web viewwhat supply-chain relationships were critical? ... wish we could leapfrog five years! ......

Re-Engineering the RegionRoundtable Discussions

June 3 and 4, 2015

Report prepared by Good Group Decisions

© 2016 Eastern Maine Development Corporation. All Rights Reserved

Good Group Decisions

98 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine, 04011 207-729-5607 www.GoodGroupDecisions.com

http://www.GoodGroupDecisions.com/

Contents

About the Roundtables....................................................................................................................... 1

Overall Themes..................................................................................................................................... 2

Themes by Group................................................................................................................................. 2Boat Building/Composites................................................................................................................................2Forestry/Wood Products.................................................................................................................................. 3Tourism/Hospitality............................................................................................................................................5Bioscience/Healthcare....................................................................................................................................... 6Emerging Tech Companies............................................................................................................................... 8Agriculture/Food Production..........................................................................................................................9Construction/Skilled Trades.........................................................................................................................11

Discussion Notes - All Groups........................................................................................................ 13What Success Looks Like................................................................................................................................ 13Promising Opportunities................................................................................................................................ 29What’s Needed..................................................................................................................................................... 43

Appendix A: Meeting Agendas and Ground Rules...................................................................56

Appendix B: Roundtable Attendance.......................................................................................... 58

© 2016 Eastern Maine Development Corporation. All Rights Reserved

About the Roundtables

The Re-Engineering the Region is an initiative of Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC), Mobilize Eastern Maine, and the Bangor Region Development Alliance (BRDA). The goal of the initiative is to develop a strategy to support economic growth and stability in a region severely impacted by shifting and disappearing economies. As part of the initiative, industry representatives were invited to a series of 7 roundtable discussions on June 3 and 4, 2015, in Bangor, to discuss questions such as:

What needs to happen in order to re-engineer the economy of the region? What do promising industries need in order to grow? What single things can be done to help multiple industries?

The roundtables were organized around the following sectors:

1. Boat Building/Composites2. Forestry/Wood Products3. Tourism/Hospitality4. Bioscience/Healthcare5. Emerging Tech Companies6. Agriculture/Food Production7. Construction/Skilled Trades

The roundtable meetings were professionally facilitated by Craig Freshley and Kerri Sands of Good Group Decisions. During each meeting, key ideas were written on paper and organized on the wall, and facilitators also captured a summary of themes on the screen.

See Appendix for sample agenda, ground rules, and list of attendees.

Re-Engineering the Region Roundtable Discussions, June 3-4, 2015 1Report prepared by Good Group Decisions

Overall Themes

While many ideas were unique to each group discussion, there were a few ideas that consistently surfaced throughout the different groups about critical factors for the region’s economic success. We are calling these the overall or “cross-cutting” themes:

Collaboration and partnershipso Among businesseso Among the private, public, and education sectors

Promotion of the Maine brand: quality workmanship and a strong work ethic Promotion of the region’s opportunities

o Highly skilled and innovative work is happening hereo A fun, healthy place to live

Skilled, educated workforce High-speed internet access Expanded public transportation options between Bangor and larger hubs Business mentorship for entrepreneurs

Themes by Group

During each meeting, facilitator Craig Freshley captured a written summary of themes on screen, and key ideas were also written on paper and organized on the wall.

Boat Building/Composites

Themes

Collaborationo Among business leaderso Business with higher education institutionso Business with government

Develop small specialized home-grown businesses to serve other businesses People with passion and expertise, wherever they are from, are highly valued

Key Ideas

Success Factors

Mentorship and encouragement Partnership with Community College Nimble

Financing assistance Skilled labor Investment willingness


Technical assistance Ready buyer Not getting wildly into debt Work with competitors for the benefit

of the industry People creating their own jobs in their

own industries

Hard work City assistance with property

development University of Maine partnership On-the-job learning Good product at a fair price

Promising Opportunities

Sell ourselves as an industry Brunswick technologies as

aggregators Displaced millworkers Specialized machining Electricians Water jet cutting

3D printing Small service providers/contractors High-tech heavy equipment servicing Diversification in boat building IP development Bucksport

What’s Needed

Learning economyo Nimble curriculumo Apprenticeshipso University Customer Pull

Workers with skills or willingness to learn

Better roads

Recruitment of young people Motivated people with special

expertise Attitude and passion Brand “Maine built boats” Sales/markets Space

Forestry/Wood Products

Themes

Success Factorso Re-investment in plant infrastructureo Research AS a business in itselfo Partnership with the University

Expertise Financing Graduates with engineering degrees

o Meeting customer demand Customer relations Knowing what customers want

o Collaborative relationships and networks among businesses


What’s Neededo Promotion

To young people that job opportunities in wood are innovative Public education about the value of wood

It’s wood, fiber, and chemicals We are sustainable harvesters

o New product development as a habito Connecting specialty products to marketso Protect the wood supplyo Positive attitude about ourselveso Lower energy costso Maine branding

Key Ideas

Success Factors

Re-invest in the physical plant Innovative materials handling and

transportation Research itself as a business

o Making connectionso Collaborationso Relationships

Partnership with the university

o Expertiseo Fundingo Workforce

Specializationo Finding niche markets

Learn and meet what customers want Highly-focused customer relationships Branding re: Maine working forests


Promote ourselves New product development as a habit Custom, case-by-case manufacturing Partnerships, collaborations,

clustering

Collaborative marketing (The Maine brand)

Shared export logistics Shared innovation Shared access to capital

What’s Needed

Positive attitude about ourselves Educate young people: Wood is new

and innovative Lower energy costs Protect the wood supply Improved infrastructure Public education - the value of wood

Educate that jobs in wood are innovative

Consider more than just wood, also: fiber and chemicals

Promote ourselves as sustainable harvesters


Tourism/Hospitality

Themes

Key is branding not just the state, but within Maineo And not just lobsters and lighthouses

Workforce supply is keyo Seasonally and year roundo Good wages are key to worker retention

At local level, lack of resources is a challengeo It’s a challenge to integrate statewide efforts with local efforts

Tension between working forest and recreationo What will be the future handshake between forest land owners and the tourism

industry Success factors

o Public-private partnershipso Risk takingo Diversity of businesses working togethero Regional identity as “an arts corridor”

What’s Neededo National and regional brandingo Heritage and place-based tourismo Better use of technologyo Pride in what we do

Key Ideas

Success Factors

Infrastructure - hotels Bangor infrastructure supporting the

region A great product experience Great stories Unique products/expertise Think broadly

o Embrace diverse opportunitieso Embrace diverse partners

Sum of the parts supported by prudent risk taking

Single large investment: the casino Visitors recognize Bangor as a hub Risks: Building appetite for culture

and the arts New businesses launched by existing

businesses Public-private partnership Millennial entrepreneurs Downtown workers Collaboration among organizations Emphasize the value of quality of life



Co-marketing shows and events Can-Am games Make more of moose and Katahdin Farm-to-plate experience Make grand opportunities digestible

to families Make more of heritage

o Develop heritage sites and access to such sites

National park Create perception that Collins and

University of Maine are part of Bangor Maine Sports Commission Bike trails Market as a healthy region Brand Moosehead Lake Our Katahdin (to address education) Marketing through social media

What’s Needed

Good schools Regional prioritization Support hospitality schools and

curriculum Guides:

o Birding o Brook trout o Moose

National branding of Maine and the region

Youth Pride in what we do Better use of technology Outside of Bangor

o Places to eat, sleep and shop Protect what we have

Bioscience/Healthcare

Themes

The region has valuable assetso Anchor institutions

JAX MDI BL EMHS St. Joseph’s U. Maine

o High concentration of students and facultyo Bangor is a happening placeo Expertise in healthcare management

Opportunitieso Brand our region as “healthy”o STEM conferences and education

Key success factorso Capital investment


o Leadershipo Infrastructure

IT Facilities Transportation

o Favorable public policyo Skilled workerso Critical mass

We need a cultural shifto Awareness about opportunities hereo Toward innovation and entrepreneurshipo We don’t rely on paper mills so much anymoreo Higher aspirations

Key Ideas

Success Factors

How we measure success: patient to population outcomes

Focus on prevention and personal responsibility

Youth groups working with hospitals Sharing best practices UPS and FedEx Work through new channels Collaborate with courier services Sharing information about customers Patient focus

Concentrate on serving customer needs (painless)

Very helpful landlord Access to IT infrastructure State bond funding for research

infrastructure Good leadership Steady income from NIH Capital investment matched with

government sources Other sources of revenue

o Other customers


Brand us as “healthy” Bangor is a “happening place” Help young entrepreneurs scale up Help unemployed/displaced/retired

with start-ups Existing institutions in the region Genetics analysis cluster

Community health needs assessment Greatest concentration of students in

the state STEM Education Conferences at Jackson Laboratory

and MDI Biological Laboratory Mill closures

What’s Needed


Educated workers Need a critical mass of institutions More awareness of the opportunities

here Favorable public policy

o Invest in Biotech

o Long-term planning Cultural shift to innovation and

entrepreneurship Funding and expertise to access

funding High speed internet as a utility Public transportation

Emerging Tech Companies

Success Factorso Broadband/High Speed Internet Accesso Mentors and other professional connectionso University of Maine and other Higher Education Institutions

Partnerships Interns

o Partnerships with municipalities are key IT Champions Funding Policy

What’s neededo Broadband/High Speed Internet Accesso Connections with each other

Knowing that each other exists and what we all do “Drafting” each other down a predictable development pipeline

o Promotion to students There IS opportunity here to work in high tech

o Funding For the last mile For broadband development For capitalization of company growth

Key Ideas

Success Factors

University partnerships Small companies spinning off small

companies Contracting for services from national

companies One large need served as the catalyst

Municipalities with vision and leadership

Grow our own talent at the University of Maine

Maine quality of life as an attraction for top experts


Local investment Connections to right mentors and

expertise University of Maine resources Three-ring binder

Connect Maine - new law Need/motivation Broadband Knowledgeable IT people in

municipalities and communities


Municipal planning and development leads broadband

Broadband leads private investment in Maine towns

Educate municipalities about the need and opportunities

Current momentum re: broadband public awareness

University gaming products Three-ring binder last mile More funding for broadband

development Some municipalities are leading by

example

What’s Needed

Distribution channels Educate young people about the

opportunities We need to know about each other More collaboration within education Internship opportunities More mentoring and educating and

encouraging students

Fiber optic infrastructure Last mile solutions exist - funding Public transportation with wi-fi Sharing crowd funding needs A pipeline for business development

(drafting) Resources to help companies “take

off”

