News and Events

On Thursday, January 26, 2012, Jeff Borling represented the region at the 2012 Minnesota Green Chemistry Conference, delivering a presentation highlighting the many opportunities available in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin for chemical and fuel companies utilizing renewable wood resources to produce value-added goods. Borling noted the closure of the three Ainsworth wallboard factories in northern Minnesota as a clear opportunity for these growing companies, both in the advantage of leveraging existing assets at the plant sites themselves, and in the advantage of recapturing the un- or under-utilized timber resources no longer being harvested for these production facilities. 

An overview of the progress made by APEX and the Itasca Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) in redeveloping one of these plants as the Itasca Eco Industrial Park was also provided, with high-level information regarding the integrated development concept IEDC and APEX are leveraging to promote the growth of synergistic wood products companies at this location. As talks progress with a potential anchor tenant at the site, this site could offer significant competitive advantages to co-located companies seeking to produce green chemicals and other value-added goods from wood, or from the byproducts generated by the anchor tenant. 

Aditional speakers at the conference included representatives from Dow Chemical Company, SC Johnson, Ecolab, Segetis, Reluceo, the Minnesota Dept. of Employment & Economic Development (DEED), and the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, among others.  These and many other well known companies are in the process of developing and/or bringing to market exciting new products that could very well be made from wood feedstocks in the near future. 

These products include plastics, reinforced composites, pigments and inks, paint additives, adhesives - even compostable baby diapers - all of which would be a welcome addition in helping to diversify the forest products industries of Minnesota and Wisconsin and all of which would be welcome additions as manufacturing processes housed at the Itasca Eco Industrial Park.

To learn more about Minnesota's Green Chemistry activities or the opportunities available for your business at the Itasca Eco Industrial Park, please contact Jeff Borling: 218-326-9411 x.23

On January 19, 2012, APEX hosted a reception at the Kitchi Gammi Club for several regional businesses interested in learning more about APEX and the benefits of membership.  Rob West, APEX President & CEO, outlined the organization's mission, vision and key objectives in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, making the business case for becoming an APEX member.  Representatives from seven businesses in a diverse set of industries attended the reception, along with several members of the APEX Executive Committee and staff. 

One of these companies was Island Investment, Inc., which manages and develops many properties throughout the region, including the Canal Park Lodge in Duluth, the Holiday Inn Express in Mt. Iron, and Canal Park Brewing Company, currently being built on the lake front in Canal Park.  Talks have continued with Company representatives since January and Island Investment is planning to join APEX in the near future.

We look forward to welcoming Island Investment, Inc. and others to join our list of new members for 2012, which includes Involta, Citon Computer Corporation, C.W. Technologies, Granite Equity Partners, and Itasca Economic Development Corporation.  We thank these and all our members for supporting our efforts to help create jobs and increase investment activity in our region.

If you would like more information about an APEX membership for your business, please contact Sandy Johnson: (218) 740-3667

Over the past several weeks, Per Carlsson, owner of ABioNova, a Swedish biomass boiler manufacturer, has been on site at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Station in Finland, Minnesota, overseeing the installation of his BioMax Commercial Boiler system, which were introduced into the U.S. market in early 2010. APEX has worked together with the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota to assist ABioNova in all aspects of its U.S. expansion strategy, from identifying potential customers and market opportunities to establishing contract agreements with local companies capable of providing manufacturing support, sales and distribution strategies, installation and service agreements, and more. 

In partnership with Italian designer D’Alessandro Thermomeccanica Company of Miglianico, Italy, ABioNova has developed a biomass boiler system that ranges in size from 440,000 to 6,800,000 btu/hour output capacity.  These unique systems use the latest in computer-controlled technology to maintain the highest possible efficiency, no matter what type of biomass fuel is burned - woodchips, wood pellets, etc. To bring these systems to the U.S. market, ABioNova brought on WoodMaster out of Red Lake Falls, MN as its sales and distribution partner and set up a contract with Superior Steel in the Twin Ports to provide manufacturing support.

Although the team has already installed several boilers in the northeastern U.S., the installation in Finland, Minnesota represents the first project in the APEX service territory. This installation involved two boilers, which allows for greater handling of peak and off-peak loads. The smaller boiler offers a capacity of 1.2 million BTU/hr and the larger about 2.2 million BTU/hr. Although these systems can burn wood chips, this installation is set up to burn wood pellets, with a 20-ton pellet silo on site. 

