TROY ? The partners in Oakland Automation Alley SmartZone on Tuesday launched a new marketing effort complete with a new name, Great Lakes Interchange.
GLI is one of four significant technology clusters in Automation Alley?s eight-county region.
“This provides us with another way of marketing Oakland County to emerging businesses,” said Oakland County Deputy Executive Dennis Toffolo, as the new name and logo were unveiled.
Toffolo was joined in making the annoucement by Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Jim Epolito, Oakland County Executive, L. Brooks Patterson, Mayor Louise Schilling of Troy, Mayor Bryan Barnett of Rochester Hills, Former Mayor Donald Fracassi of Southfield, Lawrence Technological University Chancellor Dr. Charles Chambers, Oakland University President Dr. Gary Russi and Automation Alley Senior Director Thomas Anderson.
Patterson said GLI represents a collaborative networking effort that would help Oakland County diversify its economy and recover from the loss of manufacturing jobs.
“We all know what is happening to the auto industry,” he said. “It is going through a serious retrenchment and will never by the same.”
But he also added that quick results should not be expected. Patterson said the process of diversifying Oakland County?s economy will take another 10 to 15 years. However, he is confident it will happen “and that will be our salvation.”
The SmartZone contained 333 high-technology companies in 2005, creating 21,174 jobs. Since 2004, private investment in the SmartZone has totaled more than $123 million.
Epolito said the Oakland Automation SmartZone had been an unqualified success. He said the MEDC is “tracking what is happening in Oakland County and trying to do that for the rest of Michigan.”
Schilling said that she agrees with Patterson and added that the city of Troy has already seen the benefits of being home to Automation Alley?s headquarters. “Together we can make a difference,” she said. “And together, we are making a difference.”
Troy was not one of the original members of the Oakland County Automation SmartZone. It joined the program in 2002. The city of Rochester Hills joined the effort in 2004 when it received a separate Certified Technology Park designation.
“We are confident that the emerging businesses in high-technology and advanced manufacturing will find that the GLI is the place to be in the Midwest,” said Barnett. “It is in these emerging sectors that our jobs of the future will be created.”
Oakland University was one of the original members of the SmartZone that was created by the state of Michigan in 2000. The OU Incubator was opened on the university?s campus as part of the SmartZone program last month. Russi said it already has two tenants and several other entrepreneurs are interested in moving into the facility. Companies that have already been involved with the OU Incubator have received a total of eight patents and have created two spinoff companies.
The Oakland Automation Alley SmartZone was designated by the state of Michigan in 2000. In addition to Oakland University, the city of Southfield, Lawrence Technological University, Oakland County and Automation Alley were original members.
This story was written by Rod Kackley. If you have story ideas for Kackley, email him at [email protected]