Agriculture/Food Production

Themes

Opportunitieso Emerging popularity and interest in local food

Young farmers “Natural” “Local” Community identity – valuing local food Favorable public policy

o Food Hubso Land and farmers

Needso Facilities


Cold storage Processing/ Value-added Investment to finance them

Public-private partnershipo Access to internet technologyo Technical expertiseo Marketingo Patience and persistence

Success Factors

New relationships between consumers and food

Connection with producer closer to the market

Aligning with a famous person Not giving up Incremental Growth

Great product Public policy Public funding Access to technology Word of mouth We have the land base


Regional food hubs Access to technology “Local” and “Natural” New and young farmers

o A national leader

o A growing workforce Food as a community value Food security - traceable food Value-added opportunities

What’s Needed

Market the Maine brand Attitude shift

o Business mindseto Confidence

Breaking the institution price barrier Immigration policy Food entrepreneurs Cold storage shared facility Access to technology Local grain production Grain processing Grain processing expertise

Promote “natural” rather than “organic”

Technical expertiseo How to scale upo Food scienceo Food safetyo Federal law implementationo Financial business expertise

More meat processing facilities Investment capital Tax breaks for agricultural land use


Construction/Skilled Trades

Themes

Things we haveo High quality workers leading to productivity and technical prowess

Strong work ethic Specialized expertise Employee buy-in Innovative Available paper industry displaced workers

o U. Maine and Technical Education providers Things we could do

o Document and promote our authentic work ethico Encourage young people into the trades and into high tech jobso Help with recruitment for management and specialized jobs

Business leaders helping business leaders General promotion of the Bangor region Improvement of downtown Bangor – continuing revitalization

o Readiness to serve for manufacturers Facilities available Good management-worker environment

o Education and training Small business management training Prepare future workers to replace upcoming retirees

Key Ideas

Success Factors

Work ethic Skilled and efficient workers Workers from the paper industry University of Maine engineering

graduates

Deep technical expertise Employee ownership and buy-in High quality employees Worker retention


Promote Maine’s authentic work ethic Shortage of people going into the

tradeso There’s money to be made on

small jobs

Apprentice programming Increased global appetite for

electricity Machine tool technical education Revive downtown buildings


What’s Needed

Future qualified workers Help market the Bangor area for top

management recruitment Improve impression of management-

worker relations More flights to/from Boston and

Bangor

Business leaders helping other leaders with recruitment

Competitive business recruitmento Prep spaceo Readiness to serve

Small business management training


Discussion Notes - All Groups

What Success Looks Like

Facilitator Craig Freshley asked each group these questions:

What does success look like?

In other words,

What are some examples of really impressive business growth and what factors contributed to those?

o What supply-chain relationships were critical?o What infrastructure was critical?o Who were the key players and what roles did they play?

What were other critical success factors? What are the lessons learned (what works and what doesn’t work)?

The following comments were captured:


Relationships with other boatbuilding companieso We began a relationship with Hinckley and now we are building components for

them Helps support their growth Helped us add 5 jobs

Assistance from EMDC PineTree zone saved on taxes Able to build new facility

o State-subsidized consultant supported design of new facility Can still find coastal and riverfront properties We have been a “rich” and an “un-rich” company

o We were on the ropes in 2011 and the future looked bleako We picked up an owner who wanted to invest in Maine and in quality work o Given our history, our brand remained strongo We dug our way out and have tripled our sales

A critical factor is finding a pool of skilled labor o Tough to bring new folks in

EMCC has been a key playero Partnership on DOL grant


o Worked with them to start a fine woodworking and cabinet program and keep it alive

Trains for a diversity of jobs Sign building Cabinets Boats

Our company is part of a group that steers the curriculumo Graduates of program have over 90% placement rateo Seems odd that 200-yr old industry doesn’t have a place in the state education

system What about the education system’s need to be nimble and support new product lines

and manufacturing while still being responsive to established needs? o Nimble education is requiredo We need to offer recognized national certifications for specific vocationso Those types of certifications require staying current with technologyo What was a “mechanic” in the past is now a “technician” today - these are very

technical industries How important is it to establish our region as a learning economy and to help

institutions pivot between established curriculum and being nimble and doing on-the-job training?

o The programs are very well establishedo What we need is enhancement so we can serve hands-on tech needs of day to

day operationso So students can get exposed to an industry before committingo A chance for the industry to see what’s needed in education

Apprenticeships are a plus but it’s very tough to meet the requirements - administrative burdens, limitations on skills or areas of work

Higher education is business tooo There are students -- customers -- who want degrees from EMCC but they aren’t

aware of what industries want, so they are pursuing more general studieso There needs to be more customer pullo We need more education at the middle and high school levels to show what the

opportunities are Like the kids who are more exposed to cars and “get” mechanical

engineering through osmosiso Schools are marketing to the labor force

Need to do more work at the education level to achieve technical skillso There is a gap - great job opportunities that don’t fit with any of the university

curriculums Success looks different for different businesses

o In 1977 we had 4 employees and now we have 65o That’s a long period for slow, fairly steady growth

We remained profitable over that periodo That may not be “impressive” business growth but it’s one way to do it


Part of long term expansion is not getting wildly into debt Offer a good product at a fair price

o That comes from management and employeeso You’ve got to have good workers

Many of our employees are not native Mainerso They moved here because of what Maine represents - the way of life, a smaller

community Do workers who deliberately move here bring skills with them or do they just bring a

willingness to learn the craft?o A mix - some are already skilled, others learnedo On the job training from one craftsman to the next

Community colleges provide some help with materials testing and development - to prove to owners and buyers that new materials are viable options

Geography of Maine is difficulto Hard to find great workerso Many travel a long distance every dayo Hard to recruit natives

We had space, expertise, money, and a marketo We had three owners, with expertise in boat building, composites, and finance

City of Belfast was a big factor in our successo We wanted to use a property with an abandoned sardine factory o There were liens and encumbrances on the propertyo The city owned a strip of land through the middle of the propertyo Initially the city’s approach was that there were too many permits, applications,

etc. for us to open in 6 monthso They changed their mind on these things; they believed in us and got behind us

and worked with us to make it happen faster - they were a huge help We have drawn on the resource of the U. Maine Advanced Structure and Composite

Centero Most of our employees came through thereo We watch what they are doingo Emphasis is more on technical engineering and design, less on product

manufacturingo The engineering expertise helps us get more contractso We are anticipating workforce problems as we grow into manufacturing

Hard work Building professional management skills by being on staff at the Advanced Structure

and Composite Center Examples of markets for engineering work

o US based customerso US Armyo Looking heavily at international markets


There is probably a role for workforce and wage jobs, but it’s more about people creating their own jobs and business opportunities

o Wage jobs are probably not creating the futureo We hear people say “I figured out a way” o We need to train people to create their own jobs and be entrepreneurs

Ability to work directly with competitors for betterment of the industryo This is unusual for industrieso In the Front Street example, all 3 owners are competitors but came together for

an opportunityo For all the businesses here today, the owners have stepped up to help others

solve challengeso This is a real advantage

Cross pollination between commercial and non commercial entitieso Municipal, industry and University entities worked together to help change

Coast Guard opinion and standards on aluminum - they are now accepting composites


The sawmill business is still very strongo Though some tough times with the housing markets in 2008

You don’t survive if you don’t put money into your millo New mill owners sell off assets rather than investingo You will never take any money out of the business if you don’t keep reinvesting

Need commitments from large companieso Ashland area revival example:

Irving built a new sawmill Employs 100 people Produces spruce dimension lumber for DIY market Produces 600 ft. per minute

o Power plant back upo Maibec bought old Fraser mill in Masardis

For an old company we have a lot of modern equipmento Computerized grading system from Finlando Grades 3 boards per second, counts the knots, figures the value, trims, and sorts

into 80 different categories Safe Handling example in Auburn

o Takes advantage of volume required for forest industryo Not just wood, but many other supplies required by millso Provides material to mills efficientlyo Takes solid materials that are expensive to ship, brings them to Auburn by rail

and then ships over the road from there - saves mills lots of money


o Higher concentration: more opportunities for other services to be involved We need to appreciate that research is a business

o Process Development Center at University Employs 10 people, they are not paid from the University base budget It is bringing revenue to Maine Clients come from all over the world; they could go anywhere We need to maintain this capacity in order to be competitive

o And keep bringing research dollars here, that’s how we build knowledge Everyone has a piece of the knowledge but the Process Development

Center people have all the knowledgeo Help people understand that we compete like a business to bring in the revenue

- it’s not subsidizedo Forest bioproducts research

We bring in federal government research contracts Currently: $1 million that will be spent on Maine in research

Why Maine for research?o Collaborative team adds valueo Relationships

We have relationships with wood suppliers (lot owners) and users (mills) and the University

o We provide context and network they couldn’t get on their own University is a good partner

o What they provide Expertise Problem solving

We [business owners] are tiny but they never make us feel that way

We form deep lasting relationships with professors Our business provided oars for a casino, and the contract had been

cancelled but the University helped us test and develop a new product for that customer

Finance AMC - Advanced Manufacturing Center Helped us secure MTI grant for a CNC machine

Personnel We hire METs, they are fantastic, they are usually ready after their

sophomore year We have been approached to move our company, but we would

never find this elsewhere We can compete with overseas companies on specialty products

o We paint in 90 different patterns They won’t do that in China, or out west at the giant ponderosa pine

millso Create a “handshake” between the specialty products market and manufactures


Get out of the mindset of making what YOU want - talk to customers and find out what THEY want

We spend a lot of time talking to our customers Like someone starting a restaurant: Don’t make the menu around

what YOU want unless you plan to go and pay to eat there seven nights a week

Don’t just decide to make whatever you want to make We need to serve customers so well that they can’t afford to go anywhere else

o Recent example of purchasing a table - company offered to build any color you wanted, mix and match chairs, switch out the legs, etc.

o It is no longer the case that we make a truckload of all the same product. We customize, and give them what they want.

