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 Midwest Travel Network
Commerce Tourism and Marketing in partnership with the Bismarck-Mandan Convention & Visitors Bureau hosted seven influencers with the Midwest Travel Network May 23-25. They gathered content and story ideas while exploring a number of attractions in the area that has already resulted in 58 posts reaching 18,400 people garnering 1,100 engagements! Watch for more of their stories to post throughout the year.
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 Gov. Doug Burgum along with Bitzero Strategic Investor Kevin O’Leary, Bitzero CEO Akbar Shamji, and Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation Chairman Mark Fox today announced North Dakota as Bitzero’s headquarters and hub for all North American operations.
North Dakota emerged as the logical choice for Bitzero due to alignment on the state’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, its robust energy industry, favorable tax and regulatory environment, and access to top-tier engineering and software talent for the commercialization of new intellectual property in the data center space.
“Bitzero’s decision to locate its North American headquarters in North Dakota is yet another example of how our state is emerging as the location of choice for clean energy data centers supported by reliable, affordable electricity produced with environmental stewardship,” Burgum said at a press conference in Fargo. “This growing industry will continue to diversify our economy and elevate North Dakota’s status as the place to do business for tech entrepreneurs and innovators.”
Commerce launches new website design
 Commerce has a new look! We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website.
Commerce's newly redesigned website is now easier to navigate, brand compliant, and responsively designed to adapt to all users, including desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphones.
If you have any questions regarding the new website, please contact Tricia Miller, digital systems manager at tamiller@nd.gov.
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Main Street Vibrancy Grant project lights up
The "Spirit of the Sandbagger" Archway, built in downtown Fargo by the Fargo Lions Club was lit up for an illumination ceremony on May 31.
The archway was built to honors the thousands of people over the years who worked to keep major floods from swamping the F-M area.
The Fargo Lions Club in cooperation with the City of Fargo received funding for this project in 2020 through the Main Street Initiative's Vibrancy Grant.
 Register for the 2022 Main Street ND Summit TODAY
North Dakota’s economy is changing, and now more than ever, a skilled workforce is vital to the success of every community and company – big and small. To attract the best and brightest, we need to come together and tell our story about why people should call North Dakota home.
This FREE summit will help EVERYONE go home and start planning and implementing tools and strategies that promote the value of their healthy and vibrant community to attract and retain a talented workforce.
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LIFT Committee awards $748K to one company in May
The Innovation Technology Loan Fund (LIFT) Committee awarded $748,790 to one company for the month of May.
“The LIFT Committee continues to meet monthly to review applications and award funding,” Commerce Head of Investments and Innovation Shayden Akason said. “The innovation loan fund currently has over $6 million remaining to be awarded this biennium. Eligible companies may apply at belegendary.link/LIFT.”
TERRACOH Development, a Bismarck company that is developing a carbon dioxide sequestration underground storage with the option to add geothermal green electricity production at the site was awarded $748,790 to deploy their technology to deploy their technology in the western part of the state.
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 International Roundup to generate millions in future travel
The state tourism offices of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming presented the 2022 Great American West (GAW) International Roundup (IRU) tradeshow event May 14-17 in Fargo. In just two days of intensive pre-scheduled business appointments, nearly 50 organizations from around the GAW region, and nearly 30 international and domestic buyers from more than 10 countries, conducted business negotiations that will result in an estimated generation of more than $117 million in future travel to this five-state region. At IRU, buyers and sellers conducted business that would otherwise be generated only through an exhaustive number of around-the-world trips. More importantly, because North Dakota hosted IRU, we had 33 tour operators and overseas representatives tour the state beyond Fargo including Bismarck, Mandan, Medora, Regent, Dickinson, Bowman, Watford City, New Town, Minot, Bottineau, Belcourt, Devils Lake, St. Michael, Grand Forks, Valley City and Jamestown; and tribal regions visited included Turtle Mountain, Spirit Lake, and Fort Berthold tribal lands. "The IRU and the FAM trips are not just great ways to partner with North Dakota Tourism, they are crucial for the state’s destinations," said Tourism Global Marketing Manager Fred Walker. Walker participated and helped coordinate this year's IRU and FAM trips.
 Tourism & Marketing Industry site has moved
The Tourism & Marketing Industry website has transitioned to the new Commerce website. Launched on May 24, the new site houses all tourism industry-related information including tourism facts, reports and updates, marketing and media programs, strategies and priorities, ad campaigns, and information on the annual conference, marketing summit, monthly chats, industry toolkit, partner portal and much more. The new site is easy to navigate and user-friendly and can be found at www.commerce.nd.gov/tourism-marketing. We invite you to take a look and let us know what you think!
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Have a tourism-related attraction or event? Get it listed for free on NDtourism.com
In 2021 NDtourism.com hosted 2,155,110 visits and provided 281,712 referrals to partner sites. North Dakota Tourism’s Partner Portal is a valuable tool you should be utilizing to get your experiences listed on NDtourism.com for FREE. It is vitally important that you, our partners, update your listings and events to reflect any changes and to also include all your accessibility options and others in the “Amenities” section of the portal. If you do not provide this information, visitors looking for accessible and other specific attractions, experiences and lodging, will not be able to find them. Contact Amy Schmidt at amrschmidt@nd.gov with questions.
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 Clarity in a time of change, travel impact study results
The COVID-19 U.S. Travel Sentiment Study, conducted by Longwoods International and supported by Miles Partnership, is survey fielded weekly using a national sample randomly drawn from a U.S. consumer panel of 1,000 adults. Each week’s research shows impacts on travel plans through several data points. As of May 11, 2022 the study showed that 22% still plan to take a trip within the next month and 29% within the next 1-2 months. Concerns about personal finances and transportation costs were the greatest factors impacting decisions to travel, with 39% indicated that Covid-19 was not a factor. Only 32% indicated rising gas prices would impact their travel, and 39% are choosing destinations closer to home.
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This fall, North Dakota Department of Career & Technical Education is launching a program to help connect students and employers to work-based learning to help students prepare for the future and help employers develop their future workforce.
NDCTE is partnering with Golden Path Solutions and XAP, the company that manages RUReady.nd.gov, to deliver a system where employers can log in, create company profiles, share work-based learning opportunities (i.e. summer jobs, career fairs, internships, etc.) and the desired skills needed for success in specific careers.
The information will be shared directly with high school students either in a specific school or across multiple schools, allowing them to show interest in these opportunities or even apply for them.
Employers can coordinate with schools on how experiences at their organizations might lead to school credit and build a longer term relationship with the student that might lead to a future employee, including tuition reimbursement programs like ND Career Builders.
Learn more about the integration in this press release, or watch this webinar.
Fill out the form here if you want to join our Employer Connections database, and to be notified when this system is ready in the fall.
Visit goldenpath.net to learn more, or reach out to Julie Hersch with CTE at juhersch@nd.gov or Patrick Mineer with Golden Path at patrick@goldenpath.net.
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