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Mr. Griggs provided background information about Greater MSP and stated Greater MSP's mission is to accelerate job growth and capital investment in the Greater MSP region. He discussed Greater MSP's research efforts that looked at the economy as a whole to gain a better sense of the industries in this region that export products. He explained they then compared the Greater MSP region with other industries across the country and reviewed individual strengths in each of the sectors to determine where there are competitive advantages. He advised there are 27 subsectors in which Greater MSP has a competitive advantage and those subsectors fall into five categories, including financial services, advanced manufacturing /technology, health and life sciences, headquarters and business services, and food and water solutions. He described the tools used by Greater MSP to quantify what a company might want to know or how to target a company corning to the region and stated a number of data driven reports are available through Greater MSP, e.g., market profile, graphic profile, or household income reports. He stated that Greater MSP could provide assistance to cities in responding to RFI's that often include a tight turnaround time. He stated that the business retention and expansion function includes a job growth goal of a total increase of 100,000 jobs in Greater MSP by 2016, and after two years, 66,000 net new jobs were created in the region, which exceeds the goal of economists 'who predicted 75,000 jobs over five years. He stated that current targets include data centers, headquarters, financial services, medical device, dental equipment, and water technology; potential targets include healthcare IT, alternative vehicles, 3D printing, specialty food products, oil and gas professional services, plastics, pharma/in vitro, and robotics. He presented 2013 business investment results that include 20 project wins, 4,900 jobs pledged, over $870 million of capital investment pledged for the region, 130 projects in the pipeline and 268 additional qualified leads, adding that the business retention and expansion department conducted 653 coordinated visits during 2013. Ms. Barnett- Livgard stated that Ramsey's BR &E outreach is important and Greater MSP is willing to help with those efforts and to provide resources. She explained that Greater MSP's resources include cohosting BR &E meetings, generating lists of critical businesses to visit, collecting and analyzing data, and providing assistance in solving barriers. She stated that Greater MSP is interested in working in partnership with the City and to solve challenges and barriers together that will generate leads, retain companies, and win deals. Member Hardin asked if the City has been entering BR &E data into the Greater MSP system or doing visits with Greater MSP. Assistant to the City Administrator Brama replied the City has not yet been entering data into the Greater MSP system, adding that when the City did its first round of visits, the Greater MSP system was just coming online. He stated that data is available and could be entered at this time. Ms. Barnett- Livgard stated that Greater MSP is happy to assist with that data entry. City Administrator Ulrich stated that the City has experienced difficulty responding to RFI's because of the quick turnaround time and asked if there are ways the City could work with the County and/or Greater MSP to make sure that Ramsey is in a better position to respond timely. Economic Development Authority /January 9, 2014 Page 3 of 5