Please explain your specialty products: cow shoes, brain boards, and ice cream bucketso We make cow shoes because one day a guy called and asked

We sell to the dairy industry in California They have found that cows with sore feet stop producing milk Shoes help raise and protect their feet

o We still make some ice cream buckets We used to make staves and barrels - that’s how we started We were supplying to and out of state production company, and when

they had trouble paying, we went directly to their buyer ourselves and said we could make the whole bucket

What are the cycles for forest products - the number of uses for wood compared to 20-30 years ago?

o We have used wood for lots of products for a long time, but the products themselves change

o Often it depends on competitive products For example, when oil prices are high, you use wood to substitute for oil-

based products When oil prices are low, you shift wood to other things

o Wood products as an energy source, for example, is not new, but it comes and goes

o People who are looking for opportunities can take advantage of pricing

Tourism/Hospitality

City of Bangor - examples of “infrastructure wins”o New hotels being built based on an industry going well (entertainment - casino,

Cross Insurance Center, Waterfront Concerts)o This pushes out to surrounding communities

People are using this area as a hub People are spending more time inland Conventions are coming to this area


Benchmarks like RFPso The number of RFPs generated through the Convention and Visitors Bureau - I

get as many in a month as I used to get in a whole yearo RFPs are an invitation to business

The single most important contributor to the increase in RFPs is product - we have something to sell

o The Cross Center replaced a 50-year-old civic centero In 20 months we have doubled the number of events using the previous building

It’s not a product, it’s an experienceo Mainers are unusual and eclectico My wine is not a product, it’s an experience

It comes with a passion, a drive It comes with service, with personality

An “experience” comes with a storyo One very successful example is Fiore Artisan Olive Oils - it’s the story behind ito I attended a tasting, and I don’t even like olive oil but I left with $50 of product

Bangor region’s success is the sum of the parts, supported by prudent but aggressive risk taking, and a focus on entertainment: Casino, concerts, Cross Center

o Then people decided they were going to start building hotelso The investment in the casino threw off tax revenues to support the building of

the Cross Centero It took time, it took advocates to convince otherso It took public private partnerships

For a long time Bangor has been considered a hub, but in reality it was a way-station. It really is a hub now. One hour to the coast, to the north, to the western mountains.

o Visitors are really seeing this nowo Visitors can get service and entertainment here

An appetite for cultural and musical eventso Looking back, 40 years ago, there was not much here culturallyo There was the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Penobscot Theatre, and Maine

Center for the Artso Then we got the Folk Festival and the waterfront concertso This all came at the same time the phrase “creative economy” came into vogueo We came together with arts and restaurantso It started with someone having an idea and taking a risk

Growth of microbreweries, and artisanal food businesseso Fiore example - they sourced from local growers in Italy and infused their own

flavors There is definitely a market for this There is an appetite for uniqueness

Things you can’t find in other places Things crafted by hand It’s about the experience


o Microbreweries sometimes grow out of other businesses, part of a restaurant Proper use of natural resources made a huge difference here

o River used to be used as a dumping ground The age of people in downtown Bangor is remarkably young

o The ages of participants in symphony, etc. are oldero The ages of waterfront concert goers are youngero We have a unique blendo Young people renting downtown apartmentso Entrepreneurial millennials are impacting downtown

The University of Maine system moving downtown puts “lunch bodies” on Center Street Every example of success has an element of public private partnership

o I have never lived or worked anywhere with so much collaboration Bangor Region Leadership Institute Fusion group Maine Office of Tourism Chamber Convention and Visitors Bureau

o We have some groups willing to give their time to move these things forward Success in Bangor has been born of collaboration from nonprofits, business, municipal

o In Millinocket, relationships with large private landowners has been positive but largely coincidental

o Now we need to be more methodical about where to place visitorso People don’t want to come and wander around on their own in the woodso We need to create experiences for them somewhere

What the tourism industry offers is why others bring their industries here in the first place

o Many people, on their first visit to the state, see nice communities and natural resources and great brewpubs - why wouldn’t you want to live here or bring your business here?

Bangor’s success is based on a diversity of experienceo Hockey, retail, entertainmento As you move farther away from Bangor you find that communities and

industries just focused on one thing For example, place might all about agriculture but not food tourism Same with wood

o We need to be more schizophrenico Some industries tolerate but don’t embrace other uses or focuses for their

resourceo We could do so much more about collectively working together to move things

forward If you want to attract entertainers, you need to have quality places to stay and eat

o Farm to Table across all elements of hospitality


o A holistic experience, not “I went rafting, which was great, but everything else was terrible”


In the hospital and laboratory world, it’s outcomes for patientso Fee-for-service forced success to be based on volumeo Now we are morphing success into patient health and that is morphing into

population healtho Of course, still having a good bottom line to continue to support our serviceso This involves risk, because the reimbursement system has not kept up with

these new definitions of success i.e. How many times do we keep you from having to use the ER

Incentives to be healthyo The bottom line and employee health are alignedo We have a large employee population at a self insured business and we wanted a

employee health programo We put out an RFP to the whole state and found a wide variety of prices

statewideo Now, St. Joseph’s has a presence on our campuso Has resulted in no health care financial increase for us in last 5 years and at the

same time double digit decreases in all the major factors of chronic health Focus on prevention Focus on personal responsibility

Because reimbursement models require risk for us [hospitals] to participate - meaning, we lower the fee for service payments and we get some of it back not all - collaborating with a private business to provide services gives us another channel for revenue

Healthcare reform has opened up new collaborative opportunitieso For example, courier serviceso We [diagnostic lab] launched a joint venture with Eastern Maine when we

realized we were chasing each other across the stateo There are probably even more opportunities to think creatively

ACOs - seeing youth groups work with hospitalso Healthier babieso Smoking cessationo Hopefully leads to healthier communityo Pushed into these models for financial reasons but benefits are much broader

Sharing health information via technologyo Example: Beacon Health model

Began as a national grant to improve outcomes via health IT Organizations shared patient health information with each other After three years it became project of EMHS


MDI, Maine Coast, St Joe’s are still part of it You get rewarded for how much money you don’t spend Goal is to improve overall population outcomes In our industry, data rules

Would it work elsewhere? Depends on how much they share customers In health care, one patient needs to go to multiple places to access

their services If were chasing patients around the services there was likely

duplication because we weren’t sharing For employers, there are great opportunities to embrace this model

Has impact in terms ofo Sick timeo Lost work timeo A parent with 2 kids who were out of school all the time

due to asthma has not missed a day now that we have a care coordinator

Introducing competition into the market means that now what drives you is quality care

o All hospitals who want to improve are making the patient front and centero Beacon helped with

Money Collaboration

There is opportunity to brand this part of the state in terms of culture changeso Great serviceso We are healthier hereo Instead of worrying about aging, we could celebrate our aging population and

develop and test improvements in health care systems here Along with making this an attractive place to retire and grow older

Best practices lead to successo All of us are surveyedo We have set standards, and if we are not up to par, the surveyor will say, “Have

you looked at what so-and-so is doing?”o It’s a pain but it makes a big difference in terms of quality

Community Health Needs Assessmentso Citizens, community leaders, public health leaders, and hospital leaders

participateo If an agency wants to go for a grant about diabetes, there’s lots of data availableo Free and available data - market researcho Measurement is important in terms of attracting funding

We are still an early stage start up o We concentrate on serving the needs of customerso We provide something they absolutely need

So that they don’t have to change any of their methodologies


o We want it to be painless for the customer and we want them not to worry whether the results are correct

o We adapt to them, they don’t have to adapt to uso Our customers are academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies

We offer genotyping of genetically modified organisms Now for animals, soon for food Perhaps for the brewery industry

What drove stating the company in this region?o All the partners of the company were previously at Jackson Labso You can serve the world from Bangor

As long as FedEx and UPS who will deliver round the clocko All our data is the cloud, not housed here in Maine - so being in Maine doesn’t

affect our customers being able to see their data “Regular” internet is fine

o Being here in Bangor has been helpful The BanAir Corporation has been very helpful We are in one of their facilities - great low rent

Not “pretty” but that’s fine because we don’t have storefront customers

We were a seasonal marine lab station, primarily attracting research scientists in the summer

o That model wasn’t working anymore so we launched a new strategic plan to recruit full time faculty

o We raised $160 million from philanthropic, state, and federal sourceso We now have 65 full time employeeso Students come to our lab with their professors o 2-3 success factors:

IT infrastructure Big Pipe initiative Having access to advanced info tech

Research facilities Via state bond funding You need those to recruit cutting edge scientists

Good leadership Nonprofit model with a fantastic revenue stream that gets pumped back into operating

budget $300 million that mostly comes from out of state Ability to slow growth and weather the storm

o Many customers use National Institute of Health funds to purchase our mice, and during the recession those funds were less available

Maine Technology Asset Fundo Ability to leverage capital investmento Got us over the hump for jobs and facilities that wouldn’t have happened if we

had to do it all on our own


Looking outside traditional modelso Dahl-Chase has started processing teeth of deer and bear for the State

Maine Fish and Wildlife needs this to age the animalso This service was taking forever when provided by other labs in other stateso They came to us, and now we are the “teeth specialists” - word is getting aroundo It was in our skill set already to process the samples


Have been making video games for 20 yearso Was part of developing a game called Myst which ultimately made $400 million

dollars and sold 14 million copies (after I was no longer affiliated!) It was a great model for doing indie games It grew into a fairly large company That experience led me to go into other companies

o In Utah, a university partnership created the technology to seed other small game companies

Big companies were eventually attracted Grew into a hub in Salt Lake City, a cluster of developers sharing

expertise Started with one or two and then other companies spun off

Web-based software company on target to double growth in next 2 years. What happened 4-5 years ago to contribute to this growth:

o Connecting with the right mentors Part-time CFO who helped us look at financials

Prior to that our business felt sort of random With help we were able to project into future and look at larger

projects, and longer lead timeo Critical connections to other expertise

How connections are madeo Strong Maine University system

In particular, the innovation area IMRC - Innovative Media Research and Commercialization Prototyping Advance Composites and Technologies

Living right in Orono, the University is not a secret, but for some it feels inaccessible. Would like to encourage other entrepreneurs to see what’s there.

