What do we, as the Triad business community, want to be known for?
We have a rich legacy for manufacturing, anchored in the textiles, tobacco and furniture industries, and more recently aviation, as evidenced by major employers from Honda Aircraft to HAECO. Meanwhile, this region's appeal as a logistics center is on display, including significant expansions by powerhouses like FedEx, UPS and Amazon, with Publix working rapidly towards its own hub.
But how do we attract and create the types of jobs that can fill buildings in our center cities and suburban corporate parks? Local leaders certainly haven't, and shouldn't, give up on attracting corporate headquarters, as proven by recent successes attracting the headquarters of Nature's Value to Winston-Salem, Sandvik Coromant to Mebane, and Puroast Coffee to High Point. Those wins are crucial against the backdrop of major corporate headquarters the region has lost, including VF Corp., BB&T (now Truist) and Krispy Kreme, with the Atlantic Coast Conference the latest high-profile headquarters evaluating whether to relocate.
Over the past decade, local leaders have increasingly touted the promise of harnessing innovation to power job creation and investment in the Triad. Innovation, they contend, is the key to helping companies that are already here grow and flourish, while also helping budding entrepreneurs build new scalable ventures that can become economic engines all their own. Leaders argue that this region’s cities can leverage lower costs and a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem to be the best places in the country to build and grow businesses. That, in a nutshell is the identity this region can embrace, and build upon, and we at Triad Business Journal are committed to chronicling those ambitions.
This week, TBJ launched a new platform, branded as Triad Inno. It is a digital media, events and data enterprise focused on emerging innovators, growth-stage startups and their investors, local incubators and accelerators and other elements of the innovation ecosystem. Beyond offering news and profiles, our goal is to help connect those across this region that are part of the broader innovation ecosystem. That begins with a special feature this week introducing you to our Inno Under 25, five entrepreneurs age 25 or younger who are building ventures in the Triad through innovation and tech-enabled business strategies.
Triad Inno is part of a national network in more than 40 cities nationwide through the Triad Business Journal's parent company, American City Business Journals. Triad Inno is led by newly hired TBJ reporter Lillian Johnson, whose beats are innovation, health care and higher education. Special Sections Editor Jane Little, who researches our weekly Top 25 lists, has compiled a resource guide included on the pages that follow, and the entire TBJ newsroom will also be contributing, as innovation spans all sectors of the Triad economy, from manufacturing and logistics to retail and real estate.
What to expect from the new Triad Inno?
- Stories that focus on innovation within a company, industry or jurisdiction.
- Breaking news about early and growth-stage businesses.
- Startups — and the entrepreneurs behind them.
- Venture capital and funding needed to sustain innovation ventures.
- Next-generation developments in the companies you already know, whether at advanced manufacturers or at legacy industries that continue to adapt.
- Regular updates from TBJ's LinkedIn account, as indicated by #TriadInno, that will help you stay connected with all Inno stories, events and followers.
Triad Inno content will initially — for a few weeks — be free for all visitors, to introduce you to all that the platform offers. Afterward, the content will be free to current Business Journal subscribers. Individual Triad Inno subscriptions will also be available for purchase at a low monthly fee. Our local content will be bolstered by stories written by Inno reporters around the country. We'll give you the market intelligence you need to do business across the Triad.
We welcome your feedback as we continue to build Triad Into as a resource and connecting point for all who are part of leveraging innovation to bolster this region's economy. We fully recognize that it will continue to evolve. To remain static, after all, would be contrary to the spirit of innovation.
