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Rural Summit focuses on
Innovation Economy
Governor Pawlenty to deliver keynote address
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will address the 7th annual Minnesota Rural Summit, at midday, Thursday, August 19, 2004, in Hibbing. This year's Summit, coordinated by Minnesota Rural Partners, is themed Gearing Up for the Innovation Economy.
The 2004 Rural Summit, to be held August 18-20 at Hibbing Community College, makes the case that technological transformations, renewed entrepreneurialism, and demographic trends are poised to redefine and reassert rural economic development and vitality in the emerging Innovation Economy.
"Rural Minnesota and rural America have the advantage in an economy based on innovation," said Jane Leonard, MRP's President. "The smaller scale of our rural communities, with their community spirit, decentralized amenities, highly trained and high-quality workforce, inventiveness and resiliency, combined with the technology of this age, position rural communities with a competitive advantage."
Nationally-known technology and economic development expert Dr. Robert Atkinson, Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute, and director of its Technology & New Economy Project, will wrap up the Summit on Friday, August 20. Atkinson will talk about his ideas on reversing rural America's economic decline and the factors at play in the Innovation Economy. One of those key factors, investments in education, will be discussed on Thursday, August 19 by Dr. Joe Sertich, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, and on Friday, August 20 by University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks. The Summit's wrap-up panel includes Iron Range Resources Commissioner Sandy Layman, MnSCU Senior Vice President Linda Baer, and Blandin Foundation President Jim Hoolihan.
The Summit brings together community leaders and citizens, economic developers, health care, design, and technology attendees who understand the complexity of community and economic factors that go into rural development today. Innovative showcase sessions on Thursday, August 19 will provide ideas, contacts, and on-the-ground implementation examples for attendees. Mobile workshops on Friday, August 20 will help participants see first hand the many interrelated sectors, challenges, and opportunities present in the innovation economy. Sessions are scheduled on entrepreneurship, finance, health care, workforce, broadband, housing, community design, transportation, youth and vital aging, agriculture and natural resources, arts and culture, and education.
The Summit is co-hosted and sponsored by MRP, the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, True North, the Northeast Higher Education District, TechNorth Prep Centers, Hibbing Community College, and Iron Range Resources. Major sponsors include the Blandin Foundation, Minnesota Power, the Rural Policy Research Institute, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, and the University of Minnesota. For a complete list of statewide organizers and sponsors,
to see a complete Summit schedule, or to register, go to
www.minnesotaruralpartners.org/2004_summit
or call Jane Leonard at 651-645-9403 or Kelly Peterson at 507-278-4024.Registration is $300 and includes all sessions, meals and mobile workshops. Early-bird
registration ends Friday, July 23, and is discounted at $250.
or
Call: 218-485-4100
© 2004 Moose Lake Water & Light Commission. All rights reserved.