Big data, smart objects, factories and good old corn fields are the focus of a regional network that has garnered a nearly $39 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to improve the area's long-term economic prospects.
The Wabash Heartland Innovation Network announced Monday it had received $38.9 million in grant funding for research, testing and workforce training supporting development of "Internet of Things" sensor technology and data analysis.
"Internet of Things" refers to networks of physical devices — like smart home thermostats, for example, or self-driving cars — that use sensors to collect information, then connect to the internet and exchange that information with other similarly connected devices. WHIN's intent is to focus on the technology's application to agriculture and advanced manufacturing.
"We really want our region to be the Silicon Valley of IoT in smart ag and manufacturing," Logansport businessman Todd Miller said.
Miller, president of Myers Spring Co. in Logansport and a WHIN board member, and five other regional advocates for the initiative spoke during a press conference Monday in Lafayette. Purdue University president and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels also spoke.
WHIN plans to use the grant to build and support testing centers to develop Internet of Things applications in agriculture and manufacturing, as well as establish IoT training centers for students and current workers, support Purdue's research into making IoT sensors and data analysis less expensive, provide grants to member counties to offer educational programming about IoT and establish a fund for quality of life improvements in the member counties.
The WHIN board formed about two years ago and for 18 months studied the business climate in its 10-county region around greater Lafayette, which includes Cass at its eastern edge. Results from that study were announced last September and since then, the board had been working on what to do based on the information it had gathered.
Its decision to focus on Internet of Things technology was bolstered in party by its expected global impact over the next decade, according to information provided by WHIN.
Estimates of how many internet-connected devices are already in use vary widely, from some 8 billion to more than 20 billion in 2017. Forecasts agree, however, that the number of devices is expected to mushroom exponentially in the next decade.
WHIN's focus on agriculture and advanced manufacturing, Miller said, should particularly benefit Cass County.
"We are number two in the region for manufacturing, after Tippecanoe County. And we're right up there with ag ... we are poised to really leverage this," Miller said in an interview after the press conference.
Miller and Deanna Crispen, director of the Cass County Community Foundation, said the part of the initiative focusing on workforce development is likely to affect Cass County, whose workforce, while being heavily invested in the manufacturing sector, is less educated than the state average.
Crispen added she believed the county may also benefit from the initiative's funding for quality of life improvements.
Lilly Endowment's funding for WHIN is meant to last for five years. Next, board members say they're planning to hire an executive director for WHIN and begin the hiring process for other administrative positions to run the initiative.