Month: May 2016

StarTribune: Med-tech partnership promotes Minnesota as a place to do business

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Rochester’s med-tech business community is getting a national boost.

Earlier this week, Greater MSP – an economic development agency in the Twin Cities – announced the Minnesota Medical Manufacturing Partnership, giving medical manufacturers working in Rochester and in Minnesota access to federal agencies that coordinate $1 billion in economic development assistance.

Rochester is in one of 24 regions selected by the federal government as part of a nationwide effort to reignite manufacturing.

Destination Medical Center Executive Director Lisa Clarke said the partnership will help transform Rochester’s med-tech community in the Discovery Square Subdistrict and our region.

Winona State students explore ways to attract millennials to Rochester

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“A City Made for You,” “Picture Yourself Here,” and “Heart of Opportunity” were key messages from a group of students at Winona State University (WSU). Their mission: to devise a communication plan to attract millennials to Rochester.

In a partnership between WSU and Destination Medical Center (DMC), the students were instructed to create a comprehensive communication strategy and pitch their final presentation to DMC communications director Mary Welder, WSU associate vice president for academic affairs Jeanine Gangeness, and Post-Bulletin publisher Randy Chapman.

WSU DMC

Muriel Scott, professor of WSU’s Public Relations Planning class, said her students were eager to tackle DMC’s challenge. “They learned so much,” she says. “The students focused on how to rebrand a city in a way that met needs and interests of millennials in choosing where to live.”

Celebrating the history of Rochester

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As DMC’s momentum continues, words like “urbanism,” “prototyping,” and “placemaking” are becoming increasingly more common in everyday conversations around Rochester, but with May as National Historic Preservation Month, there exists an opportunity to celebrate the special places that have helped shape our history and culture, making Rochester the medical destination it is today.

Exploring prototyping to enhance urban design

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Nature, connectedness, and accessibility.

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Photo credit: Emma Jeanson

In twenty minutes, those are the three words more than 100 Rochester community members settled on to describe what they believe makes a healthy city.

The rapid-fire brainstorming event was part of a Community Conversation About Prototyping, a public event hosted by Destination Medical Center, Rochester Downtown Alliance, and the Rochester Art Center. It featured Our City co-founders and prototyping festival organizers Ray Boyle and Jake Levitas.

Q&A with entrepreneur and TEDxZumbroRiver presenter Tori Utley

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With DMC efforts like Discovery Square intended to help launch new startups and grow existing ventures, enhancing the diversity of the entrepreneurial landscape for the region will help drive growth and ensure that we attract and retain professionals of all ages.

Ttedxhe resume of Rochester-based entrepreneur Tori Utley reads like it belongs to a seasoned veteran of Silicon Valley: mobile app enthusiast, tech start-up founder, and non-profit leader are all on her list of accomplishments.

But at 23, Utley has just started her career. You can catch her presenting at TEDx ZumbroRiver on May 5, but if you want to learn more about her in the meantime, read on.