IBRC at 90: Still Covering ‘Moving Target’
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe director of the Indiana Business Research Center says, over the last 90 years, the organization has earned the reputation as an objective source for statewide and national economic data. Jerry Conover says the IBRC, which is connected to the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, has always worked to stay on top of the "ever-moving target" that is the business world. He says one key to the IBRC’s evolution is early-adoption of technology.
The group, which now includes a staff of more than 40, was started in 1925 by a small contingent of faculty members as the Bureau of Business Research. Its purpose, as stated in the October 1925 issue of the IU Alumni Quarterly was "to carry on work in research that will be of special value to the business men of the state."
Conover says that core mission carries on. He says the focus on "providing timely, reliable data and analysis, disseminating it engagingly, has helped numerous businesses, nonprofit and government agencies, foundations and community organizations around the state and across the nation."
One of the lasting legacies of the early years of the organization that still continues is the Indiana Business Review, which is now in digital form.
Other long-lasting components from the IBRC include the Center for Econometric Model Research, which was started in the 1970s and InContext, which focuses on the state’s workforce and economy, and was first created when the bureau morphed into the IBRC in the mid-1980s.
Conover says "our passion to find and share useful insights drives us to help business and community leaders make well-informed decisions, and to engage and inform the public."
IBRC Director Jerry Conover tells Inside INdiana Business the IBRC is a resource for a wide-ranging audience.