Indiana Technology & Innovation Association announces 2025 policy priorities

The Indiana Technology & Innovation Association (ITIA) released its 2025 policy priorities to support and grow Indiana’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem during its annual Legislative Update on Tuesday with TechPoint.

The Legislative Update brings together Indiana’s technology and innovation leaders with state legislators on Organization Day to mark the ceremonial start of the 2025 Legislative Session.

Legislative leaders including House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta and Senate Majority Caucus Chair Travis Holdman spoke at the event and gave a preview of the upcoming legislative session.

“There is a tremendous amount of momentum in Indiana’s technology and innovation industry. We’re seeing a rise in global, technology and innovation-fueled enterprises choosing Indiana to locate and invest, our homegrown companies are embracing new technologies like AI, and our ecosystem is coming together to help address talent needs and make sure we’re poised to meet this opportunity,” ITIA Executive Director Jennifer Hallowell said. “The State has an important role to play to embrace our future economy and help meet the most urgent needs, including access to capital, support resources for innovators and entrepreneurs, and better preparing our students for jobs in emerging, tech-based fields. We look forward to making progress together during the next legislative session to embrace the innovation economy.”

According to the 2024 TechPoint Mission41K Tech Talent Report, Indiana’s tech employment grew to 121,600 in 2023, representing the highest level of overall tech employment ever in the state. Over the past 10 years, tech occupations have been major contributors to Indiana’s overall job growth. In fact, Indiana has outpaced most states in the growth of its tech sector.

While our tech sector is growing, one of the biggest pain points continues to be access to venture capital needed for innovative Indiana companies to start, scale and succeed in this global economy. According to the 2023 Indiana Venture Report, Indiana only received 0.3 percent of venture capital investment deployed nationally and sees primarily small, early stage deals.

To help meet these needs, ITIA’s 2025 policy priorities include:

• Unlocking a second round of state investment into the Indiana Next Level Fund to further accelerate the availability of venture capital for Indiana companies at the growth stage.
• Robust investment in the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, which is a critical source of funding to support the growth and development of early stage innovation in the state, including through Elevate Ventures.
• Advancing Right to Start policies, including bolstering the Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship to prioritize and align support resources for entrepreneurs across state government and encourage more new business creation.
• Allowing high-performing Certified Tech Parks (CTPs) that have reached their $5 million cap to capture an additional $500,000 in annual incremental income tax to support regional innovation.
• Funding to skill up K-12 educators in tech-based skills, including through the STEM Teacher Recruitment Fund and Next Level Computer Science Program; annual funding for robotics and support for entrepreneurial programming.
• Continued funding for Career Scholarship Accounts to ensure students can access career opportunities; expanding flexibility for Next Level Jobs, including allowing individuals pursuing stackable IT credentials to qualify for funding on a per-year basis rather than once over their lifetime.

ITIA will work with legislative and administration partners to advance these and other policy priorities in 2025.

The Indiana Technology & Innovation Industry (ITIA) is the statewide association representing technology and innovation-driven enterprises and partners working together to accelerate the innovation economy.

Membership is open to technology and innovation-driven businesses, organizations that are tech-enabled or that support technology companies, student entrepreneurs and government partners. For more information and to join ITIA, visit IndianaTechnology.org.