Q&A with Gov. Holcomb, hunting for Hoosier jobs in Australia and Singapore

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) chatted with WANE 15 from Australia, where he is on another overseas economic development trip.

Holcomb will also visit Singapore before heading home.

The trips are paid for with private donations to the Indiana Economic Development Foundation.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

WANE 15: This is your 24th economic development trip overseas. You’re averaging one a quarter and you’re not done with your term yet. What drives you? Do you think the ROI is there?

GOV. HOLCOMB: Yeah, the ROI is more than there. That’s what drives me: the opportunities are accelerating. It’s exhilarating to see all the possibilities that are out there, all the new opportunities that can come back to Indiana, but then the competition is there, too. There are other governors and prime ministers and presidents doing this all over the world every single day. When we go anywhere, I always ask “how many governors have been here this year?” Three to Australia by the way. So I’m in the second row. I’m looking at it like a racecar driver looks. I want to get to the pole position. But thankfully, they were looking in different spaces when they came to the land down under. And so we’re not competing for the exact same projects. But when you look at last year’s capital investments into the state of Indiana through the IEDC that was $28.7 billion, an all time record high. 71% of that was foreign direct investment. 71%! So you have to show up. If you’re not in the room, the meetings still happen. It’s just with someone else and it’s called your competition. Statewide, we’re becoming this kind of data storage and transmitter capital of the country. When industry is looking at going somewhere, they want to make sure that they have access to power and water and data, the infrastructure, the roads, the rail, the ports, both air and water, and we really have them all. What the difference is, or the X Factor is, do you show up? Because it will not come to you. If we get in the room, there’s a real good likelihood that something really good is gonna come from it.

WANE 15: Some of the critics of the Fort Wayne Google data center project are saying that we got hoodwinked, that Google is going to take all our electricity and our water and give back 200 jobs. But you’re pursuing that sector. Do you see any risk in that?

GOV. HOLCOMB: Data rules and we want to win the AI war. Innovation is here to stay. It was when my great-grandfather was a blacksmith and he was shoeing horses. And then the horseless carriage replaced the horse and buggy. We’re always going to be innovating. We’re always going to be digitally driven. The question is, what place will you have in that? We’ve got these talent generators and pipelines to industry. The one common denominator they all need his data. And by the way, it may be 200 jobs, but it’s billions toward the tax rolls. So it’s not just a we want more careers to come. It’s we want people to invest in our state. That’s going to matter to schools and local roads and our budgets. You’re either growing or dying.

WANE 15: So you see no risk of us being short of water or electricity?

GOV. HOLCOMB: Every single deal goes through a very thorough and thoughtful process and we determine if we have the water and power. Thankfully, in a state like Indiana [we do]. I just had this conversation yesterday with a company in Australia, about the unique collaboration that is occurring in the state of Indiana, where we get our utility partners to come together and work together. When I’m competing against Ohio and Michigan and Illinois, those three governors have stood up and said, “we have water; we’re open for business,” and they use that as an asset, rightfully so. And so do we. We have to show where that water is and that’s what we’re doing so the deals don’t get done unless we have the water and local partnerships. We work harmoniously in unison with landowners, with local officials, all the stakeholders before these deals come to fruition.

WANE 15: Do you think that if you look back 10 years from now, you might consider that instead of spending all this time overseas looking for these big deals that if you had been more focused on education, the state would have had a greater ROI?

GOV. HOLCOMB: These deals are funding our education! Over half of our budget is going toward education. We’re one of the top states that makes investments in our education. And that is our ROI. Education has multiple stakeholders, too, including the home life and the parents, who have some responsibility as well. When you look at these scores, and you see some low performing students, there are also students that are going on to IU and Purdue or to the Ivy League from those very same schools. And so it’s more than one factor, but contributing financially from a state perspective to our education, Indiana is strong. There are other states that look and ask us how we devote so much toward our schools. And that’s the right priority, by the way, we need to invest in education. But we cannot retreat on our economic development pursuits, as well. If we retreat from those, then we don’t have the money to build trails, to invest in education, to increase our state commitment to local communities by 1,500% for health and wellness initiatives. If the economy is stagnant or shrinking, the funding for education will shrink, as well. You have to do both. And so, yeah, we’re gonna pedal to the metal to my last minute of my last day.

WANE 15: Anything else you’d want to add?

GOV. HOLCOMB: I can’t wait to get home. I won’t be a boomerang, immediately coming back to Australia. It’s a far, far away place. But it’s been very productive and they’re an ally, obviously, of strategic importance. We’re looking at energy, semiconductors, defense, advanced manufacturing, and this is an important trade route. Indiana can play a critical role with a partner like Australia.

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