Governor Branstad will join Bill Fehrman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Co. and Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress (IPEP) board member, and Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), on Thursday, December 18 to release the Battelle Memorial Institute’s recommendations for Iowa. A news conference will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the DuPont Room at the Des Moines Botanical Center.
The IPEP Board — the state’s CEO-level, industry-led advisory board co-chaired by Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds – last fall commissioned the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice to re-examine and re-envision Iowa’s economic development roadmap.
Working with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) and regional economic development organizations around the state, the comprehensive study conducted over the past 18 months reviewed Iowa’s industry drivers and potential growth opportunities. The study also looked at how the state has fared in advancing innovation, job attraction and retention since the last roadmap was developed in 2004-2005.