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

and logistics roles that provide growth opportunities for incumbent workers.

• Developed the LIFT Network Internship program connecting students from regional colleges and universities to internships at local companies focused on advanced industries such as technology, manufacturing, data science and analytics, supply chain or logistics management, and research and development. • Invested nearly $4 million of LIFT grant funds to support the development of over $50 million in regional Innovation

Facilities, including: Ivy Tech iFlex Lab, Elkhart Area Career

Center’s Engineering, Technology, and Innovation Building,

St. Joseph County Public Library’s Community Learning

Center, Renaissance District Tech Training & Demo Center, including the LIFT Applied Learning Classroom, and the City of South Bend’s Technology Resource Center • Sponsored entrepreneurial and innovation programs and resources, including two cohorts of the Startup South Bend - Elkhart Accelerator program and two cohorts of the SBIR | STTR Accelerator program, where Third Coast Federal

provided companies with actionable insight, relationships and resources required to leverage federal R&D and contracting awards to drive innovation, diversification, and economic growth. • Successfully developed and launched a regional virtual career exploration platform, in collaboration with local intermediaries, to showcase virtual companies and to learn about in-demand careers within manufacturing and advanced industries

INDUSTRY LABS AT NOTRE DAME

iNDustry Labs at Notre Dame was launched as an anchor of the LIFT Network to help unite the region’s chief economic drivers — its powerful manufacturing base and a global tier one research university, to unlock the region’s potential for a more productive, resilient and skilled future.

iNDustry Labs is the University’s dedicated platform for collaboration with local industry partners, providing strategic insight, expertise and technical resources to regional businesses seeking to thrive in the digital age of manufacturing. enFocus is another key member of the LIFT Network, and has created a dedicated industry innovation team to support iNDustry Labs at Notre Dame as they help businesses develop and implement plans for product and process innovation to diversify and grow business operations. Collectively, these efforts will support the South Bend - Elkhart region through the transformation to an increasingly digital and automated future, enhancing the current manufacturing base with new business models, technologies and tailored workforce training programs while accelerating new high-tech sector growth in the region.