Missouri Partnership official says he focuses on what state offers

Missouri has much to offer the rest of the world. Across a number of industries, the state can offer infrastructure, technology and manpower needed for businesses to grow and thrive in the region.

And Mark Sutherland, vice president of market strategies at Missouri Partnership, told a crowd at the First Friday Coffee event, hosted by the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, how his organization is making sure the rest of the world knows this.

Since 2007, Missouri Partnership, a public-private economic development partnership, has set out to increase Missouri’s visibility on the global business market and attract new jobs to the state. Led by a 12-person board of directors and working in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the Hawthorn Foundation and a number of economic-development partners from across the state, the organization promotes Missouri as a viable location to set down industry roots and offers services to those industries to help facilitate their move, from identifying potential locations to coordinating labor training.

At the event Friday at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, Sutherland discussed tactics the Missouri Partnership has taken to entice global industries to the region.

Sutherland said his initial strategy was to set Missouri apart from other states, many of which were marketing themselves in the same way: focusing on location, talent, cost of business and global connection.

Missouri has those things, but as far as a marketing strategy, Sutherland said, “we needed something different.”

“We’re a strategic location,” Sutherland said. “We have a globally connected infrastructure; we have unrestricted access to the Gulf.”

Missouri has multiple railways touching or crossing the state, Sutherland said. Fifty percent of U.S. population is within one day’s drive of the state, and 96 percent of Missouri’s population is within 15 miles of an interstate.

“There’s quite a lot going on,” he said.

Sutherland said the Missouri Partnership is taking these and other talking points and applying them to eight industries: advanced manufacturing, agricultural technology, energy solutions, financial and professional services, food solutions, distribution and logistics, health innovation and information technology.

“We actively go after people in those sectors to show them why they should be here,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland highlighted a sampling of sectors to illustrate what Missouri has to offer and how overlooked the state can be, despite great innovations, investment and infrastructure.

Regarding automotive technology, he said, over $2 billion has been invested in Missouri’s automotive facilities.

“In 2015 we made more than 632,000 vehicles in the state,” Sutherland said.

As far as aerospace technology, Sutherland said he directs industry leaders to the fact Missouri makes the F-18, the A-18 and the F-15. Missouri is home to Boeing Defense, Space and Security, he said.

“We have more than 70 aerospace companies across the state, and more than 500 that support Boeing alone,” Sutherland said. “It’s a huge part of our industry in Missouri, and even people in Missouri don’t know it.”

Sutherland said he offers these key messages to the manufacturing industry, and they work because “Missouri has a lot to be proud of in advanced manufacturing.”

A similar tactic is taken for the other industry sectors. In agriculture technology, he focuses on the quality farmland, the use of “big data” such as drones, satellites and prescription agriculture.

The state has abundant intellectual capital he said, and “we are attracting companies on an almost daily basis.”

In the field of health innovation, he highlights the state’s burgeoning bioscience industry that employs 50,000 people in about 3,500 companies. Dozens of colleges and universities offer degrees in the field.

“Startups to seasoned companies are looking to innovation in this area,” Sutherland said of Missouri. “We’re using that to attract others to the state as well.”

Sutherland encouraged local businesses to share their successes with the Missouri Partnership and contribute to the organization’s efforts. He said real-world success stories are a key factor in bringing more industry to the region.

“I am looking for those stories because you are the reason that companies could be attracted to the state,” Sutherland said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

777 Main Street, Cape Girardeau MO