Last week The Right Place Inc. announced that it has helped 2,000 West Michigan businesses generate 8,300 jobs, $228 million in wages, and over $467 million in new investment since 2004.
And while times have been tough across the state, and 2009 looks to be another rough ride, the Grand Rapids-based economic development corporation hopes to buck that trend with the new five-year strategic plan and capital investment campaign it will unveil next month.
Birgit Klohs, Right Place president and CEO, says the next economic push focuses on developing the region’s alternative energy and life sciences sectors. By combining them with West Michigan’s manufacturing and design capabilities, Klohs plans to position the region as a world-class innovation hub.
“We have reached a point in time in which we can leverage our significant assets in these emerging industries to take our economy to the next level,” Klohs says. “We know that there will be difficult days ahead, but I am confident in the ultimate resiliency of West Michigan’s economy, its leaders and its people.”
While, the region has outpaced the rest of the state with steady growth in its economic output and employment through 2007, that has not necessarily created new manufacturing jobs.
Klohs says the manufacturing cluster’s innovation and production is helping many companies ride out the current economic storm.
Source: The Right Place, Inc.; Wondergem Consulting
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