Global Robotics Innovation Park

This week, GRIP was proud to participate in “Minnesota Robotics Day” in the rotunda of the State Capitol. The successful event was hosted by Robotics Alley.

GRIP CEO, Nena Fox, made the following remarks at the event:

For the past 10 months, GRIP has been in the concept planning phase. Our charge during this time was to assess the potential of Minnesota’s robotics economy and determine whether and how a robotics park could serve to catalyze that economy. I’m pleased to provide you with an update on what we’ve accomplished to-date, and upcoming milestones for GRIP.

As part of our diligence efforts, we met with over 200 individuals representing roughly 50 institutions involved in Minnesota’s robotics economy; in addition to myriad others representing organizations based throughout the nation and around the world. As demonstrated here today, we have confirmed that Minnesota’s robotics economy is diverse.
We’ve also confirmed that robotics innovations will have a profound impact on Minnesota’s legacy industries, including bioscience, agriculture, retail, mining and industrial manufacturing – each of which are long-standing consumers of the robotics industry.

As you heard from Andrew, we’ve confirmed that global growth in the robotics industry will be exponential in the coming decades. And that the US is playing catch-up with the rest of the world, after losing its leadership position.

We’ve confirmed that Minnesota is well-suited to compete within the US. But we’ve confirmed that the current potential of Minnesota’s robotics economy is limited because its participants are siloed. At best, this lack of coordination and collaboration just means increased costs to businesses. At worst, it means we lose those businesses, talent and intellectual property to other regions. Our workers need training and jobs, our entrepreneurs need resources, and our businesses need educated, innovative employees to remain competitive.

We’ve confirmed our manufacturing sector is struggling—across the nation and in our state. Redefining American manufacturing is a key priority of the Obama Administration, and we believe it should be a key priority in Minnesota, as well. We’ve confirmed that the robotics industry presents a compelling opportunity to reinvigorate Minnesota’s manufacturing sector.

We’ve confirmed that there is broad interest among Minnesota businesses, educational institutions, and local economic development groups to support our robotics industry through collaborative efforts. And we are here today to share this story with our elected officials. We are here today to discuss how our vision for Minnesota’s robotics economy can complement the economic development efforts of our state leaders.

This fall, GRIP commissioned an Economic Impact Study of the robotics industry in Minnesota to define and assess the value of the robotics industry, and evaluate the potential increase in that value as a result of concerted efforts to create a robotics cluster, including development of a research and industrial park. Our Steering Committee will be meeting to review the final draft report soon.

In addition, we have been engaged in a robust site selection process that has taken us to all parts of Minnesota and neighboring states. Our site selection process has involved careful consideration of location, scale and programmatic opportunities. At this point, we have visited several dozen sites and have narrowed our list down to a handful of prospects.

Within the next two months, we will wrap up the concept planning phase for GRIP and we look forward to sharing our findings and plans with you.

Through GRIP, we aim to leverage the unique expertise and resources of all participants in the robotics industry to create a decisive and sustainable economic advantage in Minnesota for decades to come.

Creating robots, not just using them, is the opportunity. Manufacturing never left Minnesota. We represent a collaboration working to accelerate the actualization of this specific manufacturing opportunity. The results will be a stronger MN economy.

We hope that a key message from today is that Minnesota can be competitive but we need to be collaborative and intentional.

For additional information about Minnesota Robotics Day, check out the following press coverage:

KSTP – Robots Take Over State Capitol

Minnesota Public Radio – Robotics Day at Capitol

Minneapolis Star Tribune Photo Gallery – Robots at Capitol

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