STATE COLLEGE — In October of 2024, the Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre County and the Economic Development Council launched an economic development plan in hopes of strengthening community engagement.

Since the launch of the plan, Centre County has worked with various companies to see how they could better support them and their companies growth.

The economic plan consists of four main areas of focus: business retention and expansion, targeted and emerging industries, workforce and education, and built and natural environment.

Within these four main areas, there are plenty of sub categories and goals in order to put each main focus into effect.

Within the business retention and expansion topic, some specific focuses include streamlining and expanding resources for early stage businesses, and finding businesses with substantial growth and communicating with them to find out what they need in order to grow to the next level and ensure that they can do that while also staying in Centre County. In order to do this the CBICC and Economic Development Council plan to work to “formalize a multi-organizational concierge service to help entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate the pathway to start and sustain a business in Centre County.” Implementing this plan would include creating a resource guide for all new businesses to view.

In order to follow through with the plan, the county will “increase access to capital by building tighter connections between entrepreneurs and Penn State, particularly aligned with Pa.’s targeted industries.”

To evaluate how the plan was working for each business, the CBICC would conduct an annual survey of all employers to learn what is keeping them in Centre County and what they would need in order to grow and evolve.

The second category focuses on targeted and emerging industries. One of the main projects in this category include the development of sensors. The economic development plan reads, “Mount Nittany Health is reinvesting $600 million over seven years into the community with new technology, clinical programming and services, and Penn State is expanding its corporate engagement center to grow and deepen relationships with companies.”

In attempts to do this, some of the specifics involve developing a regional brand that goes beyond Penn State University and State College and represents both, and establishing an advisory group to embed sensor technology advances in all Pennsylvania targeted industry sectors.

Sensor technology is one of the most talked about topics in this category and within the entire development plan. “The sensor market is expected to increase nearly 10% from 2024-31. Analytic laboratory instrument manufacturing is heavily concentrated in the county,” the plan states

The plan also describes that sensor technology of all types, including pressure, temperature, image, motion, fingerprint, level, gas, magnetic, position, and light, are concentrated in Centre County.

The plan at hand is to continue to research and develop sensor technology. “The convergence of sensor and robotics technology propelled by AI offers transformative potential for precision farming. This integration can result in autonomous farming systems that perform routine agricultural tasks and adapt to changing environmental conditions thereby enhancing crop resilience in the face of climate change.” In order to keep this plan afloat and make sure things are running smoothly, the CBICC plans to provide opportunities for quarterly updates from Penn State representatives during Chamber of Economic Development council meetings.

The third category is the workforce and education section, where the hope is to strengthen workforce ecosystem connections to develop and retain talent.

The first point of the plan states, “Formalize more networking and professional development events between Penn State students, young professional groups, and local employers to build relationships with entry level talent.” They also hope to launch a talent attraction campaign aligned with the county’s targeted industries. The workforce and education standpoint goes hand in hand, as students of Penn State will help and gain from the growing workforce.

The pathway to the workforce will start even as young as middle school and high school in Centre County, ensuring that children are getting the correct education needed to grow and succeed.

The final section, Built and Natural Environment, is the section that highlights State College and Centre County as a whole. It highlights the needs to improve Centre County’s cosmetics.

The first written point in the plan states, “Amplify Happy Valley as Central Pa’s tourism, outdoor recreation, and sports destination hub.” In 2024 alone, an estimated five million people traveled to Penn State for sporting events. The goal is to continue to get bigger and better, bringing more people in each year.The ultimate goal on top of upgrading Centre County’s appearance, is to make it a more pleasurable place to live.

The plan is to commit to better and more attainable housing, invest in more spots for social gatherings and events, and expand and “improve entertainment, meeting, arts, and sports venues to strengthen the vitality of Centre County.”

By splitting the plan into four different main topics, it provides a clear vision for what and how things will be improved. As society progresses, it’s important that places and ideas progress along with it. By improving businesses, industries, work and schools, and the environment, Centre County is hitting every main issue all within the same plan of action.