The Rural Development Act creates the need for a more efficient economic modeling tool.
IMPLAN History
Where it All Started
Born out of a U.S. government need for sharper economic data in the 1970s, IMPLAN started as a tool to help the Forest Service understand how land decisions affected local communities.
Nearly 50 years later, it’s the standard for economic impact analysis.
1972
The Rural Development Act
1976
Under the direction of the United States Forest Service (USFS),
the economic impact modeling system, IMPLAN, is first conceived.
1979
The first version of IMPLAN
is built using Fortran on Univac 1000.
1987
The University of Minnesota
contracts with the USFS to create the 1985 IMPLAN national/state/county dataset. Wilbur Maki is the principal investigator, and Scott Lindall and Doug Olson form the main team.
1988
The IMPLAN mainframe system
is used outside of the federal government for the very first time. The Forest Service creates a PC based IMPLAN software.
1989
The University of Minnesota IMPLAN Group is created
IMPLAN was ported to the IBM personal computer and officially released as Micro IMPLAN.
1991
The University of Minnesota IMPLAN Group
takes its first commercial order.
1993
The University of Minnesota IMPLAN Group is transformed into a private company
Minnesota IMPLAN Group (MIG), Inc. MIG, Inc. releases its first national-level data set and begins the process of annual IMPLAN database updates.
1997
IMPLAN Pro Version 1.0 is released.
It included the complete set of IMPLAN social accounts adding to the existing Input-Output accounts. This incorporates non-market transactions such as taxes, savings, and non-market transfers among others into the market transactions of the Input-Output accounts.
1999
IMPLAN Pro Version 2.0 released
introducing true Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) multipliers which incorporate the complete social accounts and tax reports.
2009
MIG, Inc. releases Version 3.0
of the IMPLAN software, adding Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) capabilities.
2013
MIG Inc. merged with IMPLAN Group LLC
and the headquarters were relocated to Huntersville, NC.
2015
IMPLAN Online launched
mirroring the capabilities of IMPLAN Pro in the cloud.
2018
IMPLAN releases its latest IMPLAN web application
the most advanced economic modeling tool ever.
2020
IMPLAN integrates occupation data into the application.
2021
IMPLAN releases environmental data, data library (an insight exploration tool), and its first external API.
2022
IMPLAN releases Canadian, International,
and enhanced demographic data (DEI). IMPLAN sunsets legacy on-premise app.
2023
IMPLAN releases Quick Start Guides,
templates, and executive-ready reporting, as well as enhanced demographic data (DEI). API offerings are expanded and enhanced.
2024
With over 900 customers and counting,
IMPLAN aims to further expand its templated use cases and enhance international and US IMPLAN Cloud offerings.
2025
IMPLAN releases major new features
including Forward Linkages, Scope 1, 2, and 3 data, and Sub-provincial Canada modeling.
2026
IMPLAN celebrates 50 years!
IMPLAN Expands Internationally
IMPLAN adds secure AI Features to augment our proven model
Partnering with Industry Leaders
IMPLAN takes great pride in partnering with leaders in the field of economic data and research.
TREDIS extends the IMPLAN system to enable broader applications of economic impact, benefit-cost, and financial analysis for transportation planning, programming, and project analysis. TREDIS works by providing a dynamic, multi-regional economic impact simulation model to estimate regional impacts in terms of employment and income changes over time. It incorporates the full industry structure of IMPLAN, which makes TREDIS the tool for users to also analyze transportation projects.
IMPLAN has proudly partnered with the Mid-Continent Regional Science Association (MCRSA) to co-host biennial conferences for more than twenty years. We encourage furthering research and supporting the science of economics together. Our partnership’s commitment to this cause has fostered and supported training workshops, student scholarships, and research presentations for the last two decades.
