When Southern States Partner to Win Projects
When Southern States Partner to Win Projects
Interstate collaboration, where it makes sense, builds greater business sectors and communities.
Why is the American South such a magnet for interstate economic development partnerships?
“The South has stayed the course and is pure to economic development,” said Dan Gundersen, Senior Vice President of Camoin Associates, a full-service economic development and lead generation consulting firm. “They want growth. They will pursue it aggressively. They will fund it. They will build it. It’s been that way for decades – with Right to Work policies being the original shot across the bow.”
Incentives provided by each state define the regions that are attractive for large and small companies researching to make a footprint or expansion. But more than incentives, Gundersen points to the collaborative leadership by state governors and legislatures as making the difference between places that prosper or plod along.
States that share the benefits of a regional airport, deepwater port or inland port – these serve multiple clients. “A brand can cross different states – the Appalachians and workforce development, for example – a draw pulling from different places that encourages economic development collaboration,” he said.
Inter-Governmental Partnerships
“Different states have different cultures, and you have to respect those cultures,” said Gundersen. Inter-governmental partnerships exist more easily in places like Memphis, Tennessee, a big city bordering multiple states, where they share labor sheds or an economic region.
Cross-state partnerships can go a little further out. Gundersen points to Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which are close enough to each other for industries to build out efficient supply chains. Texas holds a rare earth deposit, and a new magnet plant in Oklahoma may serve as the foundation for a secure domestic rare earth supply chain – first steps in lessening dependence on China.
Southeast Aerospace is Global
Neal Wade is the chair for Aerospace Alliance and a founding member when it was created in 2009 to establish the Southeast as a world-class aerospace and aviation corridor. Economic development and commerce leaders across the South collaborate to ensure industry growth and job creation continue among major aerospace companies and smaller business enterprises. The Alliance and its partners promote the region’s shared assets, elevate the talent pipeline, and advance the cross-state collaboration as an established place for excellence and discovery.
Growth in aerospace in the Aerospace Alliance states has been phenomenal.
“The Southeast is a strong aerospace, military, NASA-type operation,” said Wade. “Each of the states has their own strengths. We can capitalize on that and market the differences among the states. Since we formed, Boeing has set up an assembly plant in South Carolina. Airbus has expanded. Georgia has Gulfstream. It’s building the strength of NASA and the military where we have major military bases throughout the Southeast.”
This summer Aerospace Alliance will make connections at the 55th International Paris Air Show that explores the evolution of aviation and space. These connections bring global aerospace to the American South. It’s one way Southern states partner to not only secure and build out projects but maintain regions of collaboration and progressive communities.