In the coldest part of the year, 20 ons of wood pellets would provide about 10 or so days of heating for this customer. The pellets are being supplied by Great Lakes Renewable Energy of Hayward, Wisconsin and estimates suggest that these pellets will offer a 50% cost savings over propane per million BTU. ABE Systems of Duluth was the prime contractor on the install and may provide similar support for additional installations being considered in this region.

This project tells a great story about the ability of biomass and wood pellet fuels to allow regional economies to capture as much energy spending within their local communities as possible. Instead of paying twice as much for propane and seeing almost all of those dollars flow immediately out of the region, Wolf Ridge will spend less for fuel harvested and produced in northern Wisconsin, they will feed that fuel into boilers manufactured in Superior, and the boilers were installed and will be serviced by Minnesota companies. All of this leads to new economic activity and jobs in our region.

Several new members have joined APEX in 2012, including Involta, an Iowa-based company which provides full service data center facilities and expertise to manage and protect mission critical computer systems and associated data. Founded in 2007, Involta was ranked #40 on the 2010 Inc 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States and is recognized as a preeminent provider of data center facilities and technology services in the Central United States. APEX and its partners worked extensively with the Involta management team in 2011, as the Company moved forward with plans for a new data storage facility in the Duluth Technology Park.

Also new to APEX this year is CW Technology, a leading provider in networks, information technology, print management and phone systems in the upper Midwest. CW Technology serves a wide range of customers and clientele from all over the five-state region, including city governments, health care providers, financial institutions, regional corporations, small businesses and home users. CW Technology recently announced several new additions to its Duluth staff and anticipates a strong year in 2012.

Granite Equity Partners has also joined APEX in 2012, further strengthening the relationship between APEX and one of Minnesota's leading private investment firms. Headquartered in St. Cloud, 

Granite Equity Partners is a private investment firm founded by community-based entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and business professionals, who intend to make a positive impact on businesses in Greater Minnesota. The firm specializes in financing buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth company transactions, which include the sale or purchase of a business, generational transfers, or business expansions.

Finally, we are pleased to report that Citon Computer Corp has joined APEX this year. Citon specializes in IT innovation - from customized commercial PCs, to the design and deployment of high-end security solutions for international companies. The Company recently relocated to a new headquarters building in downtown Duluth to accommodate the growth of its three core businesses - Citon, Telcologix and Vilarri Mobile Solutions. The new facility will also house Citon's new Cloud Computing Data Center, further expanding its service offering to customers and clientele.

Like all APEX members, the companies above have a vested interest in seeing the communities of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin thrive. They have invested in APEX because of our results-driven approach to driving new investments and private sector job growth throughout the region.  If your business is interested in joining APEX, you can learn more by contacting Sandy Johnson at: (218) 740-3667 

In the meantime, please join us in welcoming Involta, CW Technology, Granite Equity Partners, and Citon Computer Corp as the newest members of APEX!

On December 16, 2012, Joe Broking, President & CEO of Itasca Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), met with Rob West, President & CEO of APEX to discuss the results of the two organizations’ collaborative efforts over the past two years and to renew the contract which defines the agreement. Under the terms of this arrangement, APEX provides a fulltime staff person to serve as a member of the IEDC team in Grand Rapids, with an objective of driving new economic activity and job growth in and around Itasca County.

The contract with APEX, initiated in February, 2010, came on the heels of the IEDC’s decision to purchase the former Ainsworth oriented strand board manufacturing facility in Grand Rapids and has provided a necessary level of support as IEDC completed a period of management transition and worked to redevelop the former board plant for future use. As such, much of the team’s work over the past two years has been focused on redeveloping the site as the Itasca Eco Industrial Park (IEIP), a premiere location for world-class manufacturing operations in the heart of North America.

In marketing this property to new and expanding businesses, the APEX/IEDC team sought to attract companies which would leverage the region’s extensive timber resources, so as to regain not just the production jobs lost through the closure of the Ainsworth operation, but also the logging and supplier jobs associated with the timber demand of the former OSB mill.

