NEW ULM– Local economic development is seeing new growth from the private sector under the direction of New Ulm Business Resource and Innovation Center director Paul Wessel.

NUBRIC is the new name for an old idea. Wessel is the new director of the New Ulm Economic Development Center. He took over the position this year. The group had been without a director since 2018. In the years since New Ulm has seen little economic development from the private sector. Wessel is hoping to change that in a big way.

“I think we lost our way a little bit,” Wessel said. “The first thing for me was to look at the history of what today is NUBRIC.”

One of his first actions was to rename the decades-old organization. This is the second time the private economic development group has changed its name. It was originally called New Ulm Industry and was formed in the 1950s after the Eagle Roller Mill — the largest employer in the city — closed.

Wessel said in response to this loss, 39 businessmen and women put in $100,000 of their own money to start a private economic development organization. Through those efforts, New Ulm eventually attracted businesses like Kraft, 3M and Windings to the city. Wessel hopes to recapture that same spirit.

“New Ulm has done some amazing thing in the industry,” he said. As an example, he pointed to the city’s history with motor windings. He described New Ulm as an incubator for this type of work with several companies working on motor windings, servos and stators.

The region is also rich in other types of industry. He said within an 80-mile radius of New Ulm around 90% of the United States cement trucks are built, many of them manufactured in New Ulm. Wessel is hopeful the city could continue to attract and build up the industry again.

Over the next few years, NUBRIC is working on four initiatives to help build, grow and sustain New Ulm’s economy.

The first initiative is called “Project Lead the Way.”

Wessel explained there is a worker shortage in New Ulm. He estimated between New Ulm’s top four manufacturers there are 140 job vacancies.

“If you can’t get workers into work, those organizations will be looking at higher levels of automation,” he said.

This means teaching the next generation of workers about robotics, programable logic controller and higher levels of machine tooling. To achieve this all New Ulm schools would adopt a Kindergarten through 12th grade STEM curriculum called Project Lead the Way.

“Our ultimate goal is to make New Ulm a Project Lead the Way community,” Wessel said.

The idea is, that companies looking to expand will choose New Ulm if they see all students, regardless of school, are familiar with this STEM program. Even Martin Luther College is interested in this program.

MLC is a teaching college. Wessel said the schools that are supplied with teachers from MLC are seeing a demand for STEM education. MLC will need to invest in STEM education.

Wessel confirmed NUBRIC is working PLTW and Region 9 for an EDA grant to put a state-of-the-art robotics facility on the MLC campus. They hope this will create a higher level of mentorship between the college and the high schools.

In June, NUBRIC will host a kick-off meeting to promote Project Lead the Way. The meeting will be divided into grade school, high school and industry break-out sessions.

NUBRIC’s second initiative is called the “Spark Bus,” a commuter service to take workers to and from Mankato to fill New Ulm factories. NUBRIC is also looking at a second spur going west to connect the smaller rural towns.

Wessel estimated 385 people leave New Ulm to go to Mankato and 333 people leave Mankato to come to New Ulm. With higher gas prices, there is a demand for worker transportation.

The challenge is determining how often the bus travels between the communities and where it stops. Wessel said NUBRIC will need to coordinate with the city of New Ulm to bring workers to the final location.

New Ulm is currently working on a fix-bus route for the city. In theory, the Spark Bus could drop Mankato workers off at a single location in New Ulm and the fix-bus route could pick them up and take them to the various businesses in New Ulm.

“That’s where I see the power in partnering,” he said.

The third initiative is called the “Spark Initiative,” an incubator for start-up companies. NUBRIC will provide a shared space for these companies to grow. The company would be surrounded by support services at a low cost to mentor the business and help them to be successful. The support services could help organize a board, and connect them to digital marketing and other necessary resources.

NUBRIC already has a building space to operate the Spark Initative but has not gone public with the location at this time.

The fourth initiative is called “New Ulm Regional Angel Investment Network.”

This is an investment fund comprised of high-net-worth individuals with an interest in New Ulm. These individuals could provide gap funding and expertise in growing a company.

Wessel said New Ulm has generated many successful business people who have since moved away from the community but still have connections to the town. NURAIN would help leverage these connections to help redevelop New Ulm. Wessel estimated there was a network of former New Ulm residents that had a combined net worth of over $1 billion. NURAIN would give these individuals a reason to invest in New Ulm. Wessel was confident there was interest among former residents to see their home community improve.

Wessel said there was no reason these initiatives can’t be done. He acknowledged there were challenges, but said the original New Ulm Industry faced challenges in the ’50s and was able to succeed.

This will take work and recommitment, but Wessel said New Ulm had much to be proud of and he saw a bright future based on what was already here.