IT services in Bangor have changedo There has been a big influx in contract services from national contractorso It used to be that we [small businesses] could never service WalMart, Sears,

Home Depot, etc. Now those services are being contracted out rather than done in house.


o The retailers work with national contractors who then subcontract down to local service providers

o We now support half the stores in the Mall - that wasn’t even a possibility a few years ago

We physical run cables to terminals, Wi-Fi points, hardware, and we design configuration, etc.

o And the money is coming from outside How we got noticed

o Via an online networking platform for IT services An online work order system, almost like a highly concentrated LinkedIn Service providers put profiles up We were the only ones there at the time We are three years old and it is exciting that we have made it this far

In our rural market, we have a product that is able to compete with existing tech - we can deploy effectively and cost-competitively

Cellular Satellite

o Many of our customers work from home for both in- and out-of-state corporations

What prompted start up of AiroCommo We were doing IT for a Moosehead area customer who was trying to sell

properties to out-of-state people who wanted high-speed NOWo A light bulb went on about how key ultra speed broadband is in rural areaso Through that customer, we started the investmento We are trying to build the business case to get to that market

30 MBPS download speed and 50 MBPS upload, predominately wireless but also fiber where needed

A mix of towers and rooftops We don’t do residential houses Everything is commercial based - because we know that we can support

the infrastructure 24 hours a day o We are getting to Greenville; the Three-Ring Binder was a kick off

The deployment of rural broadband tracks with economic activityo Municipalities with a very clear vision of what they want and where there is a lot

of determination - those municipalities tend to succeed Another success factors is leadership in each community - a tax expert or a selectperson

as a champion When we help municipalities plan a rural broadband solution we help them look for

funding:o MTI cluster initiativeso The Connect Maine bill will be helpful for planningo There is federal money available through the Rural Utilities Service for

implementation


With low population density it is very difficult to get private investment, that’s why it’s incumbent on municipalities to take the initiative

o It is critical for governments to take a leado The more energy a community has, the more fed up with their current

broadband they are, the more they seek help and are determined to do whatever if takes

o That then helps attract new residents to the community We always need help from leadership in municipalities, and local IT individuals who are

gung ho and capable of advocating and able to communicating to the communityo Knowledgeable IT people in a community who have the passion for improving

their community Access to people [workers]

o There is not a talent pool in state for game design I am starting to grow my own talent, using U Maine labs to run classes

Students come from Husson to work in the IT company Most employees have some knowledge but still need to be trained Doing okay hiring students with some experience, but there are challenges with

attracting top-tier talent, with deep experienceo There are a few people who are attracted to Maine and attracted to this region

Found them by hunting on LinkedIn Maybe they had a little connection to Maine But mostly attracted to natural beauty, quality of life, slower pace Allows workers to be more thoughtful about their life, and we allow a lot

of that in our company Being disaggregated - that’s a success factor

o 25% of staff in Maine Access to customers and markets

o Some companies have been successful connecting to markets outside of Maineo But they need distribution and marketing channels to reach customers

Need help connecting with OEM type manufacturers [original equipment manufacturers who make parts or subsystems]

o Most “tech people” coming out of the University - their customers are not in Maine


Consumers have a changing relationship to foodo They want to know where it’s from, who grows ito Local is the buzzword

Success is about “just not quitting”o When starting up, every year the numbers of things that drive you crazy just

keep growing


o Growing responsibility for making the salsa, driving it to stores, picking up the tomatoes, leaving other people to make the salsa

Having a great product, a great recipe Be “hands on, face on” with your customers, sampling

o I went everywhere I was invitedo Introduced myself to new people, brought samples of salsa

Word of mouth and sampling A relationship with David Ortiz

o Allowed the food to be sold more widelyo Never considered what it meant to go from accessing a few thousand people

from Blue Hill to accessing millions of people with David Ortiz Volume!

Local, state, and federal policy is a major factoro Policy that leads directly to funding or grant programs

For food hubs For farm viability

Access to technologyo The web is now your storefront, especially for so many people in rural areas

A good example: Monica’s Chocolates in Lubec Sells mostly out of state Employs 7 people

GPS technology has been a success to help farmers plant their fields For meat processing, lack of other processors drives business to the existing processors Investing in the capacity to produce a top quality product, then processing it

o For example, selling frozen and vacuum packed meat direct to the customer Add value to everything we do Diversify and vertically integrate

o We do compost, meat cutting and processing, hay, corn silage, grain, Team Penning events

o We have a full line of equipment Customer service

o Having custom orders all ready to goo Two thirds of Barry’s sales come from within 50 miles

Most people come and pick up Market “local and natural”

o One small meat market in Belfast - they deliver to homes and restaurantso They are marketing local and natural

Lots of people come from the coasto Some restaurants tooo Taking transportation out of the equation

Sell to wholesale accounts at retail price Food Bank’s Mainers feeding Mainers program - triple focus on:

o Ending hunger o Increasing nutrition available in the state


o Increasing employment o Purchases from farms and distributes through partner agencies

Last year we purchased 1 million pounds and farmers donated 1 million pounds of food

Put $500,000 into Maine economy Food hubs - recently developed one in Unity At Maple Lane Farms we have beat all our business plan projections

o Currently we have 22 people on the payroll, and we hire up to 35 during the busy season

We have water for irrigation and confidence in getting produce - vs. disruptive activities in the west


Work ethic and skill of peopleo We are under pressure to be closer to the customero We have no customers nearby but we are here anywayo We have to be better than the competition and better than our sister plant

Downturn of paper industry has contributed talent University of Maine engineering program GE came to Bangor for worker productivity

o Work ethic is best in class Lean manufacturing Deep technical expertise

o We can do things here that other plants can’t do There is a culture of ownership of work processes

o Workers invented a better way to finish the process of turbine assembly They turned 12 hours of backbreaking work with a hammer into 20

minutes with hydraulicso The workers took initiative to conceive this

We are competing with other plants globallyo We are not the lowest cost, but we have great technical abilities o We perfect a technique, then it gets exported

It’s all about the peopleo Many of them are long term employees, 25-30 yearso We are not the cheapest, but do our best for the customero Quality is part of our work ethico Our people have years of experienceo For home renovators, clients must feel comfortable enough to have our workers

in their home It is productivity and technical prowess that keeps our plants competitive How can we shape and document the message about the Maine work ethic so that

people take notice?


o Some of our best workers grew up in logging or lobstering or working on a farm. The work ethic was built in from a really early age.

o At our sister plant in Virginia, the region has a history and traditions of furniture making (like the paper industry here), logging and farming, but the region does NOT have the same work ethic

Are there metrics that can be shared from manufacturing companies to help build the message about Maine and would that resonate with a site locator?

o Yes, though it’s hard to compare apples to appleso GE’s leaders would agree that there is probably no cost advantage to staying

here other than the workerso Somic has data about how worker retention is much higher in Maineo GE has almost no turnover at its plant

This is a cost reduction issue - a big factor There are strong work ethics in other states too, but in Maine people also run their own

business on the sideo They know what goes into it




What are the promising opportunities?

In other words,

What are the “weak signals” in the region that have the potential to grow into strong economic engines?

Where are the nuggets of opportunity? What seedlings are most worthy of nurture? What type of businesses could/should be attracted to the region to expand the

sectors opportunities?



Learn by visiting other companies There are regions and countries that sell themselves every strongly

o Portugal is known for tool and die businesseso Finland and the Netherlands are good exampleso They pull together and market themselves; they have brandso The individual boat brand logos are recognized internationally, but but we need

to promote and perpetuate our reputations as Maine boat builderso Examples in Maine

Maine International Trade Center Maine Marine Trade Association

But we don’t focus on marketing, we focus on addressing regulations

Some compelling reasons that brought owners together was the need for more space and our own small scale

o The property we owned for our own yards was really small and we were coming up against physical limits, there was no place else to expand

o We talked for a while about trying to buy a bigger spaceo Then someone retired from another shop and we both wanted to grab him but

were each too small to hire himo We felt that based on our clientele, if we worked together we could put a larger

space to worko Then we would have capacity to work on larger boats that we previously

couldn’t, and we could hire the people we wanted


Potential to spin off new composite industries? Raw materials is a commodity market but can you apply intellectual property and create a new enterprise that creates composites for a particular sector?

o The entrepreneur is key in all success storieso We try to minimize risk but it’s challenging overall - sometimes we still wonder

if we will be open next month or noto There is a lot of opportunity

Albany Engineered Composites, in New Hampshire, is taking their top talent and building turbine fans for GE airplanes

They are working at high end tech products If Maine could grab or develop something like that in state, the

opportunity is enormouso Safran in New Hampshire is experiencing fast growtho Fiber Materials in Biddeford is under new ownership

There are example of manufacturing development in Aroostook, that when they started, there was nothing there

We need precision machining to supply metal fabrication, for boats and all industrieso Mid State Machine is an exampleso There are lots of things we are now able to precision manufacture in

components - those shops can’t do that There are lots of industries moving over to composites

o Wind industryo Bicycleso Firearmso We should work with the University to identify needs

Opportunity for smaller shops that provide subcontracted materials or skillso We are not big enough to have our own electronics division

By the way, electricians and electronics are two different industrieso Same with metal working, water jet cuttingo We are using local companies more and more o This ties into 3-D design throughout industries - allows everyone to work from

the same page 3-D printing on materials such as titanium is crazy expensive, but that will change Advanced engines and mechanics

o We need businesses who can service new high-tech industrial machineso Not just marine engines, but logging and heavy equipment o High level of technology required for woodyards and land management these

days - witnessed a recent logging machine breakdown and the manager said “there is no one in this state who can service this piece of equipment”

Composite businesses: Do you fabricate on site or are you doing more intellectual property work? In other words how do the inputs work? Is there a part of the supply chain that we could be recruiting to come here?

o There is a virtual monopoly on materials - fiberglass and resin Composites One has bought out a lot of competitors


We have seen prices increase dramatically Many materials are petroleum based - we see the prices skyrocket but

then they don’t settle downo We order pre-manufactured materials from third party suppliers, in bulk

Rolls of fabrics and foams We trim and cut We are a super small niche compared to others - no leverage regarding

priceso Yes, we have some intellectual property

On the engineering side; how we design and simulate events Our strength is internal knowledge, not patents

Should we build part of the composites supply industry here?o We are such a small part of composites in the boatbuilding industryo It would not make senseo There is not enough value added for it to be home growno Materials suppliers provide a lot of tech support - tell them the problem you are

trying to solve and they help you figure out which product will be the solution Is there a current opportunity to pursue complimentary boatbuilding sectors? For

example, not just recreational boats, but tugboats, barges, commercial fishing boats?o Yeso Washburn & Doughty does that in Boothbayo Front Street has expanded to Bucksport and is producing military boats

Boatbuilding is so diverse in terms of the skills neededo Not just composites, but metal, water jet cutting, molding fabrication, 3-D

modeling What would be needed for commercial boatbuilding?

o More spaceo Saleso We as boat builders will build whatever - sail, power, work boatso The challenge is that we are not necessarily regionally competitive

Advanced materials is a tiny market, even though we have knowledge and expertise


R&Do Washington State company example - $1 million is being spent on research in

Maine Could be done there, but they want to do it here

o What can we do to leverage such opportunities? The main issue is our own culture and habit

o We don’t brag


o We are our own best kept secreto Recent research contract with Canadian government: they were proactive, they

found us We need to be out there finding opportunities Be aware of others’ needs Tell them what we can do, building relationships Often it takes a long time to secure funds for research, but when the

money comes through, we want to be first in line Other businesses thrive with proximity to R&D

o Encourage other businesses who use R&D resources to be here and use those resources more fully

o Potential area: New product development Get undergrads thinking along these lines as a habit - not a special project

you do once every three years Help it become part of workforce thinking Because you can only do so much to cut costs Innovation engineering and interacting with existing businesses will help

with this Take more advantage of internship/apprenticeship opportunities

They do not always have to be at large companies - small businesses can take interns too

Aroostook “cluster” exampleo There are 5-6 businesses working together as opposed to going at this

separately - biofuels, dimensional lumber, panels board, pulp Hospitality industry examples

o We compete with each other but we have a blast doing ito Clusters are unique to each region

“Weak signals” in forest products industryo There is the perception that we are at the end of the line, but we’re not

We are close to a huge population base, and we are also close to Maritime Canada

We can deliver small amounts the next day to Boston, Montreal Whereas shipments from China have to get on the next boat

Marketing and collaborationo Maine is known for hardwood products

Largest manufacturer of popsicle sticks in the world Dovetail Bats

Sells its best bats to Major league and second grade bats to Japan Vic Firth

Makes top notch drumsticks in Newporto All these tie into R&D, marketingo There are things they might do better together than alone, but collaboration

doesn’t happen because they are overwhelmed For example:


Those who used to get wood out of state might be able to get it in state

Shipments - work with others to share a container, i.e. “I have boats going to Germany - do you want to throw some things in?”

