Greater Des Moines Partnership Releases New Global Trade & Investment Strategy to Maximize Region's Global Potential

Today, the Greater Des Moines Partnership announced the release of Global DSM, a comprehensive global trade and investment plan that outlines specific steps local business, civic and government leaders can take to leverage exports and foreign direct investment to grow global engagement. This strategy is an integral stage of the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s participation in the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. The final plan integrates lessons learned from previous GCI endeavors including an initial market assessment followed by export and foreign direct investment strategies.

With more than 85 percent of global growth through 2019 projected to occur outside the United States, global engagement is a necessity if cities want to catalyze both their economies and their workforce. Global companies — those that export and receive foreign direct investment — pay higher average wages, contribute more to regional R&D efforts, and increase productivity of domestic markets through the infusion of new technologies and practices.

"Leaders across the Greater Des Moines region have committed to take tangible action on what our research shows is key to a strong, diverse economy,” said Marek Gootman, fellow and director of strategic partnerships and global initiatives at the Brookings Institution. “Through this planning process, Greater Des Moines will determine how to better help local firms and the region take advantage of opportunities in the global marketplace. Greater Des Moines joins a select group of metro areas working to strengthen their international connections and competitiveness through the Global Cities Initiative, where executing regional trade and investment strategies is yielding measurable results.”

The initiative/plan was released today by Jay Byers, CEO, Greater Des Moines Partnership; Brad McDearman, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program; Kavilash Chawla, Partner, Baton Global and Visiting Scholar, Drake University; and Steve Dickinson, Attorney, Fredrikson & Byron P.A. and Chair of The Partnership’s International Council at the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

“We know that 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States and 75 percent of the world’s purchasing power is outside of the United States,” said Steve Dickinson, Attorney at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. and chair of The Partnership’s International Council. “Our market assessment shows us that we have an opportunity to attract significantly more foreign direct investment, gain recognition on the global stage in our key industry clusters, and continue to grow our region’s export numbers.”

“Greater Des Moines is a global community, and a robust globalization strategy is crucial to our economic development efforts,” said Jay Byers, CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. “This plan gives us clearly-defined objectives to accelerate our global growth, and a blueprint to reach those objectives.”

The plan lays out a goal to maximize Greater Des Moines’ long term economic competitiveness by accelerating the growth of key advanced industry clusters, including agriculture bioscience and finance and insurance, through global engagement. The plan lays out four distinct strategies to reach its objectives:

• Utilize the Cultivation Corridor to elevate Greater Des Moines as a global leader in agriculture bioscience.
• Increase the region’s global identity through the insurance and financial services key industry cluster.
• Emphasize global competitiveness in Business Retention and Expansion efforts. Greater Des Moines will implement a BRE program targeting global companies to better understand their needs and provide assistance and resources.
• Aggressively recruit and retain talent in Greater Des Moines by utilizing talent recruitment and development initiatives to attract global talent and train existing workforce to meet the needs of global firms.

“International trade and investment represents a promising pathway for local businesses to create jobs, attract capital and grow our economy.” said Jay Isaman, Executive Director, JPMorgan Chase. “JPMorgan Chase is proud to be a part of the development of Greater Des Moines’ export plan and to support innovative planning that will lead to our region’s future economic success.”

For more findings and information on Greater Des Moines’ global trade and investment plan, please visit DSMpartnership.com/GlobalBusiness.

Media inquiries should be directed to Sophia S. Ahmad at sahmad@DSMpartnership.com or (515) 286-4919 or Anthony Fiano at afiano@brookings.edu or (202) 238-3113.

About the Global Cities Initiative

The Global Cities Initiative is a joint-project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase designed to help metropolitan leaders advance and grow their regional economies by strengthening international connections and competitiveness on key economic indicators. GCI activities include producing data and research to guide decisions, fostering practice and policy innovations, and facilitating a peer-learning network through replication and dissemination. For more information, see brookings.edu/projects/global-cities.aspx or jpmorganchase.com/globalcities.

About the Greater Des Moines Partnership

The Greater Des Moines Partnership is the economic and community development organization that serves Greater Des Moines (DSM), Iowa. Together with 23 Affiliate Chambers of Commerce, more than 6,100 Regional Business Members and more than 320 Investors, The Partnership drives economic growth with one voice, one mission and as one region. Through innovation, strategic planning and global collaboration, The Partnership grows opportunity, helps create jobs and promotes DSM as the best place to build a business, a career and a future. Learn more at DSMpartnership.com.