Economic Revitalization Unites Cities

City leaders, educators and local entrepreneurs have teamed up to make Kootenai County an economic destination for the autonomously piloted vehicle (APV) industry for generations to come.

The group, Future Frontiers, has been working for the past year to win a $3 million prize for their proposed economic revitalization projects. The prize, awarded by the America’s Best Communities (ABC) organization and sponsored by Frontier Communications, provides seed money to economically revitalize rural towns nationwide.

“The goal is to encourage a more diverse, technology-based economy as the destination of a long journey that began with the steady decline of once plentiful, high paying jobs in mining and forestry,” the group said in their proposal. And although the tourism industry has grown, the jobs it creates are not as substantial as the more highly skilled jobs in technology. The point is to prevent a “brain drain” where young, educated people leave their hometowns because of better opportunities elsewhere.

But the aerospace industry has been emerging in the region, and towns, schools and entities such as Future Frontiers are seeking ways to feed its needs via a trained workforce. By creating an educated workforce, more companies looking for highly skilled workers will come to the area, thus creating a more sustainable economy.

The group is specifically focusing on the technological industry of APVs, which include aerial drones, self-driving cars and remotely controlled underwater devices, among other innovations.

Joint Bid for Community Funding

ABC is a three-year competition with several rounds, and Future Frontiers recently made it to the quarter finals. They received a $50,000 prize on making it to the quarter finals, in addition to $15,000 required in matching funds that came from the respective institutions and businesses in the group.

In November, Future Frontiers submitted their latest proposal for the semi-finals, which ABC will announce in mid-January. The winners of that round will receive $100,000. After that, they would move on to the final round for the $3 million prize in 2017.

“We were one of 50 communities selected for the quarter finals out of 345 initial proposals,” said Charles Buck, the Associate Vice President and Center Executive Office for the University of Idaho.

The group initially got together after they were invited by a representative from Frontier Communications to participate in the competition. Brett Boyer, City Administrator for the city of Rathdrum, said there were about 40 people from the surrounding Coeur d’Alene area, including leaders from the city, education and business sectors in addition to community leaders.

All the cities are members of Jobs Plus and work with them regarding economic development. Its focus is to enhance the technological base in the area, Boyer explained.

“All of us in some way were working on economic development projects with Jobs Plus, which had been looking to turn us to technological areas. (We) saw this as an opportunity to work with other community leaders to focus on technology expansion in the area,” Boyer said.

The group brainstormed and outlined projects for three main areas of revitalization: healthcare, technology and infrastructure.

“Our group in Rathdrum and others gravitated to the technological side and met separately from the main group,” Boyer said.

Future Frontiers is made up of city planners and administrators from the three cities, administrators from University of Idaho, North Idaho College, Kootenai Technical Education Center (KTEC) and entrepreneurial and educator groups – the Innovation Collective, Gizmo, area school districts, the STEM charter school and several local businesses in partnership with them.

“We’re really trying to look at this as a county wide project,” he said.

The group was selective in recruiting their business partners and wanted those directly involved with the APV industry. They include xCraft, Empire Unmanned, Vertical Partners West, Farb Guidance Systems, LCF Enterprises, Idaho Aerospace Alliance, Prointelligent and ExtraTech Systems.

Focusing on APVs

By working to win the $3 million prize, Future Frontiers wants to attract businesses related to and focusing on the design and manufacturing of APVs. While other cities might be promoting more physical revitalization projects like walking trails, Future Frontiers wants to hone in on the specific industry of APVs.

“We thought a lot of communities would focus on economic development like taking waterfront property and making it a trail or dealing with urban blight,” Buck said. “We noticed a growing interest in the region around APVs and had intimate knowledge about robust teams and clubs friendly to autonomous vehicles.”

The possibilities for economic opportunities expand with the individual components involved in producing an APV. Ideally, the group wants to attract the businesses that would provide services for APV technology – anything from software to manufacturing.

“What’s exciting is you look at the work involved, for example, in autonomous vehicles, you have batteries, controllers, and software – there’s a lot of technology, and we’re trying to cover all areas,” Boyer said.

The group is currently working on making connections. For example, Empire Unmanned is planning to survey agricultural fields with APVs and will need pilots to control the vehicles remotely. In response to that need, NIC created a course for training purposes. In addition, the city of Rathdrum offered a 320-acre property off Greensferry Road for the training.

“As it grows, there will be classes in repairing the vehicles and on how to interpret the data,” he said.

To realize more of these connections, Future Frontiers has outlined 17 tactics to implement if they make it to the semi-final round. If the group wins the $100,000 prize next month, they can begin their outreach tactics. Part of the plan is to compile literature and visit area K through 12 schools to teach students about the careers in technology available to them and the education needed.

Another tactic is the creation of the APV Mentorship Program (AMP!) which would bring experts to the assistance of an APV start-up. Another form of mentorship would oversee students in developing their skills and expertise.

“We feel that from these small communities there’s an advantage to provide one-on-one mentoring,” Buck said.

But for now, the group’s plans are contingent on reaching ABC’s semi-final round this month. For Future Frontiers, it’s a matter of when they make it, not if. However, they plan on continuing the work even if they are not selected.

“We look at this as long-term plans for economic growth for the area,” Boyer said.

“This is a very ambitious project. Our vision underscores being a leading region of the world for the commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles,” Buck said.

For more information about Future Frontiers, visit futurefrontiersabc.com.

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