Businesses themselves may not even be sure what they needo R&Do Process innovationo Access to capitalo Mentoringo Product innovationo Logistics

o Is the build-your-own-table example something that would allow collaboration with another sawmill as a opportunity to expand and grow?

Yes, we do that in the sawmill business. We buy and sell wood from and to others.

Customers can call and get any grade, any color, any patterno Bucksport guitar maker - ships guitars to Hawaii

Do they talk to the oar and cow shoe makers? Is that even needed?

I can’t see the guitar guy helping me out If we lived on an island we’d be marketing fish. But we do live on an island, surrounded

by wood - we ought to be promoting that. Some clusters do not believe in certain definitions of “region”

o For example there might be a north woods cluster beyond the greater Bangor and Eastern Maine region

o Caution about making it so you have to locate a business here to get these services

There is also an attitude piece that overrides the boundaries of cluster thinkingo Bangor is not the cluster - it’s Piscataquis, Somerset, etc.

We recently re-did our logo and website and we learned through working with our designers that there was no way we could not have “Maine” as part of the brand

o What is it about Maine that helps our brand around wood products. Workforce? The wood itself?

We need to make it so people WANT to locate in our region because we are doing things not done elsewhere

Mobilize Northern Maine example: Ashland success happened because of competitive advantage AND for opportunities for collaboration

o Our competitive advantage here is education and research and innovation

Tourism/Hospitality

To what extent do the anchors of Bangor (the casino, the Cross Center, etc.) co-market with performing arts at the University of Maine?


o The Collins Center has now presented collaboratively with Waterfront Concerts and with the Gracie Theatre too

o Collins Center has not yet started to look at putting bigger shows at Cross, though it’s on the radar screen

If you say “Bangor” you don’t think “university town”- even though it’s right there Partnering with the CVB

o The CVB has a guidebook for this area. We are all finding our footholds and figuring out how to pay for it and put it together. Wish we could leapfrog five years!

o We are at trade shows outside of the State more than evero Properties buy in and attend trade shows along with CVB

Collaboration with schools and townso Bangor, Husson, and University of Maine applied for Can-American Police and

Fire Games in 2020 The towns and communities came together We received a good response because we were working together

Maine Sports Commissiono Athletic director from U Maine has attended eventso Cross Center can host events

Moose and Katahdin can be as iconic as lighthouses and lobsterso We fail to market them as robustly o Visitors have real reactions to those experiences - they are willing to pay a lot for

them and willing to return over and overo You don’t have to climb Katahdin, just look at it

Promote our chains of lakes, mountain ranges, the East Branch and West Branch of the Penobscot

Create a network of bike trails Promote the Thoreau Trip Promote the trend of lifestyles of healthy living - beyond the gym

o In a city, a gym is healthyo People want to move to less populated areas because it’s healthyo We don’t have to invent it - it’s already here - we just have to market ito Maine is so often the last to jump on a trend

Healthy communities, a healthy regiono Bangor win awards for being healthy and having trails

The North Woods experiences need to be more digestible for the average persono In Bar Harbor, you have options - you can do really rugged things, or you can

take a simple, gentle walko We need to make the North Woods more “digestible” for a family

The Farm to Plate experience should be nurtured Promote the “local experience” - eat where the locals eat Look to branding efforts going on in Moosehead Lake as an example Promote cultural opportunities and our logging heritage tourism

o We have Paul Bunyan and a few tiny museums


But in Vancouver you can experience a “logging town”o We should protect and invest in physical resources that exist from that era

Like boom houses - they are still there but barely accessible o People want to do something that is purposeful AND gives them a chance to

regenerateo You can also incorporate Moose Safariso We could partner with U Maine to develop cultural heritage experiences


JAX has a plan to take production of mice off the island and into Ellswortho This will position us to have more campus space dedicated to education and

STEM conferencing MDI does a great job bringing students in

o This region has a high concentration of students Imagine us as a healthy region, and a place to go to be educated, to go to conferences

and spend time with smartest people in the stateo We could get to a place where you don’t just come to Maine for lobster and

vacation, you come here for STEM educationo It could be an economic generator

Both MDI and Jackson Lab are expanding educational offeringso Bringing people from around the world year round

MDI Bio Lab hosts 10-week-long medical school training courses from all the leading medical schools in the country - that’s a lot of high caliber people being exposed to life in Maine

We need skilled workerso Nurses, MAs NPs o How do we keep the Husson students here? Offer them jobs!

Break down the concept of the two Maineso Break down concept that there’s nothing north of Portland

Bangor has missed some opportunities recently, couldn’t quite get off the mark, but that is shifting. Now there is the Cross Center, Waterfront Concerts, and young leaders. My 33-yr-old kids moved back here, and they used to have to go south to see their friends. Now their friends are coming here for visits - to see concerts, go to the casino, etc.

U Maine’s Big Gig, the Innovation Center - these efforts are helping new entrepreneurs get started and then scale up

o There is a real interest here in developing that support, through mentorships, marketing, education

o Help people with career life cycles - so they don’t have to “go away” throughout their career

o Ellsworth is a good model - they have an incubator, partnerships with labs, colleges, sharing of resources

Is there enough entrepreneurial fuel? There’s starting up, participating, taking space at BanAir or Target Technology Center, but then there is getting to the next level.


o It’s a new generation, it’s only since the 1990s that U Maine became an important research center for something other than pulp and paper

o There are not very many biotech companies in the area. There should be, given the institutions.

o It’s a cultural generational thing - breaking away from the academic model of the way science has been done forever

o It’s has been driven by shifts in funding models We incorporate entrepreneurship into every course we teach

o How to take an idea and develop it into a product Students may have never thought that was something they could do

o How to think about a career in science We hire people with very advanced degrees, but it’s menial work and

they tend not to stay Does lack of medical school have an impact?

o When JAX decided to go to Connecticut it was driven by the U Conn health center and Harvard and Yale. Even if Maine gave same amount of money in recruiting efforts that Connecticut did, JAX couldn’t do in Maine what it can do there.

o Note: This hasn’t hurt JAX in Bar Harbor and is actually helping But it hurts the state

Our students don’t understand where opportunities lie in Maine. They just go away.o They don’t know how to take what they are learning and translate that into a job

Who to contact, where to look There is a perception problem - we don’t do well in life sciences and

biosciences We need a promotional effort to say “Come to Maine”

o Michigan advertises life science jobso There is no leadership for that hereo No one is carrying the ball and promoting this

For senior living communities, do we have the income and other demographics to replicate successes? What’s needed for that market?

o There is a big demand for senior housing and health care services and low income services

For example, people are just learning that their mom has cancer - it’s brand new and they don’t know where to start

o If all the other businesses here are successful, senior living and health care businesses will be too

Our demographics are Retired physicians and professors Parents of successful employees who move here for work

o Also depends on the economy - if people aren’t selling their homes they aren’t coming to us

o Staff Majority of our staff have high school degrees, they are CNAs Lots of turnover


A very different challenge that we are faced with Have noticed that schools just want people to go to college and they

forget there is a whole other word of trades and tech work Schools push students to college and then they drop out - they are not

ready For diagnostics, are there new technologies coming around?

o Technologies are there, and many companies are able to capitalize on themo But the payment model is a problemo There are so many people on MaineCare who are not paying out of pocketo We follow clinical guidelines and that usually goes along with payment modelso The money isn’t in being the first provider - the one who is billing insurances

The money is in being the reference lab The reference lab gets paid in full by us We can do some of this work, and we have started to receive specimens

from around the countryo But this needs to be balanced with clinical needso Someone has to serve the physician, and bill insurance

A promising opportunity is the disastrous closure of one mill after anothero We have watched the paper industry spiral down for 50 years

Remember how the paper mills were getting free power for years?o We can finally acknowledge that that time has passed, we can let it go, we can

say goodbye


What do we do to provide regional funding to support municipal planning? Broadband leads - private investment in Maine towns

o Very substantial rural pocketso Incremental developmento The only way to progress is by making some lead investments in infrastructure

Examples: Islesboro, Rockport, Ellsworth Those communities who see their future including home based

telecommunication are investing in high-speed They are solving the “last mile” problem

When doing illustrations and animations for NASA I needed to upload very, very large files

o In downtown Bangor, I had no luck with being able to send those large fileso Had to move to an office in a business incubatoro This is very problematic if you are doing, say, videos for weddings as part of your

business Take ideas out of the classroom - show students there is opportunity here

o No one wants to stay in Maine when they graduateo Students think there aren’t any jobs in Maine


o This could be changed by doing things differently in class Game design involves logic and storytelling - it is a very rewarding way to

learn However when a class is done working on a game, the game disappears.

Why not collaborate with the art department and keep developing the game?

o Distribution is not a problem for the game industry We have everything we need online. It is easy to access - not much money to get involved All the tech already exists

o But there is no history of taking ideas out of classroom Make a little money, make another game!

At UTC [United Technologies Center] instructors are encouraging students to make and sell games to help fund their education

o The tech center is receiving students from all different areaso It can be a homegrown industryo It’s about evangelizingo There’s no investment available for video games

It feeds itself Self-funded

o Things get started but not taken to the next level What takes a company from half a million to $5 million?

o There’s the launch but what’s the next phase? Mentorship, capital, education We need to marshal resources around promising companies

Focus on assets that already existo Like Three-Ring Binder

That’s an asset that increases competition among providers and drives costs down

o Get people to realize that massive investment isn’t needed It’s a matter of getting the last mile built

o Getting municipalities aware is a big hurdle That generates momentum

Promote student opportunitieso Every engineering and tech student can find a job in Maineo Examples of initiatives

Project Login IT Space Innovate for Maine

o We are trying to show that there are promising opportunities and trying to change the narrative

More funding for the Connect Maine authority - get it up to $5 million More funding for broadband development


Broadband is in the spotlight this year - we might be getting closer to getting more communities served

Unless Washington helps, the states don’t have resourceso In the Islesboro example, they voted to approve funding for planningo What are we going to do to make sure we have connectivity to the world?

If any of you were going to a national conference in your sector, what’s the buzz, what the next thing that’s going to happen that there may not be the infrastructure for today?

o For gaming industry, it’s Virtual Reality, and the Oculus Rift headset from Sony As for the infrastructure needed - basically we need really really fast

internet Should we be leapfrogging ahead rather than barely catching up?

Yes, if we can, but things get obsolete fasto For other industries:

Pretty tech specific, industry specific stuff Access to talent Actually moving people physically

For example, if I need to physically be in Portland or Boston, I take the bus and I’m connected all the way down, then I Uber to meetings

The windshield time is a killer Actually connecting communities would be huge

There is an educational technology incubator in Boston - not so helpful for me in the Bangor area


Lots of logistics issueso For a while we were buying tomatoes from Backyard Farms but when they had a

whitefly issue they couldn’t supply our salsa production companyo Had to go back to the carnivorous produce market in Boston!o Now importing 70% of product from outside of Maine and had to relocate

production to Massachusettso 20% of cost of product was logistics of bringing in produce to Blue Hill and

shipping out to storeso Geography is an issueo Looking for a place to produce salsa in Maine again - need a high-quality level

facility: “SQF Level 3” [Safe Quality Food Institute] Workers garbed from top to bottom Not a gravel driveway

o Need to be able to have Stop and Shop buy our product Markets

o Have found that there is no market to the east for salsa, discovered that the main markets are at least 3 hours south of Blue Hill


o Would like to develop a web presence and be able to ship overnighto We have been a seasonal business for 18 yearso Want to tell people who visit Maine that they could have our product at their

own homes for their next Superbowl party There are big opportunities to get into the beef business

o Want to buy a new set of cattle trailers and a truck to go to Aroostook and Washington Counties, and add a refrigerated unit to deliver meat when we pick up animals

We are in an institution rich region - hospitals, restaurants, nursing homes, etc. At trade shows, when folks hear I’m from Maine they want to talk to me More regional food hubs would help small to mid-size farmers scale up Do we as a region have sufficient productive farmland?

o Yes, we have a land base that could be the food basket of New Englando We have the land - that’s not a problem here!

We have a fast growing population of new young farmers in the stateo 40% of Maine farmers are under age 35 - compared to 1% nationallyo This is a workforce that is developingo They are steady reliable farm managerso We can build farms to serve the whole region

Value added foods opportunitieso Direct the new young farmers to produce onions, cilantro, tomatoeso We need 300 cases of tomatoes a week for salsao If we had a food hub and a source of raw materials then we could create the

recipes to use these things If produce were available to you locally would that help enough with the logistics to

enable you to scale up?o Not sureo Sending a pallet vs. a trailer truck of product is very different

Especially a no-preservative, perishable product Food friendly communities are promising opportunities

o Communities identifying themselves as valuing food processing and distributiono Re: policy, investment, local leadership, local utilitieso Communities saying - we want to be a focus for local food

Bangor can be a regional hubo Farmers markets approaching saturation in southern Maine, will eventually

come up here Increase land access for farmers More publicity around farming and they issues farmers are facing

o Films, books, art Economic development around farm viability - help farmers to be more successful in

the businesses they operateo And the businesses that support famers

Pieces of infrastructure to support several farmers


o Do things that will help create a environment for Maine farmers to be more profitable


Power, electricityo Look at projections for global use of power in the next 20 years - it’s mind

boggling We are in only one sector of the energy market 80% of our stuff is sold globally More appetite globally means jobs for us We are in a corner of Maine but in a really big global market

We get forgings and components from China and Germanyo It is costly and time consuming to get them hereo Would be great to have a foundry in our backyard

We have some technical services done for us, sometimes we send to third party locally for deburring and polishing off

Are there opportunities to build a little cluster of related industries? For the paper industry there were spinoffs - surveyors, engineers, timberland managers, machine shops.

o GE is a very, very cost focused business - we run a very tight supply chaino You have to follow the moneyo Balance quality and cost

These plants seem innovative - is there R&D that goes on that could be supported or enhanced here?

o Yes, but we are not a main engineering hub We get engineering drawings from other places We do not do brand new product design

o Auto industry is not in the future for Maine - the industry is moving southwest But as we look for products, one of the biggest problems is logistics and

the weight of our parts for shipping We are looking to get lighter weight components We currently bring in some zinc and plastic components from Japan

We’d like to bring that manufacturing to Maine We would need to do it in house

We make critical auto safety parts so the company is very reluctant to introduce materials with any degree of risk

o Could we get Toyota or Honda to even think of doing R&D on the ground here? Perhaps at the nanocellular level of extraction of wood cellulose to make new materials - alternatives to steel etc.?

Would have to get the parent company to introduce the concept to customers


Maybe we can take a trip up to University and if we learn that they make a product that is strong as steel and lighter, that would be interesting

Do you ship via air?o GE is mostly truck based, via the New York port then over roadso Russia once flew in a turbine for repairo If rail was there if would really help

For the home industry we need people who can do renovation worko There is a shortage of young people going into basic plumbing, electrical, etc.o We recently couldn’t find anyone to service boilerso There is a lot of money to be made if you are willing to work in existing buildingso Small residential jobs

Roofing Storm windows

o There is a big need for reputable people to do that work Maybe the established businesses would take apprentice plumbers and electricians and

oil technicians Education

o EMCC has a well established machine tool technology programo There was a time when we would swoop in and hire the entire classo When we stopped hiring, they closed their programo We now have relationships with KVCC, NMCC, and CMCC

We have an intern program Starts between their first and second year

And we will pay for your last year of school if you do well in your internship

And we will hire you But hiring 2 or 3 here and there won’t solve the school’s problem

Can’t guarantee that we will hire students from every class Average tenure at plants is 25 years

o Lots will be retiring soon and we will need skilled labor to replace them Young people don’t really know what we do at our plant - we make pretty awesome

highly technical stuff that people can have great careers in Is there a marriage with advanced wood composites and wind blades etc.?

o Wind turbine manufacturing is in Floridao Not sure how GE determines new sites for manufacturingo Lots of money has gone to developing siteso We have a 440,000 sq ft manufacturing space in Bangoro We are starting to do repairs - the more things we can do and do well, the more

job security for our workerso We are making our current offerings more robust, so we can flex our workforce

muscle Energy is very expensive

o We spend a fortune heating the place and running crazy big machines


o But that variable cost is a fraction of what we pay on wages Zoning is okay and code enforcement pretty open

o Can do small scale development on a tight spot Super energy efficient houses are a good niche market

o This is not the right market for selling 100 units at a timeo Demographics and zoning do not support large scale residential developments

We like redoing old buildings and there is a lot of raw material in Bangor for rehabs We like doing mixed development - apartments in the downtown You need downtown living space AND downtown workers

o Then there’s more market for restaurants etc.


What’s Needed


What’s needed?

In other words,

For promising opportunities to develop and thrive, what’s needed? What barriers need to be overcome? What are the missing links in the chain of success?



Better roads Education People Skilled workforce

o Not necessarily old Mainers with Yankee ingenuityo If people love boats and boatbuilding and love the idea of coming to Maine,

maybe we can turn that into importation of people Attitude and passion of employees

o We can train the skill sets We have an aging workforce. The ones with skills, they are tired. They are stressed and

losing passion, and they are at higher end of workforce. Output suffers When the economy came back we could not find people to work - it’s like there is a lost

generation of people in their late 20’so They haven’t learned any skills to supervise but they say they want to be a

supervisoro Now we are dealing with younger people, and it’s a totally different attitude

Reengagement of assets and people who are displacedo Attitude and passion for work is critical, but don’t assume that displaced

millworkers won’t have the attitude and passion Collaboration

o A long standing passion for boatbuilding led to developing a course in cabinetry in Bucksport

o Is there a place where collaboration could really advance? For example are there opportunities in Bucksport?

Consider properties with assets: Wastewater treatment Power


Rail Deep water

Beyond the paper machines - what else can you do with such properties? Collaboration needs to be broadened

o Within the industryo But also with different groups

Towns Workers in the area Property owners with existing assets People who have the product or the industry that needs to be developed

o Bucksport has an opportunity to be a real showpiece - show the state and the region how

o Look at what happened in Halifax, and look at Bucksport’s resources Logistics, cargo, etc. Halifax was in the same position and they have reinvented themselves


More positive attitude about ourselveso We feel that business is bad - Bucksport mill closing and Cate Street Capital -

recent exampleso But there are so many good businesses in the forest industry

More positive attitude about it being okay to cut woodo We need to get that story outo Do people know that trees are renewable? It’s a good thing to cut and manage

the forest. Education for young people that wood isn’t “last century’s product”

o It is still very much a career o Find young people who are innovating and succeeding, and make them the face

of the industry Better energy prices

o We are a commercial user and if we add one more shift, we will click over the line and our costs will triple

o We have squeezed every efficiency out of our process but we are dangerously close to crossing this line

o Without scale, we have no bargaining voiceo This is another cluster opportunity: Co-locate for energy

And heat, steam value, power generation, rail transport There are benefits that flow to business park residents that they couldn’t

afford individually Change semantics

o “Wood products” is only a small portion of the industry


You can use wood as wood, or you can use wood fiber, or wood chemicals as sources of energy

o People need to understand interdependencies If one leg of the stool falls off, the other two suffer Canada failed here but we still have potential

We have Certified Sustainable Wood Harvesters - we don’t promote this enough Fix caps in supply chain Lack of message, not enough branding, not enough talking about the product

o Is there a forest products association? A statewide organization that deals with the niche wood products market?

Where is the voice? You need an organization that helps people see how they can help each other.

Forest products is an $8 billion industry for a state with 1.3 million people

Hospitality is a $5.2 billion industry and we do an awesome job getting the message out

o Yes, there is - the Maine Wood Products Association Supply of wood is a concern

o We are a net importer of wood in Maineo There is a new deal where we are losing 6 townships’ worth of wood - taken out

of productiono Losing 1% of wood supply

People from other regions don’t want to see wood cut o Conservation perspective sometimes gets carried awayo Need to clarify that all uses of forest will still be there even if forest is actively cut

Don’t let that wood stand and fall down and not be utilized! We need a message that wouldn’t be just a slogan, but really expressed and believed,

like:o Working Forests Are Our Futureo or o Working Forests Are Our Region’s Futureo Right now, the attitude is now that pulp and paper is gone, therefore working

forests are gone This is a central missing link. We have forgotten what we had. That puts the national

park into context, and how to market products, and to stop thinking exclusively about wood. So many things come out of forests.