Given the sustained downturn in the nation’s housing market and flat growth reported in the region’s paper/pulp mills, the team quickly set its sights on the advanced biofuels, biochemical and biopharmaceutical industries, as among the few areas of notable growth in the nation’s forest products sector. An extensive marketing plan was developed to penetrate these industries and today, the team is pleased to report that a memo of understanding has been executed with one of the world’s leading advanced biofuels producers. Formal agreements are expected to be secured sometime in 2012.

Today, as the APEX/IEDC team looks to renew its contract for the next two years, the 2012-2013 marketing plan has been expanded to focus on a number of other opportunities in and around Itasca County, beyond the work which continues to progress at the IEIP. The APEX/IEDC team will continue its efforts to close the deal with the potential anchor tenant and to market the remaining land parcels to other synergistic businesses, but 2012 will also see the rise of new initiatives aimed at supporting the large mining-related projects in Itasca County and expanding the IT/Computer Sciences sector in the Grand Rapids area.

If you would like to learn more about APEX’s work in Itasca County and across Minnesota’s Iron Range communities, please contact Jeff Borling at: (218) 326-9411, ext. 23

On October 4th, 2011, the APEX team participated in the Northern Regional Broadband Networks Forum: Driving Business Development and Innovation. During this afternoon forum, over 100 area business owners and leaders gathered to learn more about new business opportunities available through the region's ever-expanding fiber optics network, while further exploring what networks currently exist or are being built in our region. Rob West, APEX President & CEO, facilitated the discussion and moderated presentations delivered by representatives from some of the region's leading companies, public sector leaders and academic institutions, including Involta, UW Extension, Cook County, Granite Gear, and UnitedHealth Group. Representatives from each entity commented on various elements of how broadband technology impacts their day-to-day business, with specific examples of how they have successfully leveraged this technology for greater access to customers, deeper collaborations, educational transformation, and greater rural competitiveness.

APEX would like to thank its economic development partners Minnesota Power, Blandin Foundation, Northspan Group and the Northland Technology Consortium for sponsoring this event.  To learn more about how you can leverage broadband technology to grow your business, please contact Elissa Hansen at: (218) 740-3667

On September 22, 2011, APEX Members and economic development partners gathered together with representatives from Involta to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new $10.5 million hardened enterprise data center in the Duluth Technology Park. Construction of Phase I, a 24,000 square foot facility, should be completed and operational by mid-year 2012. In addition, a $2.3 million satellite data center will be housed in the former Daugherty Hardware building at Sixth Avenue East and Fourth Street to serve Essentia Health, one of Involta's largest clients in the Duluth area.

Bruce Lehrman, Involta's CEO, called this "a very exciting day," and thanked APEX and its many partners for helping to keep the project moving forward. This milestone comes after nearly five years of persistent hard work, since the APEX management, staff, board of directors and general membership first conceptualized the data center attraction strategy and implemented a marketing campaign highlighting the region for growing companies in this dynamic industry. The next phase of this strategy will be rolled out in early 2012. To learn more, please contact Elissa Hansen at (218) 740-3667

On Tuesday, September 20, 2011, APEX President & CEO, Rob West, and Director of Itasca Business Development, Jeff Borling, participated in the 2011 Minnesota Bioscience Summit, presented by LifeScience Alley and the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota.  This year's event, entitled, "Three Technology Mega-Trends That Are Changing Our World," showcased major advances in Minnesota's biopharmaceutical, medical device, animal health, renewable energy and renewable materials industries. Experts in Minnesota's bioscience community described how their worlds are being shaped by: 

        • The Genomics, Proteomics and Synthetic Biology Revolution 
        • Disruptive Platform Technologies in Materials Science 
        • Bioinformatics as the Ultimate Enabling Technology

With a welcome address from Governor Mark Dayton and a keynote address delivered by Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of LifeScience Alley and BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, this year's summit attracted more than 300 members from Minnesota's bio-based scientific, engineering, and technology industries, as well as policymakers, academic leaders, economic developers, media, and investors. 

APEX was on hand to represent the northeast region of Minnesota and to identify key insights and opportunities to be factored into regional business expansion and attraction efforts. With several renewable energy and materials projects in various stages of development throughout the region, not to mention a small group of quietly-emerging medical device companies, Minnesota's fast-changing biosciences industries continue to grow in importance to the Northland economy. 

