Annual Report Released

It was another exciting year for Wake County Economic Development! We enjoyed many successes across key focus areas and initiatives. This past year included continued growth in key industries like IT/technology and growth in others such as financial technology (fintech). The team hosted several new events, met with multiple foreign delegations, completed a survey focused on workforce development, welcomed an equitable economic development manager and a new executive director for Innovate Raleigh, and traveled across the U.S. sharing the Wake County story.

We’re looking forward to the opportunities already emerging for FY 2018-2019.

View the full report here.

Highlights from the report include:

Job Creation & Investment
During the past year, Wake County announced 7,958 jobs and $271 million in investment. Target industries such as IT/Technology, Life Sciences, Cleantech, and Advanced Manufacturing continue to be strong industries for Wake County, but other industries like Financial Technology and Headquarter Location/Shared Services continue to rise a well.

Public Relations & Marketing
The Raleigh-metro story continued to gain incredible momentum in 2017-2018. As part of the national media campaign (in partnership with the City of Raleigh), a total of 22 articles were written on the Raleigh-metro (roughly 2 per month) totaling an ad equivalency of $1.2 million. The team also completed a successful media tour with local tech company, Bandwidth, which resulted in three live broadcast segments.

Regional Competitiveness & Cooperation
Remaining competitive as a region takes the effort of multiple partners and organizations. Over the past year, partnerships with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) and Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP) were a critical priority for key initiatives such as, delegation visits, trips to SelectUSA, BIO, and meetings with site selectors.

Talent Attraction & Development
Attracting and developing talent, along with creating a framework to gather insights from local talent and employers was an important part of WCED’s success in 2017-2018. The “Workforce Skills Analysis” was completed and results were shared at the inaugural “Triangle Talent” forum. The Work in the Triangle website, along with the weekly virtual career fair for #TriangleTuesdays also grew in popularity with current and new users. 

Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Innovation and entrepreneurship in Wake County continued to be a major focus for WCED. After completing a successful Innovate Raleigh Summit on Nov. 9, 2017, the team welcomed a new Executive Director, Bridget Harrington.

Quality of Place & Sustainability
After almost two years of planning, WCED hired its first Equitable Economic Development Manager, Danya Perry. In less than a year, Danya helped lead the inaugural Raleigh Chamber Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Conference, along with multiple other initiatives supporting prosperity for Wake County residents.