is the only business incubation/acceleration program in North America to hold such registration.) Also, NIIC uses an outside auditor -- Perry Johnson Registrars to independently assess its quality management system annually and to evaluate the effectiveness of its organizational processes. We have been re-registered consistently since 2004.

•"Community of Practice" insights through our "thought leadership" participation and active membership in the International Business Incubation Association, Global Acceleration Network, and the Angel Capital Association. By assimilating these different business models and best practices for development of individuals, companies, and networks, the NIIC can discern and create next practices -- leapfrogging others in its industry and becoming a first mover and thought leader in the industry (capitalizing on industry trends and successful practices before other industry providers do.)

•Performance management accountability through ongoing re-certification by the State of Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). As Indiana's fifth certified technology park (CTP), NIIC is subject to the State of Indiana standards and performance expectations. NIIC's re-certification for an additional four years should have commenced in Dec 2016. However, due to recent statute changes, recertification will occur later in 2018. Since the inception of the NIIC as a CTP, we have been re-certified twice (4 year re-certification periods). Future re-certifications will occur every three years.

1. Geographic expansion and focus on women founders- The NIIC needs to expand the potential customer segment of entrepreneurs who value its programs and services. Getting designated a Women's Business Center by US SBA was a pivotal move to gaining access to five years of funding support to service the state of Indiana. The NIIC offers the only comprehensive entrepreneurial program for women in our area.

2. Customer Segment Mix Shifts - NIIC is focused on growing an under-served segment of the market - the demand for corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. This is a very underserved and not very price sensitive customer base. NIIC is developing expertise and programs specifically to address market potential in this segment.

3. Earned income focus - The NIIC has a long-term strategic goal of generating 70 cents of every dollar from its activities. Unlike most economic/community development organizations who obtain 70-80% of their funding from the government, NIIC produces nearly 60% of every dollar from its activities. We are continually evaluating additional services that we could offer that leverage our expertise and infrastructure.

4. Fiscal Management Acumen and Risk Management Perspective - NIIC has a strong track record of smart balance sheet management with over $13 million of net assets, is currently debt-free and formed and commenced operations in a for-profit subsidiary in 2010 to contribute financial resources back to NIICs non-profit mission. Also, NIIC manages its resources and operations from a risk management perspective and has been successful in avoiding many of the operating difficulties encountered by its peer group. NIIC's robust business model has continued to evolve and deliver proven financial and non-financial results both for the organization itself and for the clients we serve.

Our results can be found on our fact sheet: