Indiana hosting defense summit

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — Defense industry leaders from throughout the county will Friday gather with state, federal and military officials for the inaugural Indiana Defense Summit in downtown Indianapolis. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. says the summit will create and inform dialogue “on best practices and strategies for driving growth and increasing the state’s and region’s competitiveness in the sector.”

The summit comes about six months after Governor Eric Holcomb detailed plans to realign the state’s defense development efforts by creating the Indiana Office of Defense Development, which is under the IEDC umbrella. The governor also made defense development one of the key priorities in his 2020 Next Level Agenda.

“The Indiana Defense Summit will support these efforts by convening government, academic and industry representatives to foster collaboration and showcase the state’s military installations and defense assets,” the IEDC said.

The summit will feature a keynote address from Lisa Hershman (pictured), chief management officer for the U.S. Department of Defense. U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger will be on hand, as well as representatives from companies including Rolls-Royce Corp., Bloomberg Intelligence, and Pierce Aerospace.