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U.S. Regions
North Carolina
The State of Minds
Today a dare-to-dream attitude is sparking innovation and driving North Carolina's economy to new heights.
North Carolina's success in economic development is grounded in innovation, a quality that business leaders around the world understand and appreciate. This quest for innovation flows naturally from the establishment, more than 40 years ago, of an audacious enterprise: the Research Triangle Park (RTP).
 Anchored by three of the nation's finest research universities—the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and Duke University in Durham—the RTP set the standard for a world-class campus for high-technology research and development. Today the same dare-to-dream attitude is pushing North Carolina to new heights in 21st-century economic development.
In cutting-edge industry sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and software, North Carolina stands among the top markets nationally. As a global high-tech destination, North Carolina truly earns the designation "The State of Minds."
An Innovative Future
North Carolina's economy is undergoing a breathtaking transformation. Its foundation of agriculture and traditional manufacturing industries, maintained in the 20th century, is giving way to the technology industries of the new millennium.
 North Carolina has 156 biotechnology companies that generate more than $2.5 billion in annual revenues, employ 17,000 people, and provide an annual payroll of more than $850 million. In addition, the state has 75 contract research organizations and testing companies—the world's greatest concentration—which generate annual revenues of more than $4.5 billion, employ about 13,000 people, and have a collective payroll of about $650 million.
As a result, the Brookings Institution has ranked The Research Triangle Park area the fourth largest biotechnology center in the U.S. The state ranks first in the southeastern U.S., and in the top ten nationally, in locating pharmaceutical biotechnology companies. Seven of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms have a presence in the state.
North Carolina is also a worldwide leader in agricultural biotechnology, and the scope of its agri-bio industry sector ranks the state second nationally to California. The state is home to 13 agriculture-biotech companies, which collectively employ about 2,500 people. In 1981 the state created the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the first of the world's 200-plus government-sponsored biotechnology initiatives. What's more, North Carolina features a non-university microelectronics center and a public-private consortium on genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics.
 Another research park, the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem, is redeveloping abandoned laboratory and warehouse facilities once used by the tobacco industry. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is developing a focused research campus specializing in optoelectronics, information technology, and precision metrology.
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently recognized
East Carolina University in Greenville for its technology transfer capabilities, ranking the university second in the nation in number of startup companies spawned for each $10 million spent on research. Finally, in the western region of the state, Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Asheville have joined together in a new biotechnology consortium aimed at supporting the industry in the mountains.
A Holistic Approach
But it's not just these examples of innovation and an enterprising spirit that attract new investment. As Gov. Mike Easley says, "North Carolina knows that in economic development, we need to use a holistic approach." Gov. Easley promotes "qua-lity education from the high chair to the rocking chair." The state also boasts state-of-the-art transportation networks that update the state's reputation as "the good roads state" while also maintaining clean and bountiful natural resources and a quality of life second to none.
With that in mind, the state offers a menu of incentives to new industries. Among them: job-development grants; tax credits for research and development; deferment, reduction, and/or elimination of import duties; employee recruitment and screening services; customized workforce training; industrial-revenue bond financing (up to $10 million); business energy loans; help with infrastructure development; highway improvements and rail-spur assistance; and local community programs.
Perhaps that's why more than 6,700 companies have announced plans in the past six years to relocate to or expand in North Carolina—including List, a company that reengineers manufacturing processes that recently moved to the state from Switzerland. This growth has created more than 300,000 jobs and about $45.3 billion in investment. Potential investors in North Carolina will benefit in the short run from market trends that have combined to create a buyer's market in commercial and industrial real estate. And Site Selection magazine ranked North Carolina first for business climate in three of the past four years.
But there's much more to the secret of North Carolina's success. It's why businesses ranging from mammoth multinationals to high-tech fledglings have planted stakes in the state.
