Report Guide AGENCY OVERVIEW Date: 11/30/2020 601 Department of Commerce Time: 13:43:30
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Return to Report Guide AGENCY OVERVIEW Date: 11/30/2020 601 Department of Commerce Time: 13:43:30 Statutory Authority North Dakota Century Code Chapters 10-30.5, 54-34.3, 54-34.4, 54-44.5, 54-60, 54-62. Agency Description The North Dakota Department of Commerce has four legislatively created divisions: Community Services, Economic Development & Finance, Tourism and Workforce Development and a Director of Initiatives that work together with our stakeholders to expand and diversify the economy of North Dakota, support community development, raise awareness of North Dakota state brand/image in the national and international ecosystems and provide services to low income people. Our challenge is to make North Dakota a better place to live, work, do business and play, for all people that choose to make North Dakota their home which, in turn, will entice non-residents to consider becoming North Dakotans. Agency Mission Statement • The Department of Commerce’s Mission is to be the lead agency responsible for attracting, retaining and expanding wealth in North Dakota. • The Department of Commerce’s Purpose Empower people, improve lives and inspire success. • The Department of Commerce’s Values are Courage, Curiosity, Humility and Gratitude. Agency Performance Measures The North Dakota Department of Commerce has individual, team, division, agency and statewide performance measures. The department works diligently to create a line of sight for all employees to connect their individual and programmatic measures to the North Dakota Economic Development Strategic Plan. This plan identifies major goals and performance measures. And was vetted with a variety of stakeholders, including the ND Economic Development Foundation. Major Accomplishments 1. Developed nearly 100 primary sector projects in 2019; actively working $2.00 billion in projects in 2020. 2. Introduced in excess of $50.0 million in start-up innovation activity using LIFT and InnovateND; recruited Plug and Play to the State of ND. 3. Deployed systems-wide unmanned system plan to include initial BVLOS capability in the Red River Valley, doubled activity within the NPTUAS and grew Grand Sky commercial activity by 30 percent. 4. Led the state's brand unification efforts by creating a brand portal and providing trainings.Currently 26 agencies are using the Be Legendary brand. 5. Reached 67.0 million TV, 12.0 million print, 34.0 million out-of-home, 112 million digital, and 5.3 million on social media through 2019 advertising campaign. 6. Developed new creative campaign in 2019 which included multi-channel placements wrapped trains, Chicago Union Station. 7. Earned 836 media mentions and placements including Conde Nast Traveler and CNN reaching an audience of 2.09 billion for an editorial value of $19.30 billion. 8. Retooled tourism division marketing materials due to pandemic and mobilized an in-state campaign and free cooperative platform featuring tourism businesses and destinations, resulting in a 38 percent increase in visits to NDtourism.com. Increased all 50 states. First time visitors made up 61 percent of visits. 9. Supported pandemic communications by providing leadership with JIC, CARE 19 apps, ND Smart Restart, ERG and Business Briefings. Future Critical Issues 1. Support healthy, vibrant North Dakota communities. This is the underpinning of the Main Street Initiative – help ensure healthy, vibrant, financially solvent communities that attract and retain 21st century workforce. To attract, retain and grow workforce and subsequent productivity and resiliency in the state we must have healthy, vibrant communities, otherwise we may or may not get workers and we won’t get families. Paychecks get shipped out of state while the costs are local. Economic/ community development AND economic diversification are needed, and both are tied to our ability to provide workforce that supports those strategies. Our Rural ED survey also indicated that the focus of economic development activities in rural settings (5,000 pop or below) does not include primary sector businesses in most cases. They instead focus on projects that may fall into the community development arena (restaurants, bars, daycares, etc.). For Commerce to be relevant in rural ND we need to adjust programming to reflect this reality. The survey also revealed that 2/3 of rural areas do not have full-time, paid staff working on economic development and that two-thirds don’t have an economic development plan. Regionalization is a likely by-product of these trends meaning the reliance on others to conduct ED activities in local areas is increasing. Return to Report Guide AGENCY OVERVIEW Date: 11/30/2020 601 Department of Commerce Time: 13:43:30 2. The North Dakota Economic Development Strategic Plan outlines five industrial targets for development: Value-added Agriculture, Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Technology-Based Business, and Tourism. In addition, five key strategic initiatives remain critical to the state’s economic growth. These include maintaining a strong business climate, supporting entrepreneurs, workforce development, commercializing university-based research, and international trade.An intermodal site is now functional in Minot, ND but there is an expression of need on the eastern side of the state. Intermodal sites lower the cost of transporting goods produced in North Dakota, so they can reach markets outside the state is critical in business retention and expansion efforts. As value added companies grow, they move out of state. They locate nearer to intermodal loaders in Minneapolis, Winnipeg and other sites. We also need to continue aggressive and cooperative work with local communities to develop industries that are a match with each respective community. Cutting edge technology (Intellectual Property). We need to and will be working with our research universities to focus and support research that help put our ND companies and start-ups on the front line in developing better products that consumers desire. Strengthening the cooperative efforts between the Department and all its partners. The Department of Commerce has established a cooperative spirit with its various partners, both private and public. It is of great importance to continue to focus on long-term strategies for economic development, community development, workforce development and tourism development. 3. Address workforce issues to diversify the state’s economy. Today’s workforce is remarkably different for three reasons: our biggest challenge is COVID impacts on the economy, technology is changing requirements for both today and tomorrows workers, our broad approach to solving workforce challenges is not as effective as desired. Working with Job Service ND, the Dept of Labor, the Workforce Development Council (comprised of business professionals from across the state and multiple industries), Dept of Public Instruction, ND University System, and Dept of Human Services, we are refining our approach to workforce development. We must invest in telling a unified value story for ND to retain and grow our workforce. We must make tough decisions on which programs we can invest deeply in to drive near-term impact. We must work collectively across agencies through partnership and not duplication to achieve a remarkable impact for current and future workers and employers. 4. It is vital that we invest in marketing the State to enhance the positive image of North Dakota! De-urbanization as a result of COVID impacts provides an unprecedented opportunity to showcase North Dakota’s small cities and wide-open spaces as COVID has increased interest in rural America. North Dakota has advantages to attract visitors, businesses, workforce, new residents and investment but if we don’t showcase our state, other states (most notably our neighbors) will continue to rank higher than we do in the minds of consumers. 2020 image research shows that destination marketing dramatically impacts the state’s image across all economic development areas. It also shows that North Dakota lags competitors in awareness, in some areas as much as 22 percent. We need to look at marketing our state as an important investment to help us diversify our economy. 5. ND took an early leadership position with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and protecting and growing that leadership position requires commitment to targeted UAS strategies that align with other state initiatives/areas of strength: Continue UAS testing, expand focus to include beyond the visual line of sight testing and data transmission investments; and grow defense (DOD), counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) and cyber portfolios. We need to exploit our competitive advantage of having relatively low air traffic as compared to other states. ND has been leading the country in the creation and adoption of autonomous operations beginning in the ag sector. We believe ND is poised to lead the world in proving farms can be fully autonomous. This mitigates the workforce challenges in the state, creates the environment in which ag-focused students and workers choose to come to ND, but it also has the real potential to impact world hunger. Beyond the autonomous farm, within the value chain of agriculture are remarkable opportunities to build out increased robotics and automation which drive efficiency and increase productivity. Note progress is automation/robotics isn’t limited to agricultural application areas. 6. Continue to develop new tourism infrastructure, expansions and improvements. These attractions, activities and