We are marketing not just to consumers but to the workforce Don’t undersell the branding that is actually occurring

o Maine has a long-standing tradition of advocating for forestso Maine Forest Products Council does a lot of work in this area

We need to reach the average person on the street tooo When the message comes from only a few narrow sources, it’s easy to consider it

self serving If Aroostook can do it we can too!


Tourism/Hospitality

The educational environment once you get away from Bangor is a massive impediment, i.e. “My wife won’t let me move back there because my kids won’t have the education opportunities”

o The is a group called Our Katahdin - they are expats who are trying to create venture capital tools to invest in the area and build private or magnet schools

o They are trying to address problems that municipalities seem unwilling to address

Is there room for more cultural/sports events? Another Alex Gray?o The data show that it’s a small but growing sectoro By percentage, there is more potential here than in Portland

I have never seen a Maine commercial in South Carolina, but here in Maine I’ve seen commercials for Michigan, South Carolina, New York, California, etc.

o The Cross Center does 68% of its business on conventionso There’s no brand awareness outside of Maine of what Maine is about

How important/needed is promotion? Is that resource sufficiently available? Is there room for growth of the promotion subsector?

o There is no shortage of promoterso There is not really room for large localized promoterso Ticketed events are driven by people, and there is a sense that we don’t have the

people here to support ticketed events - Maine is nondescript externallyo Promoters often want to go to a place with lots and lots of people and money to

spend We are behind in understanding use of technology

o It is amazing what one person with a small budget and a Twitter account can accomplish

o Pretty cost effective ways to promoteo There are some good companies who are excellent at this and others who can

learno Maine Office of Tourism is looking at helping members market themselves

through social media or maybe even offering it as a service The prospect for a national park

o This has some key branding issueso It could be a positive or a difficult part of the handshake with stakeholders

Air transportation - is it important? Are there gaps?o Yeso It is and it isn’to It is an asset to have an airport as good as we have hereo For entertainers, we are known as the cul-de-sac of the US, unless they are going

to Halifax or Burlington and that’s very fewo We can’t change our geography, so the more access we can give our performers

the better


o We need year round air service Carriers unwilling to commit

What’s needed is regional prioritizationo There is a tension about making a smaller investment as opposed to investing in

a regional hubo Yes, we need more air service, the load factors are high - but we don’t own or

control this Bangor International Airport is constantly selling us as a hub We don’t fit business models that have changed since 911 We don’t fit some carriers business models and population bases - like

Southwest This is not necessarily a regionally owned issue

Attrition - youth leaving state for bigger citieso Youth can provide fresh perspective on growtho There is no place for them to work so they are going to big citieso Can’t find good help from people who want to work or have the passion or the

drive Business willingness to reinvest in own properties

o For some independent operations, some small mom and pop shops - their places are dirty, the paint is peeling

o As a tourist I expect a clean room and non peeling paint The challenge is the sum of parts

o We have beautiful natural resources outside of Bangoro We need to do more with the built environment

That brings that capital, and that brings reinvestmento People want to eat, sleep, and shopo People want scenic roads - they are happy to look at scenery along with a

cultural and retail experience EMCC has launched a program in outdoor recreation and hospitality management

o Trying to elevate quality of service for high-touch discerning customers Expand on success of hospitality programs at Husson and EMCC - continue to support

them and watch them grow I have run hotels all over the country and I can say that the best young naturally

talented people are from Maineo If you say you are from Aroostook County, I’ll hire youo At a property in Florida, if you told me you were from New England, I’d hire you,

if you were from Maine I’d make you the manager Partnerships

o Businesses providing an opportunity to studentso Invest in your future - if you don’t invest in the kids, it’s like not investing

Every single restaurant in Millinocket has a help wanted ad There needs to be more pride in the hard work

o There are low wage jobs and there are high wage jobs


o People look at the starter jobs as not worthwhile - they don’t want to do the hard work

o As an industry we need to encourage people to want to work in the industry Make every kid have a job in hospitality

o You learn how to work HARD Scale is key to success - farther away form Bangor, we can’t create the scale to create

good jobso As we grow the criticism about quality of employment will go away

Keep an eye on protecting our product - protect what we haveo A windmill on every hill may not be a great idea for some businesses

Build on eco and heritage tourism o Make sure we have a sufficient network of guides, producing manuals and

handbooks - for birding etc.o Bob Duschene example: Founder of the Maine Birding Trail

There are not enough Bobs There is room for more

o Wine and beer trails weren’t here a few years ago The opportunities are there if you look for them - and you don’t have to

scratch too deep We haven’t even realized the potential for the birding industry

o It is a $38 billion industry! Brook trout and moose are disappearing everywhere else

o Guides who can create an experience for people around those things can make a good living - as much as $350/day all summer

o There are not enough guides who can capture that payo Then there are a lot of guides who people don’t want to pay $200 per day for

Visitors don’t want to spend the day with them because they don’t understand what people want

Maine Woods Consortium has been doing training along these lines The investment is time and energy, not financial It’s about being nice and having a clean operation

This seems like low hanging fruit to many of us, but to many, it’s not Sustainability and eco tourism is a pre-requisite for a discerning traveler

o Eco tourism becomes place-based We are evolving as a performing arts and entertainment corridor

o Link those things as an identifiable corridoro People understand there are multiple things from sports to arts

Promote consistency of visitor experienceo Be welcoming, rather than an attitude of “When’s Columbus Day so everyone

will leave?”o This goes with along with pride and doing this really wello We don’t have as many folks who view hospitality as a careero Example: some lobstermen who really dislike cruise ships, but the ships are

taking on 2500 lbs. of lobster every time they dock



To get more biotech start-ups, need a critical mass of institutionso Right now there are only a fewo Younger people move, so they need to be able to hop around between companieso If someone was recruited from outside to come to JAX, where can they hop? MDI

Bio Lab, perhaps, but they are more likely to go to Boston, Houston etc. There is nowhere else for them to go

o Also, for people who want to own homes, every time you have to relocate it’s over a large geographic area

o And health care biotech work requires certain degrees Most people in biotech don’t have a med tech degree so they can’t work at

NordX or affiliated A big inhibitors is a lack of funding

o People don’t know how to pursue grantso No angel funding until recentlyo How to get from an incubator to starting production

Rockland is starting to build out high speed internet as a utilityo The town is investing in ito We need more of this at state or town levelo So people can go up and set up a business wherever they have good spaceo Orono and Old Town are moving to high speed internet

More public transportationo Trains from Bangor to Portlando More buses coming from Hancock and Washington Countyo Park and Ride examples, like what JAX doeso Ease the commute

Invest in biotecho If you want to be a sector, have a cluster, you need sustained investment

We need strong public policy that supports what we are trying to doo Support innovative models in sectors that are successful

We need a plano The plan only lasts until the next administrative turnovero It’s not a priorityo We need public leadershipo We have the data on the multiplier effects - we just need to get through to

legislative bodieso People understand “roads” but not “biotech investment”

It’s all interconnected - we just need a population, we just need people hereo We are competing with Boston, Houston, New Yorko You have to get companies to want to locate in Maine


o They can’t move here without educated workers Maine has an aspirations problem

o We need to know that it’s okay for us to want to have more, do more, be more, be more sophisticated

o We need to invest in youth so they know it’s okay to succeed and have aspirations

We are not just a center for health care, but for health care managemento Expand our reputation for expertise and innovation in managemento Capitalize on HealthInfoNeto The way that Volvo began to market its management capacity, not just make

things Jackson Lab needs people [everyone is nodding]

o It’s not a jobs issue - it’s an employee issue The spouse issue is pretty big - making sure that the spouse of the person coming can

also find satisfactory employmento It takes about 2 years to recruit a PhD level person - now imagine trying to

recruit their spouse tooo It’s a leap of faith

Critical mass is importanto It’s nice to not be the only game in town - if it doesn’t work out, maybe they will

just go across town, so the person isn’t completely lost to the area In terms of a genetics analysis cluster, it’s becoming clear that the technology in the

field of genetics is way ahead of everything else:o The lawo The medical personnel who can do a care plan based on your genotypeo Etc.o But we are small and we could lead in that area

Genetic counseling, for example Sometimes companies feel isolated, but a lot of things in Maine tend to fly under the

radaro Make sure that new business that are successful don’t fly under the radaro Make it clear that there are opportunities for spouses, for mutual support, etc.


In the Bangor region we don’t know who exists Maybe have group meetings once a month or so

o We need to connect physically o To spark interest, ideas, momentumo Learn about each other’s company needso Yes, we can make the time for this - it puts the company so much farther

forward


Didn’t know about the recent tech conference in Bangor until hours beforehand We need to teach for skills We have a ton of momentum in this region associated with the educational institutions

o We ought to invest some time in mentoringo Show students that there are opportunitieso Share knowledge so students see a continuum

Even at the University, sometimes people don’t know what each other are doingo Example: Art department teachers who didn’t know about digital worko Project Login is starting to talk about how to incorporate the arts

Collaboration is a hurdleo People just don’t know to collaborate

Students, teachers, higher ed More communication, more examples of how this would actually work, how you would

structure ito Bangor Chamber has Fusion - maybe a tech group could be embedded in thiso The University Incubator runs a CEO forum - but it is more about management

struggles For students, it’s more convincing to hear directly from businesses rather than from

professors If you want to get hired from fellow incubators to do animation, people have to know

you exist We need a continual pipeline

o “Drafting” - you are right behind someone else who is right in front of youo Following the steps for growtho There are so many problems that are similar business to businesso Susan MacKay at Cerahelix is very good in this area

More internship opportunities for studentso That is the number one thing that would encourage people to stay in the regiono Do businesses have the capacity to bring on interns?

Yes What about access to capital?

o Capital is unreliableo Everybody’s doing crowdfunding - varying successo Need to connect with other businesses to get the word out about your

crowdfunding opportunity What about expertise to do grant development?

o Not applicable if you don’t have the capital to match whatever the grant requires What direction do you need collaboration in?

o Matching up with companies that have expertise to help you get bids Sometimes people want to “game-ify” something they are doing I can’t do it myself - but I help them navigate

Need more chops around business development, meaning company development, seeing how the car ahead is moving


o Developing your business acumeno I got into this because I love the technology, not because I love looking at P&Ls!