Prime Location
North Carolina's history predates much of the colonial American experience. In the 1580s, settlers organized by Sir Walter Raleigh made England's first attempt at a permanent American settlement on Roanoke Island. A state of diverse working and living environments, its population of more than 8 million ranks as the 11th largest in America, and grew by more than 21% during the 1990s.
North Carolina's central location on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard and its excellent transportation network provide businesses with a strategic advantage in receiving and shipping goods and services. Within a 700-mile radius of the state are more than 170 million American and Canadian consumers. It is an area that accounts for 70% of the nation's industrial base and 60% of U.S. retail sales. That's because 65 of the nation's top 100 metropolitan centers are domiciled in the region.
Three international airports supply a global gateway, and 11 other regional airports buttress the state's air network. The coastline features major deep-water ports in Wilmington and Morehead City with modern intermodal terminals.
North Carolina's 78,000-mile state highway system is the nation's second largest state-maintained network, with a commitment by the state to bring a four-lane expressway within ten miles of 96% of the population by 2006. And the state has about 3,600 miles of interstate rail, providing single-carrier access to 22 states.
These state-of-the-art transportation facilities are a lure for businesses, especially for those with far-flung operations and a dispersed customer base. That's why Nucor Steel, the nation's lar-gest steel recycler, chose Hertford County in eastern North Caro-lina as the home for a new plate mill in 2000. The location was attractive because of its close proximity to a deep-water port, as well as interstate highway and railway systems. "The fact that the region had a very educated workforce was also a major factor," explains James Coblin, Nucor's vice president of human resources.
World-Class Workforce
 Beginning in 1789 with the chartering of the University of North Carolina, the nation's first public university, North Carolina has always placed the highest premium on an educated populace. The hallmark of the state's higher-education system is a spirit of cooperation with and outreach to the state's business community, with an emphasis on world-class technology transfer capabilities.The state-supported University of North Carolina system encompasses 16 campuses that enroll more than 170,000 students. The universities offer more than 200 degree programs, and graduate more than 30,000 students each year in a variety of nationally recognized liberal-arts programs, two medical schools, a teaching hospital, a school of pharmacy, 15 schools of education, three schools of engineering, two schools of law, and two residential secondary schools for gifted students, one for performing arts and one for science and mathematics.
North Carolina is also home to 36 independent colleges and universities, among them some of the nation's premiere private institutions of higher learning. The private universities enroll more than 60,000 students and confer about one-third of the bachelor's degrees awarded in the state each year, as well as about half of the state's degrees in law and medicine.
Cultivating Brainpower
North Carolina also knows that its economic future depends on helping its existing workforce adapt to a changing workplace. In the late 1950s, visionary North Carolinians launched an industrial-education program that has grown to the point that today one in six of the state's residents is enrolled in the North Carolina Community College system at any given time.
The mission of the state's economic and workforce development efforts through its community colleges is to provide North Carolina businesses and industries with a world-class workforce and a competitive advantage as a result of locating here. In 2000, the 59-campus system was ranked best in the nation by Expansion Management magazine, among other recent national awards.
Realizing that the quality of the state's workforce is directly dependent upon the strength of local schools, colleges, and universities, North Carolina has embarked upon public-education improvements. It has a nationally recognized and widely emulated "Smart Start" program, a public-private partnership that works with children and families to ensure that every child starts school healthy and ready to learn. In addition, Governor Easley launched a pre-kindergarten program for at-risk 4-year-olds known as the "More at Four" program. It helps to provide the basic tools that children need to succeed in school.
At the same time support for higher education is always a top priority. In 2000, a $3.1 billion bond referendum passed that will bring capital improvements to the state's public universities and community colleges.
Considering these far-reaching initiatives, North Carolina has achieved more progress in public education than virtually any other state over the past 25 years. "The key to economic development is education," Gov. Easley says. "By investing in our pre-kindergarten programs, public schools, community colleges and universities, we are providing educational opportunities that ensure a highly skilled workforce."
