About Black Hills Vision

Black Hills communities in western South Dakota have a vision of creating an opportunity environment that will bring together prospects of technology-based economic development.

"Every rural community needs to recognize working together is more powerful than working alone," Mark Merchen, Chairman of Black Hills Vision explains. "Regional rural economic development is the new way of getting things done. The Center for the Study of Rural America, a division of the Federal Reserve's Kansas City branch, has recognized the Black Hills Vision as a unique approach for rural regional economic development - a topic in which they have been studying extensively for several years."

Merchen, an economic development professional for the West River Electric Association, is Chairman of Black Hills Vision, which works in partnership with local economic development corporations in the Black Hills to help create opportunities - primarily in technology research - for the region.

Mike Derby, Immediate Past Chairman of the Black Hills Vision Board of Directors, says the regional approach to economic development is important. "It's helped bring together communities throughout the Black Hills," Derby explains.

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Check presentation (pictured left to right are Dr. Mel Ustad, Jafar Karim, Dr. Kathleen Allen, Dr. Timothy Stearns, Will Joseph and Mike Derby).

In 2003, the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce, Rapid City Area Development Partnership and Black Hills Community Economic Development started a fundraising venture to raise $3 million for regional economic development initiatives. This included creating and retaining jobs at Ellsworth Air Force Base, expanding air service markets for new tourist and business travelers, operating a business incubator at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology campus, creating a technology corridor opportunity environment, and providing and promoting technology opportunities at the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead.

From that fundraising effort, the need to work together as a region emerged which led to the creation of a non-profit corporation, the establishment of a Board of Directors as well as an investor council. Currently, Black Hills Vision has over 110 contributors representing every Black Hills community,  the four Black Hills counties, and many leading banks, utilities and businesses. The vision is to create 7,500 new jobs, $750 million in new capital investment, 15 new technology-based businesses, assistance for home ownership for 400 low-income families, and a 20 percent increase in air traffic.

A public meeting in 2003 hosted by the Western Research Alliance prompted the Black Hills region to consider a concept that follows a model started by Oak Ridge, Tenn. In 1983, Governor Lamar Alexander recommended the creation of the Tennessee Technology Development Authority. This became the catalyst for the Oak Ridge Technology Corridor which is now home to more than 1,000 technology-based businesses and organizations centered around the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, the National Transportation Research Center and other institutions near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

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The Investor Reception took place on June 15, 2006 at the historic Homestake Mansion. Replicas of the "Spirit" award were presented to investors as a way of thanking them for their continued support of BHV.

Almost 20 years later, in July 2003, the development of a road map to a Black Hills Technology Corridor was developed. The vision was to create the Black Hills Technology Corridor, which would be home to more than 1,000 technology-based companies in the Black Hills region.

The Black Hills Technology Corridor Roadmap proposes to link technology assets to new market opportunities, identifies the gaps that must be addressed, and the needed investments in three different time frames - near, mid and long-term. The ultimate goal would be the creation of good, well-paying jobs and retention of a workforce for the growing technology companies.

"Our goal is to diversify our economy around technology-based economic development and the core competencies that Battelle identified that we had in our region, such as our natural minerals, technologies at our universities and our private sectors," Merchen says. "The primary competencies are nano technology, nano materials, and materials technologies like sensors."

Black Hills Vision retained Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, a division of Battelle Memorial Institute, a major research-based non-profit organization, to do an assessment of the region and to identify opportunities in technology-based economic development as well as to develop a strategic plan to take advantage of those opportunities.  Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, serves industry and government in developing new technologies and products.

Bob DeMersseman, president of the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, one of the founding organizations of Black Hills Vision, says the vision began as a capital campaign trying to identify issues common to the Black Hills that could be addressed as one.

"I'm very encouraged that we've come up with some very workable activities," DeMersseman says. "It's really challenging trying to add to the economic basis of the region through high tech manufacturing and researching."

DeMersseman explains that the hope of the Black Hills Vision is to create a real dynamic in the economy. "We are blessed with a diverse economy now," he adds. "We're just trying to develop another sector that has the potential to attract research because of our quality of life and South Dakota Tech."

"This will definitely work,"  says Jim Doolittle, executive director of Black Hills Community Economic Development, a regional economic development organization that provides technical assistance, loan programs and support to communities and small businesses involved in economic development activities. "We need to diversify the economy. This is something we've needed for a long time."

Doolittle adds that there is momentum and support for the Vision. "I think this is the first time we've had that type of widespread support from throughout the region," he explains. "There's a lot of excitement over the potential that is going to happen over the next few years."

In 2006, a 40,000 square foot incubator will be operational on the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology campus. It will include a one-stop shopping of professional resources including the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, Governor's Office of Economic Development representative, and representatives from the Small Business Innovation Research, Small Business Development Center, and Genesis Equity, a small venture capital group. There will also be space available to provide various services related to economic development. The remainder of the building will be used for tenants.

Black Hills Vision is also partnering with the State of South Dakota.  "Our technology-based economic development efforts are inspired by the Governor's 2010 Initiative, which seeks to create a national presence for research and development and commercialization for the state," Merchen says.

One portion of the 2010 Initiative was to create Centers of Excellence at the state's universities. One of those Centers of Excellence is centered on technology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.  As part of expanding the vision, funding was put together as a partnership between Rapid City Economic Development groups and the Governor to help the School of Mines purchase a state of the art piece of equipment (Nano-Manipulator) on campus. Skilled technicians will be able to use the manipulator to test circuits for miniature electronics that include palm pilots and instrumentation used in aeronautics.

Nanotechnology covers many areas of research dealing with objects measured in nanometers. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or a millionth of a millimeter. A human's hair diameter measures about 200,000 nanometers. School of Mines students have opportunities to participate in nanotechnology-related research. The university now has a Ph.D. program in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.

(Source: By Alan Van Ormer)