Spotlight On: Peter Frosch, President & CEO, GREATER MSP
August 2024 — In an interview with Invest:, Peter Frosch, president and CEO of GREATER MSP, discussed the organization’s transformative initiatives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, including pioneering efforts in MedTech 3.0, sustainable aviation fuel, workforce development, economic revitalization, and shaping a sustainable and innovative future.
What have been the top milestones and achievements for the organization over the past year?
GREATER MSP has been addressing national and global challenges by building new and revitalizing existing industries for the new economy. A prime example is our work in Minneapolis-St. Paul, a global hub for medical technology. Over the past year, we’ve united major players including Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Mayo Clinic, UnitedHealth Group, and other key health insurers and hospital systems, along with the University of Minnesota, one of the country’s leading research universities.
Together, we’ve developed a new strategy called MedTech 3.0, aimed at advancing cures and treatments in a cost-conscious manner. This strategy leverages AI, machine learning, and big data within the healthcare sector. It also involves strategic collaborations between payers, hospital systems, university research, and medical technology companies. Previously, interactions among these entities were sporadic, but now they’re strategically aligned due to shared innovation goals.
A significant outcome has been the creation of joint projects like a data alliance, which amalgamates a century of patient data from these large health institutions. This initiative provides entrepreneurs easy access to data for developing new companies. Additionally, we’re implementing new capital solutions to accelerate the scaling of startups and crafting a joint talent and workforce plan that anticipates tens of thousands of new hires in the healthcare sector.
A pivotal moment for us was when we formulated this strategy into a proposal for the national Tech Hubs competition — and won. Designated by the federal government and President Joe Biden as America’s tech hub for medical technology, we have since taken our strategy global, reaching out to partners in Japan, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the UK.
Currently, 250 people across 50 entities are collaboratively working to implement this strategy, which was nonexistent just 12 months ago. It’s an entirely new venture, and it’s incredibly exciting.
What initiatives does the organization have in place to strengthen its impact across the different industries you target?
The GREATER MSP Partnership has been working on analyzing, strategizing, and executing talent and workforce strategies for over a decade. We’ve learned a great deal and are in dialogue with regions around the country, facing a common challenge, which is scaling. Innovative work is happening, but it impacts only hundreds of people, whereas our goal is to affect thousands or tens of thousands of people.
Our approach has evolved to a more demand-driven model, starting with the needs of employers within specific industries, which mirrors how the private sector typically organizes. A practical example of this was our response to the federal government’s CHIPS and Science Act, which invited semiconductor companies to apply for expansion funding. In our market, there are 14 semiconductor-related companies, including suppliers, that have been around for over 40 years. These companies, though not as large as Intel or Samsung, recognized the need to collaborate.
They approached GREATER MSP for help in competing for these funds, specifically needing shared talent and workforce training. We worked with them to project their needs over the next five to seven years in terms of occupations and numbers. We then aggregated and anonymized this data to create a demand forecast of 7,000 to 10,000 jobs—some of the best-paying jobs in the country.
We brought together the University of Minnesota, Minnesota State, community colleges, and community-based organizations. Together, we committed to building a solution to meet this demand, resulting in a large-scale talent initiative unlike anything we’ve done before. This approach was validated during a visit from Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Sen. Amy Klobuchar in Bloomington. They were highly impressed with our workforce strategy, praising it as one of the best in America.
Encouraged by this success, we applied the same demand-driven approach to the medtech sector and are now exploring how to replicate this model in biomanufacturing, finance, and insurance. While these initiatives don’t encompass the entire economy, they represent a significant and growing impact on tens of thousands of jobs.
How is GREATER MSP adapting to the challenges presented by the economic environment?
The economic landscape, particularly in the housing market, presents unique challenges and opportunities. Migration trends in America have shifted, largely because many are reluctant to relinquish their 2.9% mortgages. This trend retains residents but can make attracting new ones more difficult. On the commercial side, despite higher interest rates complicating apartment and condo construction, we have found ways to persist.
A key initiative in navigating these challenges is the GroundBreak Coalition, which has proven to be a highly effective community development effort. We’ve aligned over a billion dollars toward this initiative, aiming to significantly increase homeownership in BIPOC communities, create affordable housing units, support BIPOC small-business owners, and develop community-supported commercial projects.
We have the backing of over 10 major financial institutions, and these funds are actively being utilized. We are focusing on preparing individuals to be mortgage-ready, offering mortgages that come with high integrity standards, down-payment insurance, and financial cushions for emergencies like home repairs. This approach ensures that new homeowners, especially first-time buyers, are financially secure and less likely to lose their homes.
We plan to scale this initiative, starting with dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands of individuals and families, creating valuable new assets throughout the community.
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What are some new initiatives related to sustainable aviation fuel that GREATER MSP is involved in?
We’ve embarked on a significant sustainable aviation fuel initiative, which we publicly launched last August. Delta Airlines presented GREATER MSP with a challenge: to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and source 10% of all its jet fuel sustainably by 2030. We formed a coalition with Delta Airlines, Xcel Energy, Ecolab, Bank of America, and others to establish what we believe is North America’s first sustainable aviation fuel hub. This collaboration aims to create an industrial-scale value chain to supply MSP Airport with billions of gallons of low-carbon, market-affordable sustainable aviation fuel.
Are there any recent laws or regulations that might have a big impact on the local economy?
Minnesota has launched two impactful funds, poised to bolster the local economy. The Minnesota Forward Fund, worth $400 million, and a new $100 million Green Bank aim to secure and match federal funds for key economic growth endeavors. Notably, the Forward Fund has already succeeded in securing semiconductor funds under the Chips and Science Act, with announcements forthcoming.
Additionally, we’re establishing BioMADE, the U.S. Defense Department’s BioManufacturing Institute, here in Minnesota. This initiative focuses on producing various products using bio-based inputs, matching $100 million in federal funds for the first pilot facility.
What are your expectations for GREATER MSP in the next few years?
Moving ahead, advancing the MedTech 3.0 strategy stands as a top priority for GREATER MSP, with a global significance. Another key focus is spearheading the green transition in Minneapolis-St. Paul, demanding large-scale innovation and urgency due to its global implications. We’re committed to implementing this transition industrially and forging partnerships worldwide to amplify its impact.
Moreover, we’re raising a $50 million venture fund aimed at supporting BIPOC and women startup founders in Minnesota. Despite challenges in the venture capital landscape, we’re making significant progress toward our goal, expecting it to fuel further investments and foster diverse enterprise growth.
Additionally, through the GroundBreak Coalition, we’re pledging another billion dollars over the next decade to support minority-owned small and medium-sized businesses in Minnesota. This effort, part of the Business Bridge procurement initiative, aims to drive wealth creation and reshape opportunity flows in the economy through targeted initiatives.
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