lift network LABS FOR INDUSTRY FUTURES AND TRANSFORMATION The South Bend - Elkhart region has a strong advanced manufacturing sector on which to build, but the region’s firms are under tremendous competitive pressures. In 2018, the South Bend - Elkhart Regional Partnership engaged TEConomy Partners to analyze existing and emerging economic drivers and identify a set of critical investments needed to stimulate long-term economic prosperity in the region. It became clear that the region needed a focused effort to coordinate education, workforce training and research initiatives in support of the region’s advanced manufacturing, IT and data analytics clusters. The Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation (LIFT) Network was launched in 2019 as a regional consortium of colleges and non-profits, led by the University of Notre Dame and the South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership, to ignite collaborations between the region’s key economic drivers - its manufacturing base and its innovation assets - through a comprehensive portfolio of cutting-edge expertise and facilities, applied learning, and training programs. Funding to catalyze the network was made possible by a $42.4 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant awarded to the University of Notre Dame. The overarching goals of the LIFT Network are to enhance the productivity, resiliency, and skills of regional firms and the workforce, in support of catalyzing longlasting shared prosperity within the ever-growing digital economy.
LIFT NETWORK 2020 HIGHLIGHTS As the regional economic development hub, the Regional Partnership has leveraged our collaborative framework to engage stakeholders in the LIFT Network and to identify industry and workforce demands that inform funding allocations to partners and programs dedicated to advancing experiential learning and digital workforce training resources. Focused on building a strong and sustainable foundation for the Network, the South Bend - Elkhart Regional Partnership has focused on the following activities through 2020: • Launched the South Bend - Elkhart Digital Innovation
Hub, a dynamic tool that inventories and organizes our region’s extensive array of programs, resources, and facilities available to support companies in the region with their aims for growth, productivity and resiliency. The Digital Innovation Hub showcases over 250 assets across 100+ business innovation, entrepreneurship, and workforce development related organizations.
• Established the Digital Skills Accelerator Fund to
invest $2.465 million to eight regional colleges and universities for new programs designed to equip the region’s workforce to thrive in the digital age of industry.
• Led development of the LIFT Network Advanced
Industry Registered Apprenticeship program, in partnership with the Northern Indiana Workforce Board and local economic development organizations. The LIFT Network Apprenticeship program will support the development of registered apprenticeships for technology, manufacturing, business, data science and analytics, supply chain