Government Support
Finally, North Carolina's state government is committed to excellence in economic development. To accomplish that goal, its holistic strategy is to focus on four cornerstones, according to State Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain. First, creating and maintaining an attractive business climate through fair taxes and regulation, reasonable business costs, and first-rate state services. Second, developing a globally competitive workforce, featuring well-trained workers to add high value and master technically complex work. Third, fostering attractive communities prepared for economic development success, featuring cultural amenities, quality education, and state-of-the-art infrastructure. And finally, supporting strategic investment in science and technology and university outreach, supporting research that can generate commercial opportunities.
State policy stresses a hospitable business
climate, low state and local tax burdens, and low costs of living, construction, utilities, health insurance, and conducting business. North Carolina has no inventory tax and no intangibles tax, and the state's "double-weighted sales factor" formula can lessen a company's corporate income tax burden compared with many states' "three-factor" formula.
 Just as important, the state is committed to developing an environmentally friendly business environment. In June the North Carolina General Assembly passed landmark clean-air legislation that calls for emission standards well below the increasingly strict federal standards of the Clean Air Act. Duke Energy's utility, Duke Power, supported the legislation, which calls for the company to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 33% by 2007, and sulfur dioxide emissions will be reduced 70% by 2013. "North Carolina's clean-air legislation benefits the environment and our customers," explains Duke Power president Bill Coley. "The best news is that the $1.5 billion investment will be paid for within the company's existing rates, which are among the lowest in the U.S."
In addition, local economic-development initiatives in the state lend a helping hand to business. One of the most notable is the ten-year-old Charlotte Regional Partnership (CRP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prosperity of the Charlotte region, which encompasses 16 counties, including Rock Hill in York County, South Carolina and Hickory in Catawba County, North Carolina. The group's mission is to assist companies that want to relocate to or expand in the area. Besides guiding them through the site-selection process, CRP consults with firms on the incentives available and introduces them to key people in the community who can help them garner the resources they need for success. "We serve as a connector between the company and the local community," explains Michael Almond, CRP's president and CEO.
A Better Place To Be
North Carolina's appeal starts with its distinctive landscape. From the top of the lush green mountains of western North Carolina, visitors can survey the highest peaks east of the Rocky Mountains. The mountain region offers a wide range of recreational possibilities, boasting six ski resorts, hundreds of miles of hiking trails, scores of waterfalls, world-class rivers for kayaking and rafting, and federally protected wilderness areas for backpacking, rock climbing, and mountaineering. Cultural centers throughout the region spotlight world-renowned bluegrass and folk musicians, and connecting it all is the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic roadway that meanders for nearly 300 miles to a terminus in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The rolling hills of the Piedmont heartland are home to the state's major urban and agricultural centers. With more than half a million residents, Charlotte is the state's largest city and ranks as the nation's second-largest banking center, hosting headquarters for Bank of America and Wachovia/First Union. Having large financial institutions based in the state is a tremendous resource for home-grown businesses. Wachovia has the depth of resources, expertise, geographical reach and leading-edge products and services to help customers to manage their assets, facilitate transactions, grow their companies and build their communities. They specialize in providing customers the best solutions to meet their needs, whether it's a traditional loan or funding a community development activity, a simple international payment or complex trade outsourcing solutions.
Other businesses in Charlotte work in partnership with government to improve the economic, environmental, and social vitality of the city and the surrounding region. Piedmont Natural Gas, a fast-growing utility company that's been expanding its customer base by 4% annually, is so committed to this cause that it is active in a public policy agenda to extend natural gas throughout the state to all 100 counties. Recently it completed a major expansion project that made natural gas service available for the first time in Mitchell, Avery, and Yancey counties. This year it will also provide gas service for the first time to 14 counties on the coast of North Carolina through an economic-development joint venture, according to president and COO Thomas Skains.
The "Piedmont Triad" of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point has a long history as a manufacturing base for the state. The International Home Furnishings Market brings thousands of visitors to High Point each year to sample the wares of some of North Carolina's world-class furniture manufacturers. American cargo giant Federal Express is investing $300 million in the state for a Mid-Atlantic sorting and distribution hub at the Triad's international airport.
