MI2 Strategy Group Updates

Here is the latest news from our four strategy groups, which are focused on the four strategic focus areas defined by MI2's Metals Leadership Council: talent and workforce, branding, grants and funding, and sustainability.

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Talent and Workforce Strategy GroupThe Talent and Workforce Strategy Group gathered in person to host a summer planning session in person, meeting in Elizabethtown at the new Center of Kentucky Entrepreneurship which houses the Elizabethtown office of the Central Region Ecosystem for Arts, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (CREATE).Talent & Workforce Strategy Group Head Chris Boggs (Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products) oversaw the brainstorm, which was led by Talent & Workforce Strategy Group deputy Luke Ramsay. They were joined by Lee Davis (Wieland), Rich Ewald (Metals Innovation Initiative), Teresa Hayes (Logan Aluminum), Vijay Kamineni (Metals Innovation Initiative), Madison Lester (Wieland), Rob Morris (Novelis), Brad McCullough (Nucor), Buddy Steen (Western Kentucky University Innovation Lab), and Joshua Zaczek (Western Kentucky University Workforce Participation Innovation Lab).The group discussed learnings from projects in the past year and the most pressing challenges the Kentucky metals industry faces as it looks at the future of its talent pipeline. The strategy group ended the day by providing thinking and guidance to the MI2 core team and the strategy group leader as the Metals Leadership Council considers priorities for MI2's second year. Branding Strategy GroupBranding Strategy Group Head Bob Eviston (River Metals Recycling) and deputy Sam Ford held a virtual annual planning session in July for the Branding Strategy Group. The team discussed progress made in year one in bringing the Kentucky innovation, research, and economic development ecosystem into greater partnership with the metals industry and then further discussed priorities for the year ahead, as well as potential solutions that might address those priorities. The group participating in the discussion included JD Atkinson (Logan Aluminum), Landon Borders (University of Kentucky), David Brock (Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development), Terrance Brown (Western Kentucky University), Rich Ewald (Metals Innovation Initiative), and Vijay Kamineni (Metals Innovation Initiative).Grants and Funding Strategy GroupMI2 Grants & Funding Strategy Group Deputy Ruthie Caldwell led an annual planning meeting for the group to help inform potential MI2 priorities for the upcoming year on July 14th. The virtual meeting included Rich Ewald (Metals Innovation Initiative), Shana Herron (University of Kentucky), Kim Sayre (University of Kentucky), and Cathleen Webb (Western Kentucky University). In the virtual meeting, the team reviewed grant activity from MI2's first year and discussed priorities for the year ahead, to help inform the work of MI2's core team and the Metals Leadership Council as they consider priorities for what's to come.Sustainability Strategy GroupSustainability Strategy Group Head Andy Ishmael (Tri-Arrows Aluminum) and Deputy Ben Atkinson have been working on strategies for MI2 sustainability initiatives in the year ahead, informed by the pilot projects MI2 is operating. That includesthe two-part trial for a hydrogen fuel cell powered truck and an electric battery powered truck being conducted at Logan Aluminum and a project led by a team at Novelis in partnership with MI2 and the sustainability strategy group on best practices for measuring waste heat and ideas and inspiration for uses for what companies can do with excess heat they create.MI2 Core Team Year Two Strategy DiscussionBased on the work of the four strategy groups in thinking about priorities heading into the next year, MI2's strategy group deputies gathered with other members of the MI2 core team in Lexington on Friday, July 21st, to discuss points of common interest across the four strategy groups when it comes to the challenges MI2 might tackle in year two and beyond. That thinking helped inform an extended planning meeting MI2 CEO Vijay Kamineni and Director of Strategic Initiatives Chris Conrardy held with the Metals Leadership Council in late July to settle on year two priorities for the organization.