Southern Indiana Business Report
BLOOMINGTON – Regional Opportunity Initiatives has been awarded a three-year contract for $9,577,447 million for its multi-layered microelectronics workforce initiative. The project, funded through the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, supports the National Defense Industrial Strategy’s priorities of enhancing Supply Chain Resilience and Workforce Readiness. ROI’s multi-year approach may extend the project for two additional years for a five-year contract value of $15,017,577.
Over the life of the award, ROI will collaborate with K-12 schools, postsecondary colleges and universities, employer partners, and other institutions to develop and enhance the region’s ME ecosystem and expertise through a Rural Indiana Workforce Development for Microelectronics project.
Through vertically aligned and integrated activities, ROI and its partners will promote microelectronics-related careers, accelerate students and workers into and through training and development pipelines, and inspire the next generation of industrial skilled professionals. Examples of deployed activities across the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands will include K-12 microelectronics education and career awareness outreach, Ivy Tech postsecondary certifications, youth apprenticeship programming with ME industry partners, and the development of an ME regional education and training hub.
ROI’s IBAS award supports the goals of the National Imperative for Industrial Skills (NIIS) initiative to promote the prestige of manufacturing and industrial careers, accelerate training development pipelines, and elevate U.S. manufacturing to world-leading status. Since its launch in 2020, DoD has supported more than 50 public-private NIIS projects across the country to reignite U.S. industrial modernization, boost manufacturing and engineering skills and workforce development, and strengthen economic, defense, and national security capabilities.
ROI’s education and workforce initiative builds on the region’s growing leadership and prominence in microelectronics. Since 2021, the Indiana Uplands has seen significant investments to enhance the region’s ecosystem as a national leader for ME research, development, testing, and packaging, including:
- Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, a premier federal laboratory, continues to add DoD-wide contract authority, attracting significant talent and interest in partnerships with industry to provide science, technology, research, and comprehensive support for complex military systems. Today, 65% percent of NSWC Crane’s 3,900 employees and 2,500 contractors are scientists, engineers, and technicians, with a 60% growth in PhDs over the last five years.
- Just beyond the gates of Naval Support Activity Crane, along Interstate 69, is WestGate@Crane, a 750-acre research technology park that has grown to 50 tenants spanning from Fortune 500 firms to startups producing cutting-edge technology and research in microelectronics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and hypersonics. Design has also begun for a trusted advanced packaging multi-company ME manufacturing campus at WestGate@Crane, which will speed the re-shoring of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-tech jobs with average salaries of more than $100K/year.
- The Indiana Uplands is home to the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub, one of eight CHIPS and Science Act-funded regional innovation hubs. Led by the Applied Research Institute, SCMC was awarded $32.9 million for microelectronics prototyping and workforce development and is focusing initially on secure edge/IOT computing, 5g/6g technology, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, electromagnetic warfare, and commercial leap-ahead technologies.
- In June, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame established The Indiana Research Consortium, a first-of-its-kind joint research effort to drive innovations and advancements in areas critical to U.S. national security and NSWC Crane, including microelectronics, hypersonics, energetics, and cyber-physical systems.
- In the last year, Indiana University and Purdue University have both announced multi-year ME, AI, and cybersecurity investments in facilities, equipment, faculty and initiatives in collaboration with NSWC Crane. These investments will accelerate innovative solutions to security challenges and boost the growth of the Indiana and U.S. microelectronics industry.
- ROI is facilitating K-12 school district curriculum alignment efforts with Indiana’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) network. Led by Purdue University, funded by the Department of Defense, supported by financial matching from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and managed by NSWC Crane, SCALE is a public-private academic partnership of 22 universities and 48 partners within the defense industry and government to help prepare students for ME careers in the defense sector. The SCALE workforce development program includes unique courses, mentoring, internships, research projects, scholarships, and job placement.
“The Indiana Uplands continues to be laser-focused on growing upon its significant capabilities and capacity as an innovation hub,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson. “The IBAS investment offers additional evidence that this region is positioned to leverage its often-unparalleled expertise in advanced technologies to not only bring opportunity to our region and our state but also to support national imperatives. NSWC Crane’s legacy expertise in microelectronics and semiconductors coupled with that of Indiana’s three research universities has allowed this region and its partners across the state to step forward expeditiously and lead at a time of critical importance.”
Peterson added that ROI is committed to doing its part to ensure that our defense partners have the talent necessary to deliver upon their opportunities and potential.
“We are grateful to the DoD for providing the resources through this program to accelerate the development of an ME workforce prepared to succeed in these technical, high-wage professions,” she said. “Both the size of the sector in the region and the scale of its mission requires a continuous and growing focus on talent development, retention, and attraction.”
The Indiana Uplands region is home to Naval Support Activity Crane, the third-largest Naval Installation in the world and the 11th-largest single-site employer in Indiana. For every 10 jobs at NSA Crane through its tenants Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and Crane Army Ammunition Activities (CAAA), another six jobs exist in defense-related industry and activities throughout the region.
The region’s robust defense cluster represents a multi-faceted private enterprise with activities of the federal government reinforced and supported by an innovation ecosystem of defense contracting companies. The defense sector in Indiana Uplands focuses on engineering, technology, storage, production, and demilitarization services. Building on the strengths of the NSWC Crane, research and development focused on advanced technologies that include microelectronics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning and hypersonics.
NSA Crane, NSWC Crane, and regional defense contractors have a combined economic impact of over $3 billion annually for the Uplands region.
“We are thrilled IBAS is investing in the region through this partnership with ROI,” said Jenna Dix, Director of Engagement with NSWC Crane. “This initiative is a great complement to other activities in the state around microelectronics and is exactly what is needed to continue Indiana’s leadership in this critical technology area.”