Plymouth Township Given 5 Stars for Positive Entrepreneurial Climate

The City of Novi has been recognized as a four-star community by iLabs at the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Center for Innovation Research. 

“It has always been a high priority for us to attract, retain and expand entrepreneurial ventures as well as business incubators.” Township Supervisor Richard Reaume said. “Plymouth Township is strong in the automotive sector and we continue to expand in the advanced technology and life science fields. We are truly honored to receive this recognition and will continue to work hard to make Plymouth Township a great place to do business for all entrepreneurs.”

Plymouth Township was honored along with over 50 other communities across the state. As a Five Star community, the township received the highest level of recognition possible.

Five-star communities spend a combined $2.2 million on economic development, have 15 percent of Michigan’s population with a professional degree and 92 percent share services related to economic development with another municipality.

The City of Plymouth was recognized as a four-star community. Four-star communities combined for over $1 billion in construction in 2012, increased assets by $94 million and more than 80 percent share services across municipalities. 

The eCities research surveyed 102 communities from 37 counties in Michigan that are home to 36 percent of Michigan residents and 40 percent of its college graduates. These communities count nearly one-third of the state’s entrepreneurs with over $3.2 billion in self-employed income as residents. These communities also had more than $1.8 billion in 2012 commercial construction and account for more than 48 percent of Michigan’s commercial property. The communities were honored on Thursday at UM-Dearborn. 

“This annual project makes the university part of the local leader’s toolkit for economic development. We are tackling a statewide concern and analyzing the parts that local leaders can directly impact,” said Tim Davis, director of iLabs, in the release. “Participating communities can identify best practices and methods they can implement to aid in job growth, economic diversification and development of entrepreneurs.” 

The annual eCities research project, which began in 2007, uses data supplied by the participants, as well as other public records to assemble a six-factor, 32-item index of entrepreneurial activity, looking at such factors as clustering, incentives, growth, policies, community and education. The study focuses on entrepreneurship because of its importance to expansion and diversification of Michigan’s regional economies and the impact small businesses have on job creation. To date, 182 communities across Michigan have participated in the study. 

Source: news release