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INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mike Pence Thursday announced plans to invest $1 billion over the next 10 years to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.
While touting Indiana’s business climate, Pence acknowledges the state could do more to support entrepreneurship.
“According to the Kaufman Foundation’s index of startup activity, Indiana today currently ranks 44th in the country in startups,” Pence says.
He says his $1 billion plan will address that. The plan does not commit $1 billion in new funding -- much of it continues current state investment in Indiana businesses.
Pence’s strategy would ask the legislature to continue spending $30 million a year in an Indiana-focused investment fund. And the plan includes the average $35 million a year the Indiana Public Retirement System, or INPRS, invests in Indiana companies. Pence encourages INPRS to increase its Hoosier-based investments to an average of about $50 million a year.
The governor also wants the General Assembly to expand an investment tax credit and appropriate $100 million for entrepreneurship education programs.
The Pence administration says the proposal aims to generate outside investment, potentially elevating the value of the overall plan.
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