Amazon expects to open a 750,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Lakeville next summer, following a unanimous City Council vote Monday to approve the tech giant's plans. The center, which would be the second such Amazon facility to be built in Minnesota, is headed for a 72-acre parcel in south Lakeville, at th...Continue Reading

To call the road that most metro areas have traveled this year rocky would be akin to labeling Mount Everest a speed bump. But the most turbulent period of our lifetimes will eventually give way to a sustained recovery. And when it does, certain types of metro areas are i...Continue Reading

There was a double-digit growth in foreign trade zone use [in 2018], according to the federal government's report for that year. When the 2019 report comes out, that double double-digit growth will have increased even more. The reason is that these tariffs are a whole new way to save money...Continue Reading

The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry had a record year in 2019. Revenue passenger miles set a record, up 4.2 percent from 2018, and have been growing at roughly double GDP for the past two decades. Airbus’ and Boeing’s order backlogs ended 2019 at around 13,000 aircraft. The industry reported a record $78...Continue Reading

Apart from the tragic global health implications, the economic fallout from the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has been highly disruptive. The longer-term impact from the profound behavioral shift on the part of consumers who have — by necessity — been introduced to online shopping will persist long after the curren...Continue Reading

In times of economic struggle — such as the recession that abruptly arrived with the COVID-19 pandemic — analysts and advocates promote an array of options as effective tools for stimulating the economy. One of the most frequently suggested options is infrastructure spending. Proponents of infrastructure spending during dire economi...Continue Reading

The stratospheric rise of the cloud over the past few years caught many off guard and created an arms race among the cloud providers, with data center development underpinning the effort. These cloud providers were anticipating ever-increasing demand for the cloud by globally creating a robust and redundant network of massiv...Continue Reading

No sector now is more active than logistics, and there is no busier niche within it than cold chain for grocery and medical needs. The busiest companies within that niche, before and since COVID-19, are automated logistics pioneers and the grocers they serve. Digital Commerce 360’s 2020 Online Food Report, release...Continue Reading

Through a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) known as Connected Communities, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) put up more than $65 million this week to expand the efficiency of grid-interactive building communities throughout the country. The department says that connected communities would utilize the newest breakthroughs, such as modern sensors...Continue Reading

Enbridge Energy officials said Wednesday that they have completed a small section of its Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement project in North Dakota, leaving only the Minnesota stretch that has been challenged by state officials and others. Line 3 starts in Alberta and clips a corner of North Dakota befor...Continue Reading

With the help of Dakota Electric Association and Great River Energy, a local data center is powered entirely by renewable energy. DataBank, a leading provider of enterprise-class colocation, connectivity and managed services, announced the milestone was achieved at MSP2, a data center located in Eagan, Minnesota. DataBank entered into an agreement wit...Continue Reading

Virtual reality (VR) technology has become an ace move for economic developers in 2020. The onset of COVID-19 and the related challenges have increased the utility of VR even further. Many economic development partners and site selectors remain under travel restrictions tied to the pandemic. VR provides access to areas the...Continue Reading

In recent months, business executives have watched their supply chains be disrupted and product deliveries delayed due to COVID-19. Onshoring is on the mind of many. For four decades, companies have offshored manufacturing operations overseas in order to save costs. Now may be the time to reshore those operations. COVID-19 ha...Continue Reading

The Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX) has been named amicus curiae - a friend of the court - regarding the application of Enbridge Energy’s certificate of need and a routing permit for the proposed Line 3 replacement project.  “Communities in northern Minnesota are depending on Enbridge and the project, and APEX i...Continue Reading

The USDA has released a list of recipients of distance learning and telemedicine grants. Click here view the full list from the US Department of Agriculture. Continue Reading

Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation is investing $1.5 million to improve broadband within two rural areas of northeastern Minnesota. The IRRR Board on Tuesday recommended funding broadband projects in Pequaywan Township in the Cloquet Valley area, and in Wuori, Sandy and Pike Townships north of Virginia. Click here to read full articl...Continue Reading

Enterprises have been eager to cut costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced consumer spending, limited retailer occupancy and forced virtually every business to rethink their 2020 strategy. It has been a particularly difficult period for supply chains and the global networks that support them. This has inspired business leader...Continue Reading

The Entrepreneur Fund was awarded over $1 million in grants to capitalize its loan fund for small business lending, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced. The U.S. Treasury granted awards nationwide to 397 CDFIs, totaling $204.1 million. This award will enable the Entrepreneur Fun...Continue Reading

Deployment is one of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption of electric and fuel cell trucks. Fleets cannot just drive the trucks off the lot like they could with a diesel vehicle. In the case of electric trucks, they need charging infrastructure. For trucks using hydrogen fuel cells, they nee...Continue Reading

The Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative has placed an offer on land near the intersection of Hwys. 169 and 18, hoping to set up a new headquarters. MLEC confirmed Sept. 22 that it hae made an offer on the 37-acre parcel, and finalized the purchase the evening of Sept. 25, according t...Continue Reading

A University of Minnesota Duluth Bureau of Business and Economic Research study of northeastern Minnesota ferrous and nonferrous mining is forecasting growth by 2024. The study projects statewide economic impacts from the mining industry in 2024 to be $1.1 billion in labor income and $4.1 billion in output. It amounts to mining industry economi...Continue Reading

The Trump Administration today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting applications for the department’s four key loan guarantee programs under the OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative. “Rural America needs a mix of public and private partnerships and investments to build stronger, healthier communities,” USDA Deputy Under Secretar...Continue Reading

 Manufacturing, which has long played a key role in the state's economy, is even more important now as Minnesota focuses on revitalizing our economy and rebounding from the impacts of COVID-19. As the state's second-largest industry, manufacturing added $52.7 billion to Minnesota's economy last year. Governor Tim Walz has proclaimed Oct...Continue Reading

One of the most cliched statements in starting a small business is that “it takes money to make money”... but it is often true. Many businesses need an infusion of cash to buy essential components of their operations. For a pizzeria, that could be an industrial oven, and for ...Continue Reading