Nov. 8, 2021

The new nonprofit Dakota Institute is bringing a new source for economic and business intelligence to the state.

It’s a private applied business and economic analytical and modeling enterprise meant to serve public and private decision-makers in South Dakota and across the region.

Clients served could range from state government to health systems or individual businesses, said Michael Bender, founder of Bender Cos. and a founding board member of the Dakota Institute.

“If they say, ‘We need to be research-oriented and analytical about our customers or our future or the economy,’ whatever it is, we can add value,” he said.

“We’re becoming much more sophisticated as a state that we can have a bureau to provide this kind of research for our community. To me, it’s a logical step.”

Other founding board members are David Chicoine, president emeritus at SDSU; Van Fishback, president of Fishback Financial Corp.; and Rob Oliver, president emeritus of Augustana University.

The institute will use the regental system for some of the research. As an ongoing source of economic and business intelligence, it will track, interpret and forecast business and economic conditions, including the labor market.

“We’ve made the rounds to all the institutions and got their acquiescence that we could take into their professors’ noncontractual hours,” Bender said. “When you think about it, it’s a recruiting tool for professors. You can do research on-site and get paid for it by the Dakota Institute.”

The founding board members have pledged the resources to fund the institute for three to five years “to get it off the ground,” Bender said.

It’s in the process of hiring a CEO to grow the institute into a self-sustaining nonprofit. The person can be based anywhere in South Dakota, and the goal is “to not let it be based at just one institution,” Bender said.

To learn more, visit DakotaInstitute.org, or click here for the CEO job description.