From Point A to Point B: The Transportation and Logistics Cluster in Dakota County, MN

Abstract

This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between the City of Rosemount and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). A thriving and resilient local economy is key to community development. Business clusters—geographic concentrations of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field—are considered to be beneficial for local economic development. The goal of this project was to analyze existing business clusters in Rosemount and Dakota County, identify opportunities for synergies between existing businesses and clusters, and create a marketing strategy to attract or grow synergistic businesses. In collaboration with city project lead Kim Lindquist, Community Development Director for the City of Rosemount, a team of students in PA 5590: Topics in Economic and Community Development conducted semi-structured interviews and secondary data collection to identify key industry clusters in Dakota County and identify policy recommendations to leverage the county’s competitive advantages. A final report and presentation from the project are available.