In factories all around Detroit and throughout the region, people are recognizing that the skills that made Detroit the Motor City can be put to use manufacturing more than cars and trucks. This week,
DEGC helped organize a summit of dozens of those companies to help them win new business in aerospace, homeland security/defense, medical devices and wind energy.
"We have skilled labor, advanced manufacturing capacity and smart business people in this region," said George W. Jackson, CEO of DEGC. "They just need opportunities such as this one to make connections to new customers outside the automotive industry."
Monroe County, Washtenaw County/Ann Arbor Spark and Wayne County joined DEGC in organizing the event, one of 12 statewide targeting more than 2,500 companies with a goal of $1 billion in contracts. The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center and the University of Michigan are working with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to assist manufacturers in developing market diversification strategies.
Those that demonstrate the potential to diversify, as determined by sector service providers, will receive a $10,000 matching grant from the Economic Development Job Training program to assist in the diversification process.
For more than a century Detroit companies have had the talent to invent and reinvent the automobile – making it the most highly technical, mass-produced product in human history. Now they are turning that talent around to reinvent themselves. We are here to do everything we can to give them the tools to do just that.
Kenyetta Bridges, is the Business Retention Manager at Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, a non-profit organization that works with businesses, government and other organizations throughout Detroit to encourage and manage economic development projects.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.