Technology triad: developments to help Northwest Indiana catch up in creating high-tech jobs.

• Author: Richards, Rick A.
• Position: Regional report: Northwest focus

ONLY 1 PERCENT OF LAKE County's jobs are considered high-tech. Rich Markwart, a consultant for the Hammond Development Corp., says it's vital for Lake County's economy--and the economy of the entire region--to begin creating more technology jobs.

U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics indicate that the county lags well behind the national high-tech average of 35 percent of all jobs. Markwart suggests that Lake County has only 2,000 high-tech jobs when it should have 7,000.

"Three years ago, Hammond began development on a core downtown that focused on arts and technology," says Markwart. A small part of that effort was improving the streets, but before any asphalt was put down, Markwart says the city made sure miles of conduit were installed first. And inside that conduit was a high-speed optical network.

Today, that work is paying off. Jorsm Internet has opened downtown. The Internet provider operates a data center downtown, converting what had been an empty building.

"MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet provides access to data via the Internet," Markwart says of a second company to move to Hammond. In the short time the optical network has been in place, Virtual Health Systems has moved to the city from Maryland and Shayda Technologies has moved from Chicago.

The efforts have led to Hammond being designated as an Indiana Certified Technology Park. Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis announced the designation on Oct. 28, 2003. "The creation of Hammond's Certified Technology Park, the existing Purdue Research Park in Merrillville and the establishment of the logistics initiative at the Port of Indiana naturally create a high-tech triangle in Northwest Indiana," says Davis.

That triangle, called the Northwest Indiana Technology Triad, has seen more than $20 million in private, local, state and federal money committed since 2000. The initiatives are expected to benefit residents of not only Lake County, but also Porter and LaPorte counties.

Porter County is the site of the advanced-logistics initiative to which Davis refers. The state's "Energize Indiana" economic-development plan passed last year authorizes Indiana's ports, including the Port of Indiana in northwest Indiana, to create intermodal hubs where various modes of transportation can converge. Such a development at the port would link water, high-way and rail transportation and encourage the development of high-tech logistics operations.

As an example of such a development, state officials point to Joliet...