Over the past several years, Northeast Indiana has continued to demonstrate what sets this region apart: a willingness to think ahead, act together, and take on the work required to strengthen our long-term competitiveness. We’ve built momentum in business development, regional collaboration, and national visibility, laying the foundation for our next chapter.
But as we look toward 2026 and beyond, it is clear that the economic landscape is shifting faster than at any point in recent memory. Technology, especially artificial intelligence, is reshaping how value is created in every major employer sector. Workforce expectations are evolving. Higher education is undergoing rapid transformation. And employers are adapting at a pace that challenges traditional systems.
These changes aren’t speculative; they are already here and accelerating. AI companies are investing hundreds of billions into new LLMs, agents, and robotics that will make many routine tasks dramatically cheaper. As a result, employers will restructure workflows, reshape low- and mid-skill labor pools, and accelerate regional divergence, with high-capability hubs separating from communities that fail to adapt. The risk we must avoid is underestimating the speed at which this change will unfold.
This moment calls for honesty, clarity, and a willingness to confront the deeper forces shaping our regional economy. Not with alarm or pessimism, but with the pragmatism and ambition that have guided Northeast Indiana for decades.
Over the past month, NEI has been working closely with our regional colleges and universities on an ambitious planning effort, one aimed at ensuring our institutions, employers, and communities are equipped for the realities of an AI-augmented economy. This collaborative work is being strengthened by the Lilly Endowment’s landmark Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education initiative, a $500 million statewide investment that gives Indiana an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how our institutions prepare learners for an AI-shaped future.
The timing could not be more aligned. Lilly’s initiative reinforces exactly the direction our region is already moving. Our regional planning efforts are positioning Northeast Indiana to take full advantage of this moment and to lead in ways that reflect both our strengths and our aspirations.
Across the country, regions are wrestling with similar questions:
- How do we prepare students and workers for roles shaped by AI and automation?
- How do we maintain economic competitiveness when productivity expectations rise faster than traditional systems can respond?
- How do we ensure technological change expands opportunity rather than narrowing it?
- And how do we protect the human-centered strengths, judgment, problem-solving, and creativity that no technology can replace?
These questions are especially relevant for regions like ours, where stability and affordability have long been competitive advantages.
The good news is that Northeast Indiana is not starting from zero. We have the ingredients many regions envy:
- A nationally competitive advanced manufacturing base
- Healthcare systems actively integrating intelligent tools
- A rising creative and design sector
- Employers eager to engage
- Institutions ready to innovate
- And a civic and business community that understands the value of long-term thinking
We also have a rare window of opportunity through the Lilly Endowment’s AIHE initiative. This investment aligns directly with our regional approach.
This is just the beginning of that conversation. A deeper discussion will follow soon. But one thing is already clear: we are not waiting for change to arrive; we are building the systems and capabilities that will allow us to thrive through it. And I am confident that, with the partnerships already forming across our region, we will.
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