North Carolina’a economic success stays on track

Happy Saturday, and thank you for joining us.

Every summer, economic development watchers await the crown jewel of state business rankings: CNBC’s Top States for Business.

The media outlet scores all 50 states on 88 metrics broken into 10 categories. The value of a favorable ranking is potentially worth tens of millions of dollars to state recruiters.

Last year, North Carolina ranked No. 1 for the first time. “Powered by an economy that has hit its stride, and turbocharged by a long track record of innovation, North Carolina is America’s Top State for Business in 2022,” CNBC reported.

It’s mid-June, and CNBC’s 2023 rankings should be out in the coming weeks. (They published on July 13 last year.)

“Innovation” was in the very first sentence of CNBC’s story about North Carolina last year, underscoring its critical importance to economic growth. We understand that focus will continue in 2023.

Research Triangle Park laid the foundation for the Triangle’s meteoric rise. Indeed, the region powers nearly all of the state’s R&D activity. Innovative research with commercial potential exists in other parts of the state, too – but struggles to grow.

Rumor has it that CNBC was in the state last month interviewing a researcher at a UNC System school outside the Triangle as part of a feature on NCInnovation, potentially for inclusion in this year’s business rankings.

Legislators appear poised to create a self-sustaining $1.425 billion endowment for NCInnovation, which will partner with UNC System schools statewide (not just in the Triangle) to orient applied research toward industry needs.

The group will also help commercialize research outputs by getting them across the so-called “valley of death” – the gap between when a researcher proves a concept and when that concept actually becomes commercially investible. State and national leaders have called NCInnovation a potential rural economic development blueprint for the rest of the country.

As we await the 2023 rankings, we offer below a recap of the state’s biggest wins.

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It’s not just CNBC that ranks North Carolina highly.

Forbes ranks North Carolina No. 6 in its list of best states to start a business. Business Facilities, an economic development industry magazine, ranks North Carolina as its 2022 State of the Year.

“Bipartisan efforts in North Carolina toward fostering a business-friendly environment for a diversity of industries made a strong showing over the past year,” Business Facilities wrote, “where a steady stream of relocation and expansions were announced across the state.”

The American Legislative Exchange Council ranks North Carolina No. 2 in its economic outlook index, a “forward-looking forecast based on the state’s standing in 15 important state policy variables.”

And North Carolina won its third consecutive “Prosperity Cup” from Site Selection magazine.

The high marks come as the state has seen billions upon billions of dollars in massive economic development projects from major companies.

In 2021, North Carolina announced $10 billion in capital investment. In 2022, the figure was $12.5 billion.

Wolfspeed just secured a critical environmental permit for its $5 billion silicon carbide processing facility. “The site is fully prepped, and now we can move forward with actual construction of the building,” a Wolfspeed spokesperson told the Chatham News & Record.

Toyotaannounced two weeks ago that it would pour another $2.1 billion into its planned North Carolina lithium-ion battery plant, bringing the total investment to $5.9 billion. The company expects production to begin in 2025.

Vinfast has hit a few speedbumps, but is moving forward with plans to go public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company to help finance its $2 billion plant planned for Chatham County.

Earlier this year, Lilly announced plans to add another half-billion dollars into its RTP manufacturing facility. The company broke ground last year on its $1 billion Concord site.

Jet engine manufacturer Pratt and Whitney is poised to begin production in the coming weeks at its $650 million airfoil facility near Asheville.

The list goes on: Boom Superonic, Macy’s, Albemarle Corporation, Piedmont Lithium…

The major wins keep piling up. With continued vigilance at the General Assembly to maintain the policies that got us here, and a smart focus on homegrown innovation, they show no signs of slowing down.