Better tax lawso Taxation of land at highest and best use will prevent more farmers coming to

Bangoro Florida’s tax code allows acres to be taxed as agricultural - we should do more of

that in Maine to encourage more production Need ability to around raw produce by rail or boat and export value added products by

rail and or other sources Need high speed internet

To build a website To provide a pay platform for customers

o This is a different business reality for many farmerso In many places we have great land that can produce great product but we have

lousy internet New infrastructure needed to grow grain in state

o Price of grain has dropped but suppliers prices haven’t dropped like the commodity price has dropped

o 40% of the cost of grain in Northeast is the cost of transportation aloneo We could grow more grain in the state if we had more processingo And better ability to ship grain

Aroostook County needs new crops they can grow profitablyo Currently grain is being sold to Canada - that’s where the processors are

Need technical expertise to grow grain wello Animal feed vs. good bread flouro Need to know weather conditions and grain varieties - very different here than

in Iowao We have some millers in Maine but not enough

Scaling upo Sometimes you are a victim of your own success

When you make bigger batches they might not be shelf stable, might not last as long

o Food scientists at the University can help with this - but can’t keep up with demand for service!

We need more food scientists, more food safety expertise FSMA

o [FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act]o Going to have a major impact on lots of people in Maineo We will need someone to translate


Marketingo Maine brand is quite honored by most peopleo Need someone to market Maine food in generalo “Get Real, Get Maine” is 14 years old - its time has come and gone

We need a new way to reach today’s consumers There is a lack of processing plants and cold storage

o Farmers are not planting to capacity - there is nowhere to take the product to be processed or stored

o Why: lack of capital to invest in processingo There is beautiful freezer space in Brewer, but there are different needs for cold

storage - different zones for potatoes, tomatoes, etc.o The existing facilities - you can’t run them at 20%

New processing and cold storage facilities: What are the barriers?o When people look for business assistance agencies to help, there aren’t many

choices with knowledge for farmers There are lots of choices if you want to make widgets or have a storefront There needs to be a conversion of business assistance to support this

risky type of worko Someone needs the confidence to be able to absorb the risk. Who will put their

neck out? You have to have a market before the seed is in the ground or before the animal starts being raised.

o There is an institutional price barrier To what extent will they pay, or be able to pay, for local foods It will have to be a consumer driven thing

o There are some basic facility needs that are required Facilities need to have a 24-ft ceiling height with drainage built in If you have to build it, it’s expensive

Better to repurpose What stops us from building food hubs?

o Capitalo Expertise to know what’s neededo A strong feasibility study that can help develop a full business plan that will

attract investors Approach from the standpoint of “what is the demand and the price

point” Food hub median sales of $1 million

o Farmers and nonprofits are just dabbling in this, doing the work we do We need to involve public, private, and municipalities

Start with shared resources that make it palatable for us all to get involved

o Food hub clarifications: Some add value - peel, cut, wash, etc. Some are just for storage Some do marketing


Some offer rooms for co-packing The most fundamental purpose is an aggregation service - buying from

multiple small growers to serve larger demando Dave Milan has some research on food hubs and some data on a potential

shared-use commercial kitchen’s ability to support itself based on a 40 mile radius

Did you know there are 400 licensed food manufacturers in 40 mile radius of Bucksport?

Farmers markets seem to be geared towards organic rather than localo Those who sell organic by dismissing local and natural has hurt the beef and

produce industry Don’t sell your product by dismissing my product

Get the message out about the what’s being made Ask “Can we make it in Maine?”

o For example, I don’t think there is a hummus company in Maine Patience

o It’s taken us a lifetimeo Don’t pretend it’s an overnight thingo You reach a point when you decide it’s time to make a profit or get out

Labor is an issue with any type of farm businesso We are competing for laboro Price structure doesn’t allow us to compete with other industrieso We can’t offer benefit packages to help attract better workers

Federal policy around immigration has an impact on Maine’s ability to be competitiveo There are some farm jobs no Mainer wants no matter the price pointo We need the large farms

We need food entrepreneurs - more people like Jimo He takes tomatoes and makes somethingo Many farmers like to farm and don’t want to make salsa


We have great technical talent and salaried workforce, however there is a constant churn of leadership positions

o We have an open shop manager position and we are trying to find the right candidate

o Finding someone who can thrive who is willing to live in Maine and has experience working at a managerial position in a global company - this is a challenge

Selling Bangor is a challengeo We can change the way we market Bangor, but we can’t change the population

or the weathero It’s far away and feels so far removed from the rest of the business


o A working spouse compounds things Looking at site selection magazines, there are so many aggressive states. Is Maine

making the pitch? Do we have the physical layouts for them?o Virginia is building industrial parks way ahead of anyone comingo Maybe Maine could prep more - have space ready to go o Needs to be level, have utilities, roads, rail, etc.o Readiness to serve

The reputation of the Northeast in general - most people assume that it is a unionized adversarial relationship

o We are actually here because of workforce flexibility and direct relationships with the union

o Maybe we are less prone to union activity?o Need to change the perception around the labor environment re: hourly

production Need to train people who are running a small business

o Accountingo Bookkeepingo Business modelso Some downtown buildings were almost falling down

Can the city and building owners collaborate to allow code flexibility to allow certain upstairs spaces to be developed? Some buildings have challenges related to historic code and fire prevention.

Improvement of downtown - support for theater, library, “downtown mojo”o Would help to bring new workers

Flights are a challenge - it is hard to travel to other plantso Maybe we can add small regional carriers who will serve executive business

travelo Retain New York and Detroit connections - to the international flight marketo Bangor to Boston to Albany would be great - a big improvement

How could GE raise the profile of what we do?o People don’t know what we do; looking for opportunities to showcase that with

community service or whatnot. There are good stories to be told and would appreciate feedback from people.

Ideas: Continue having the BRLI leadership class visit Partner with incubator Deliberately involve workers with community stuff

How can we bring business from Japan or China?o It is very relationship-driveno Somic came to Brewer through a personal relationship with Governor McKernano Our political leaders need to do more, take a more aggressive approach

Focus on planting seeds and developing those relationships There is a Maine-China network - they work to foster relationships


Maybe could have synergy with this group and others


Appendix A: Meeting Agendas and Ground Rules

Agenda

The following agenda was distributed at each roundtable meeting (specific times varied by group):

0:00 Get some food and get settledUpon arrival, guests will be encouraged to get breakfast, lunch or refreshments and take a seat. We will begin when everyone is seated.

0:10 Welcome and IntroductionsFollowing some welcoming remarks, facilitator Craig Freshley will explain the meeting agenda and a few simple ground rules. Everyone will introduce themselves.

0:17 The ContextWe will hear a brief explanation of this re-engineering effort and also a brief overview of the regional economy, industry specific.

0:25 What Success Looks LikeWhat are some examples of really impressive business growth and what factors contributed to those? Let’s hear a few stories and explore the ingredients that contributed to the success. For instance, what supply-chain relationships were critical? What infrastructure was critical? Who were the key players and what roles did they play? What were other critical success factors? What are the lessons learned (what works and what doesn’t work)? We will discuss these and related questions and try to identify some themes.

0:50 Promising OpportunitiesWhat are the “weak signals” in the region that have the potential to grow into strong economic engines? Where are the nuggets of opportunity? What seedlings are most worthy of nurture? What type of businesses could/should be attracted to the region to expand the sectors opportunities? We will briefly discuss and identify such opportunities.

1:05 What’s NeededFor promising opportunities to develop and thrive, what’s needed? What barriers need to be overcome? What are the missing links in the chain of success? Here too we will discuss and try to identify some themes.


1:20 Closing CommentsThis is a chance for each participant to make brief closing comments, perhaps a reflection on the process or perhaps a particular hope or concern going forward.

1:30 Adjourn

Meeting Ground Rules

At the start of each meeting, Craig explained the following ground rules:

Success stories encouragedo While there may be a lot to complain about, there are also many good things

happening in the region and many great success stories. Let’s highlight the success stories and inspire each other!

All ideas valuedo We want to hear all perspectives from all participants. For this reason we are

asking people to raise a hand and let Craig call on people. And we don’t have to agree. Diverse perspectives are welcome. And you are welcome to submit your views in writing either at the meeting or shortly after.

The future is up to uso Re-engineering the region is not the responsibility of the government or EMDC

or BDRA. While such entities have a role, we are not looking for a bail out or a hand out. The region’s business leaders are taking the lead here. What can we do?

Neutral facilitation and reporto Craig and Kerri are not here to advise but to provide a framework for

participants to give advice.


Appendix B: Roundtable Attendance

Boat Building/Composites Paul Melrose, Compotech Dennis Kingman, CES, Inc. Dan Higgins, Puffin Dinghies Steve White, Brooklin Boat Yard and Front Street Shipyard Andy Fitzpatrick, Hinckley Yachts Craig Picard, Front Street Shipyard Jake Ward, University of Maine Vice President for Innovation and Economic

Development Jessie Logan, CES, Inc. Michael Aube, EMDC Liane Judd, Packard Judd Kaye and BRDA

Forestry/Wood Products Hemant Pendse, University of Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Institute Michael Bilodeau, University of Maine Process Development Center Jim Robbins, Robbins Lumber Lee Speronis, Husson University Nancy Forster-Holt, Shaw & Tenney and Husson University

Tourism/Hospitality Tom Palmer, Lafayette Hotels Matt Polstein, New England Outdoor Center and Twin Pine Camps Christopher Fogg, Maine Tourism Association Kerrie Trip, Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau Brad Ryder, Epic Sports Danny Williams, Collins Center for the Arts Lee Speronis, Husson University Joe Imbriaco, Spectra/Cross Insurance Center Clem Blakely, Younity Winery, Maine Wine Trail, and Maine Winery Guild

Bioscience/Healthcare LuAnn Ballesteros, The Jackson Laboratory Lois Macias, St. Joseph’s Hospital Todd Dehm, Genotyping Center of America Steve Bowler, Dirigo Pines Suzanne Spruce, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems Ann Homola, VISTA Physician Staffing and Consulting Orin Buetens, Dahl-Chase Diagnostic Services



Renee Kelly, University of Maine Department of Industrial Cooperation Brian Rahill, RainStorm, Inc. Chuck Carter, Eagre Games Nick Bournakel, Tilson Technology Management Shaun Stevenson, AiroComm Michael Griggs, AiroComm

Agriculture/Food Production Jim Buddington. Sisters Salsa Barry Higgins, Maple Lane Farms John Rebar, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Melissa Huston, Good Shepard Food Bank Mike Gold, Maine Farmland Trust

Construction/Skilled Trades Nathan Sheranian, General Electric Bob Kelly, House Revivers David Keane, Somic America

Also attending all or most roundtables:

Vicki Rusbult, EMDC Jack Lucy, EMDC Evan Richert, Town of Orono and BRDA Bruce Nickerson, Bangor Savings Bank and BRDA Andy Hamilton, Eaton Peabody and BRDA Dave Milan, Town of Bucksport and BRDA Jim Damicis, Camoin Associates Elizabeth MacTaggart, Office of Senator Angus King Craig Freshley, Good Group Decisions Kerri Sands, Good Group Decisions


web viewwhat supply-chain relationships were critical? ... wish we could leapfrog five years! ......

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