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“Entrepreneurs and the businesses they start are the foundation of any strategy to revitalize rural America. Not only are entrepreneurs important to improving quality of life through new products and services, they also help communities grow with new investment and new jobs.” Senator Kent Conrad commented at the telecast for North Dakota's Strategy For Growth in the 21st Century address in July 2006. This telecast was provided through a cooperative agreement between the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC).

Senator Conrad's involvement in economic development is a key concern in the restructuring of North Dakota's financial stability and expansion. His involvement in ‘Marketplace for Entrepreneurs', the most influential forum for North Dakota's economic development, draws thousands of people to collaborate and to contribute ideas, to network, to learn from others, and to locate the resources needed to work toward successful business ventures. Senator Conrad additionally stated, “These are the best practices in an economic development strategy for North Dakota and for rural America. By identifying and focusing on key opportunities that fit with your area's strengths and combining those with education and entrepreneurship, the sky is the limit.”

North Dakota has combined its strategy to include incentives in education, value-added agriculture, energy, technology and quality of life issues which will ultimately result in job growth. The first strategy that Senator Conrad outlined focused on the opportunities that fit the State's strengths and resources including energy and agriculture sectors. These assets are North Dakota's largest in terms of potential growth. With this strength, new technologies such as ethanol and biodiesel are being leveraged. The second strategy is the aforementioned promotion of entrepreneurship.

Governor John Hoeven outlines his goals for securing resources from the private sector, the public sector and the university. This strategy targeted growth in: value-added agriculture, advanced manufacturing, technology based businesses, andtourism. According to Governor Hoeven, “With those targeted industries, we tried to bring our resources together in a coordinated way, to not just create jobs but career paths, higher paying jobs, careers here in North Dakota, not only so our people have opportunities but to bring others to our great state as well.” Other areas of strength utilizing traditional sources like coal, oil, and gas, as well as new, renewable energy such as ethanol and biodiesel. North Dakota is the sixth largest energy producing and exporting state in the country. Some 1,000 new jobs have been created as a result of the construction of the Falkirk Mine, The Coal Creek Station, a top performer in several national rankings of power plants and one of the most reliable and cost-efficient in the country, is fueled by the supply of lignite coal out of the Falkirk Mine. Jeff Zueger from Blue Flint Ethanol continued the discussion on North Dakota's energy industry by elaborating on the coal-to-liquids plant being proposed in Underwood, ND. Upon completion, the plant expects to include 35 to 40 full-time employees and during the plant's construction there will be peaks of about 300 employees.

North Dakota State University's Research and Technology Park, Inc. was the 2006 winner of EDA's Excellence in Economic Development Award in the category of Technology-led Economic Development. NDSU is a leader in conducting research in areas such as nanotechnology and super hard coatings.

Dr. Phillip Boudjouk (NDSU) states “Those are areas where there is already established significant expertise and can engage the private sector fruitfully.” These areas are essential in assisting the transitory nature of the economy of North Dakota, from rural to high-tech and biotech. Dr. Boudjouk went on to discuss the challenges faced in working on an undertaking such as the NDSU Research and Technology Park. He cited infrastructure needs as a primary obstacle by stating that “for the university sector to partner with the private and public sector, they need to be able to put up buildings and move on a time scale that's friendly to both, especially the private sector…It broadens our outlook to include, now, for the first time, a significant high technology sector, which is particularly well-suited for NDSU because we have such a large science and engineering component as part of our undergraduate curriculum.”

Commissioner Shane Goettle from North Dakota's Department of Commerce furthered the discussion elaborating on the economic overview of North Dakota. “Innovation is something being driven by global forces, both increases in globalization and trade and technology is forcing companies across the nation and in North Dakota to think about how they can be innovative, how to cooperatively get new products to new markets and do it rapidly.”

North Dakota is arousing interest in attracting new businesses by sustaining the continuation of its Centers of Excellence, partnering universities with the private sector, and providing matching grants to the private sector to give them access to some of the University systems. Mr. Goettle stated that “Our workers' compensation system is the least expensive in the nation so businesses come here looking, first of all, for a low-cost business environment, but also pro-business environment. Both our Governor and the Legislature set a pro-business environment and the manufacturers feel comfortable doing business here.”

Finally, North Dakota's small size is also advantageous in attracting new businesses. North Dakota's elected officials are easily accessible to new businesses and through this acces are able to “put together complicated deals and get them off the ground in a matter of months,” said Mr. Goettle.