On September 26, the City of Sterling Heights, Macomb County and the Michigan Defense Center hosted Carol Cain and the CBS Sunday morning news show “Michigan Matters” for a special on-site edition of the popular television show on the Michigan Defense Industry.

The event included a full morning of presentations, announcements and activities focused on Michigan’s role from the historical WWII era “Arsenal of Democracy” to today’s “Arsenal of Innovation”.

The event was held at the Velocity Building in Sterling Heights, a sprawling complex of offices, labs and grounds acquired by the city to facilitate economic development in the region. Home to the Oakland University/Macomb County INCubator, the Michigan Defense Center, the City of Sterling Heights economic development team and numerous start-up and innovative technology companies, Velocity has become a full service collaboration center and presentation facility.

The event included historical displays of WWII era weaponry, uniforms and items made here in Michigan as well as WWII Army wheeled vehicles highlighting Michigan’s contribution to protecting our nation’s soldiers for nearly 75 years.

From history to the here and now, Sean Carlson, V.P. Michigan Defense Center & International Trade

Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave an industry overview of the Michigan Defense Industry and announced the Michigan Defense Center app which allows anyone to view industry statistics, access the website, reach out to partners, and many more tools to turn anyone into an advocate for this important piece of Michigan’s economy.

(scan the QR code at the end of this article to get the app or go to the apple app store or google play)

Following Mr. Carlson’s presentation, Vicky Rad, Deputy Director of Macomb County’s Planning and Economic Development joined him on stage for yet another announcement, a partnership which has produced the Michigan Defense Center International Landing Zone, dedicated to providing office space and resources to U.S. allied nation’s companies who want to locate in Michigan to do business here in our state.  The announcement was followed by a ribbon cutting of the new facility at Velocity.

And then the big show…CBS’s Michigan Matters, along with host Carol Cain, presented a panel discussion featuring defense community leaders; Major General Gwen Bingham, General Dynamics Land Systems VP for Science and Technology Sonya Sepahban, Small Business owner Scott Badenoch and VP of the Michigan Defense Center, Sean Carlson, who answered questions and discussed their projections for the defense industry in Michigan, the strengths and challenges the industry faces in our state and nationally, and how to expand our footprint in this sector (watch excerpts below).

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/video/10659851-michigan-matters-growing-the-defense-industry-seg-1/

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/video/10659849-michigan-matters-growing-the-defense-industry-seg-2/

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http://detroit.cbslocal.com/video/10659842-michigan-matters-growing-the-defense-industry-seg-4/

The event was capped off with a strolling lunch which allowed the VIPs in attendance, State Legislators from all parts of Michigan, economic development experts, regional leaders and defense community stakeholders the opportunity to mingle, view the projects of the Innovators at the OU/Macomb Incubator as well as see Michigan’s cutting-edge technologies on exhibit through robotics and drone displays.

A rich history of serving our nation’s security and a bright future ahead…Michigan’s defense industry matters!

Get the Michigan Defense Center app by scanning this code!

See more press coverage on Michigan’s Defense Industry: Freep Detroit News