INDIANAPOLIS — Three years after launching its statewide vision plan, Indiana Prosperity 2035 (IP35), the Indiana Chamber of Commerce is sharpening that focus to meet a faster-moving economic moment. The result is more targeted priorities, strengthened benchmarks and a call to employers and partners to help accelerate Indiana’s progress.
The Indiana Prosperity 2035 Summer 2026 Update, developed by the Indiana Chamber Foundation and the IP35 Task Force, narrows the original 31 goals to 18 priority ones while retaining the plan’s six strategic pillars. It also adds clearer methods to track whether Indiana is making meaningful progress. Every goal is now tied to a specific metric and data source.
The refinement comes at a pivotal time.
“It’s about focus and urgency,” remarks Indiana Chamber president and CEO Vanessa Green Sinders. “Indiana’s future will be shaped by how we respond to fast-moving technology, workforce shortages, the need for stronger educational attainment, housing constraints, ongoing health cost and access challenges, and infrastructure demands. Together, these issues will influence our ability to attract people, investment, and high-growth employers for years to come.
“Indiana has tremendous strengths, but the pace of change around workforce, technology, education and quality of place means we cannot afford to drift. The updated plan helps us concentrate on the areas that will matter most to Indiana’s competitiveness over the next decade – and gives us a clearer way to measure whether we are moving fast enough.”
“We did not want the plan to sit on a shelf or remain static,” offers Todd Hurst, senior vice president of strategic partnerships and impact for the Indiana Chamber. “At the outset of 2026, we began updating IP35 to make the Chamber’s economic vision plan more laser-focused, more measurable and more useful for action. That process included reconvening the task force – led by economic development expert Larry Gigerich of Ginovus – engaging relevant state agencies and bringing in key experts across Indiana.”
The refreshed framework remains organized around six foundational areas: workforce; birth-to-12 education; economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship; superior infrastructure and energy; quality of place strategies; and healthy, prosperous communities and citizens.
Hurst notes that each pillar now features three strategic goals – giving employers, policymakers, education leaders and community partners a clearer roadmap for coordinated action.
Priority goals focusing on people and work preparedness include increasing the share of Hoosiers with high-quality credentials, improving population growth across every economic growth region, expanding STEM-related bachelor’s degree attainment, strengthening early childhood education, improving IREAD proficiency and Indiana’s National Assessment of Educational Progress rankings, as well as ensuring every high school graduate leaves with a designated path toward enrollment, employment or enlistment.
Other priorities target issues with direct implications for Indiana’s competitiveness: strengthening small business development financing, growing the innovation ecosystem, improving productivity through AI and emerging technologies, supporting highway and energy investment, advancing workforce housing and outdoor recreation, and improving health outcomes and civic engagement.
For the Indiana Chamber, releasing the summer update is the beginning of a disciplined implementation phase. The organization will use the new goals to guide public policy priorities, Foundation research, member programming, regional conversations, and partnerships with state and local leaders.
“The Indiana Chamber is at its best when we are bringing people together around big issues and helping turn ideas into action,” Sinders says. “The IP35 Update gives us a clear, shared framework for action. We want Indiana’s business community, in particular, to see where it can lead, where it can partner and where it can help accelerate measurable results.”