For additonal information about the 2011 Minnesota Bioscience Summit, or to learn more about APEX's activities in this arena, please contact Jeff Borling at: (218) 326-9411

From September 11-14, 2011, Elissa Hansen, APEX Director of Business Development, represented the region at the 2011 Data Center World Conference in Orlando, an event hosted by AFCOM, the leading association of data center management professionals, representing 4,500 of the largest data centers in the world. This event is one of two annual Data Center World conferences which are the largest global events of their kind and have been named among the 50 fastest growing tradeshows in the United States.

This year's conference offered several track options, including Cloud Computing, Data Center Management, and Data Center Protection, Prevention and Recovery. Other sessions included case study presentations which provided valuable insights as APEX works to expand its data center attraction strategy to target single-tenant data centers for expansion in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. 

Throughout each presentation, speakers stressed that economic developers must have a clear understanding of the main line of business their target companies are engaged in, to best determine what requirements will be needed as each company works to site new data center facilities. It was clear that greenfield site options offer several major advantages over existing building retrofits, such as: 

    • Lower operating expenses, with a custom design using the newest

       technologies and an option to build-out additional suites as needed 
    • Maximized business continuity, since the new data center will be built while

       the current data goes undisturbed 
    • More competitive development packages, as new construction is thought to

       carry higher potential for securing local-level economic incentives 
    • Greater assurances for employee attraction, with strategic site-selection

       focused on labor market proximity 
    • Minimization of risk, with the ability to avoid problematic areas and better

       control the timing of data migration

Disadvantages include higher capital expenditures, longer completion timelines, and internal congestion resulting from having "too many chefs in the kitchen." Conversely, speakers argued that when a company decides to expand existing data center operations or collocate with an established company, there are fewer decision makers involved compared to a new construction project.

Regardless of whether an existing building or greenfield site are being considered, the primary message was that if a site doesn’t have redundant fiber and reliable electric utility infrastructure, then it is not a viable option for a modern data storage facility. Many companies will not shy away from investing to bring the power and fiber up to required standards, but they will of course treat this like any infrastructure expansion and will look to the surrounding community to share in that investment.

In addition to supplying valuable insights and insider information, the 2011 Data Center World conference also offered ample opportunities to network with growing companies and key industry leaders. APEX attended the event with representatives from Involta, a new APEX member which recently broke ground on a $10.5 million project in Duluth. With Involta's expanded presense in the Duluth market, the Northland region has a compelling value proposition for both single-tenant data centers and additional co-location tenants.

If you would like to learn more about the 2011 Data Center World conference or APEX's data center attraction strategy, please contact Elissa Hansen: 218-740-3667

On Thursday, August 25, 2011, Enventis, a Duluth-based subsidiary of HickoryTech, broke ground on a $24 million expansion of the region's broadband fiber-optic network at a ceremony in the Twin Ports.  This initiative, known as the Greater Minnesota Broadband Collaborative Project, will leverage funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve high-speed Internet access in rural communities, connecting health care facilities, schools, libraries, higher education institutions and public offices with an advanced high-capacity broadband network.

Enventis started construction of the fiber network in July in northern Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. The approximate 430 miles of fiber network will be constructed over the next two years. Enventis was awarded a $16.8 million grant last August as part of the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). The company will contribute an additional $7.2 million to the project over the next two years.

“The project, which will be completed by 2013, will significantly increase our fiber network and enable high-capacity broadband services in greater Minnesota as well as create jobs,” said John Finke, president and chief executive officer of HickoryTech. “Construction has begun on the first phase of the project, the northern fiber route which will extend from northern Minneapolis to Duluth, and into Superior, Wisconsin.”

Representatives from APEX joined in celebrating the

Company's success at the groundbreaking ceremony in Duluth, together with representatives from the business community and all levels of government.  The keynote address was delivered by Senator Amy Klobuchar, who touted the many direct and in-direct jobs that will be created as a result of the project. 

If you would like to learn more about this project, or how Enventis' services can benefit your business, please contact Greg Flanagan, Director of Business Development &  Wholesale Services: 218-740-6153