Indiana.
It’s known for wide, open fields of corn and soy, scattered farm towns, and laid-back
Hoosiers famous for their warm hospitality. Indiana doesn’t strike most visitors as a place
you’d find an aggressive economic development plan centered on advanced transportation
and energy systems. But it is. Indiana may not be known for advanced manufacturing,
advanced transportation components, lithium-ion batteries, and the capability to put them
all together in fresh and exciting ways, but those capabilities and assets do exist in the state.
Which is why the State of Indiana is establishing something called the Indiana Energy System Network (IESN).
The i dea for the IESN has its nucleus in Governor Mitch Daniels 2006 economic development plan for Indiana,
‘Accelerating Growth.’ The plan identified intellectual clusters and industry networks (think high-level research parks) as
powerful drivers of economic activity and global competitiveness.
“‘Accelerating Growth’ is intended to help revive Indiana’s remarkable history of pragmatic entrepreneurship and economic
dynamism,” Governor Daniels wrote. “By focusing on innovation, talent, and investment—the key themes of our plan—we
can build for the future by rediscovering the excitement of Indiana’s innovative past.”
Pragmatic entrepreneurship and economic dynamism sound like a pretty tall order, but with the help of RMI and a
forward-thinking group of businesses, academics, and workforce development entities, the State is finding the lofty goal
doable. And it’s mostly because Indiana has extensive untapped assets in the automotive, power electronics, and energy storage
and conversion sectors. Now, Indiana leaders want to leverage those assets to make the region a hub for research, development,
and execution of whole-system solutions that will reduce fossil-fuel use, expand business opportunities, and revitalize the
area’s economy. The IESN was formed as a collaborative network of businesses, academia, and workforce development entities
to achieve that mission.
But building a viable industry network is no small task.
Successful networks—like the world-renowned Research
Triangle Park in North Carolina and the younger Advanced
Materials Research Center in Sheffield, England—required a
huge amount of time and commitment for success. Considering
the speed with which technology, global markets, and expertise
are shifting, figuring out the right way to go and doing so in
short order, is critical.
Immediately after the State engaged RMI, it became
apparent that the best way to launch the Network and build
momentum was to hold an Innovation Workshop, one of RMI’s
unique information- and idea-sharing events, with about 50
representatives from a cross-section of organizations. The
Workshop was designed to do several things: establish
connections between organizations, enhance the awareness of
assets and opportunities for collaboration, and identify some
key projects the Network could pursue.
In the very large and fuzzy energy arena, defining focus is
everything, so RMI worked with the State and Conexus Indiana
(a group of companies collaborating to enhance advanced
manufacturing and logistics in Indiana) to identify key
discussion points for the Workshop. RMI staff also recognized
that the Workshop would probably produce a number of
additional opportunities that the Network could pursue once
established. In addition, the Institute worked with the State and
Conexus to identify appropriate attendees. The end result was
a list of more than 40 participants, ranging from auto-sector
firms like Delphi and Cummins and Rolls Royce, to universities
like Purdue and Notre Dame, to energy companies like Duke
and I-Power. Finally, in June, RMI brought them together for
two dynamic days of brainstorming ideas and drafting a plan
for launching the Network.
Over the course of the Workshop, it became apparent that
not only are there numerous companies and considerable
research and expertise in advanced transportation and energy
supply in Indiana, there is a remarkable consensus about the
direction and focus of that work. On the first day, the
brainstorming groups were broken up by topic: advanced
transportation, energy supply, energy demand, and strategy and
resources. At the end of the day, the top ideas that were
generated were evaluated. Groups were then reformed based on
categories that could define the activities of the Network. The
categories included value stream development, technology
refinement, and demonstration projects. An additional group
was formed to examine the role the Network could play in
workforce development, while the original “strategy and
resources” group was assigned to refine the mission and strategy
of the IESN.
Paul Mitchell, Policy Director, Economic & Workforce Development for the State of Indian, exploring ideas at MOVE’s recent Innovation Workshop.
One of the key challenges of forming networks is getting
parties with disparate interests to collaborate. At the Workshop,
participants realized that the Network could act as an aggregator
of entities. The value wouldn’t be in the entities themselves, but
in the technology they collectively produced—think of a
conductor and an orchestra or a project manager on a job site.
Wind-power component manufacturing offers a great example.
If the Network found there were gaps along the supply chain,
it could identify companies that could fill those gaps (ideally
companies already in the region), and then work to fill them.
Once such a system was working, the Network could market
its collective value to the wind power industry. Other possible
value streams based in Indiana included advanced powertrain
components for hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,
vehicle-to-grid systems, distributed generation systems, and
waste-to-power systems.
Once the core value stream for a particular opportunity area is
mapped out, any gaps identified must be filled to create a
competitive advantage for the region. These gaps could be in
commercially available technologies or in missing, undeveloped
technologies. For the former, the IESN could identify companies
in the region with the right capabilities, and, for the latter, the
Network might identify companies that could develop the
required technology and facilitate joint venture agreements (JVAs)
for development, testing, and commercialization of the technology.
A great example that the group focused on is the
development of a “black box” needed to accelerate the
commercialization of PHEVs and vehicle-to-grid
technologies. This black box would handle the transfer and
conversion of all forms of energy and information between
devices, such as the vehicle and the grid and various
components within the vehicle. Indiana already has a number
of companies working to refine this technology, and the IESN
could clearly play a role in facilitating that collaboration.
In time, the Network could facilitate the realization of
many projects, but Workshop participants felt one high-profile
project was needed to kick-start the Network. Ultimately, they
felt it should be in the advanced vehicle and vehicle-to-grid
space. Thus, they recommended that the Network build a fleet
of PHEVs using regional companies to demonstrate the viability
of PHEVs and the management of power between the grid and
the vehicles.
Once the market space and value stream for PHEVs has been
identified, the IESN can help various companies collaborate to
produce the vehicles. The final goal would be a large-scale, multi-
state demonstration of these vehicles, their components, and
energy management between the vehicles and the grid.
Underlying the business potential is the job creation
potential. The Workshop included a number of representatives
from the workforce arena, including representatives from
academia and Indiana Workforce Innovations in Regional
Economic Development (WIRED), who tried to figure out how
to best connect the regional workforce to the Network initiatives.
One idea that came up was the need for a centralized workforce
organization, where job listings could be posted, interviews
arranged, and various training programs made available.
Indiana could become a hotbed of high-tech, cutting-edge
R&D in advanced transportation and energy systems. And the
State is moving quickly to capitalize on the momentum of this
Workshop. As RMI’s research and the Workshop showed, the
keys to success are speed and collaboration. This is a huge
opportunity for the region, and the time is right for Indiana to
move forward and establish itself as a leader in the advanced
energy system space. RMI is honored to be part of this
important process.
Stephanie Johns is an Analyst with RMI’s
MOVE (Mobility + Vehicle Efficiency) Team.