The "Research Triangle" of Raleigh (the state capital), Durham, and Chapel Hill has earned a worldwide reputation as one of the nation's leading centers of innovation. Durham is known as the City of Medicine because of its high concentration of medical research and support facilities and number of physicians per capita, while Chapel Hill is recognized nationally as one of the country's quintessential college towns.
 Traveling eastward, you cross the rich croplands of the coastal plain, now evolving from its historical reliance on tobacco farming to new industrial purposes. Funding to the state from the national tobacco settlement is parceled out by the Golden LEAF Foundation to retrain tobacco-industry workers and revitalize tobacco-dependent communities.
Finally, you reach the coast and North Carolina's picturesque shoreline. The state has nearly 300 miles of beaches—more than any Atlantic seaboard state except Florida. The inviting Outer Banks barrier islands frame inland sounds that serve as nurseries for marine life and as recreational waterways for sailing and boating. A large portion of three islands in the chain is perpetually protected as Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Leisurely Living
North Carolina's cultural attractions are as diverse as its industrial base. They enhance the lives of North Carolina's citizens, who have been supporters of the arts and a host of leisure activities for more than 400 years.
The state has established art, history, and natural science museums, as well as a state zoo and three state aquariums. Regional museums feature everything from maritime history to mountain folklore. And 2003 will bring a special celebration of North Carolina's history: the centennial of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first powered flight on the sands of the Outer Banks.
The North Carolina Symphony performs throughout the year, and the American Dance Festival brings artists from around the world to Durham for two months each summer. Municipal cultural organizations in all of the state's major cities provide varying opportunities in touring theatre, music, and dance companies.
Beyond the arts, North Carolina is a golfing mecca. Both the men's and women's U.S. Open golf championships were held in the state's heartland in recent years. The men will again take on world-famous Pinehurst No. 2 for the 2005 Open, and the women will return to Pine Needles in Southern Pines for the 2007 Open. More than 600 golf courses are located in the state, from the classic course designs of Donald Ross to the more recent efforts of professional golfers Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Davis Love III. Not surprisingly, these facilities are a boon to the state's travel industry (see www.visitnc.com).
Professional team sports also proliferate, including the National Football League's Carolina Panthers, the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes (the league runners-up in 2002), and the Carolina Courage, the 2002 national women's professional soccer champions. The National Basketball Association will return to Charlotte in 2004. Auto-racing enthusiasts know the state as the focal point of the legendary NASCAR stock-car racing circuit, with several major racing venues around the state, as well as many racing teams' operational headquarters.
And four Atlantic Coast Conference universities within the state form the storied "Tobacco Road" of college basketball, the spawning ground of Dean Smith and Michael Jordan, the Duke Blue Devils' juggernaut, and a collective total of eight national champions.
North Carolina Today and Tomorrow
The success story created by generations of North Carolinians has always been grounded in the state's compelling qualities—some built, others inherited. Thus, it is perhaps no wonder that a 2002 Harris Poll of American opinion listed North Carolina as one of the top five states in the nation to which Americans would desire to relocate.
Whether it's the burgeoning "State of Minds" knowledge-based economy, mild climate and natural wonders, or business-friendly location, North Carolina's enticing attractions make it an ideal base for new and expanding industries. For businesses that want to be in the epicenter of innovation during the 21st century—and beyond—the possibilities are endless.
Siegling America, LLC
For over 80 years, the name SIEGLING has been associated with high quality and exceptional standards in the conveyor belting industry.
Since operations began at their North Carolina headquarters in 1993, Siegling has proven how the dedication and commitment of over 300 employees can pay off with big rewards. The plant is itself one of the most modern conveyor belt plants in the world and boasts an exceptional safety record that has resulted in recognition by North Carolina Department of Labor three years in a row. Siegling America has been ISO 9001 certified since 1996.
Siegling is proud to serve a large number of industries, including package handling, airports, food processing, postal, textiles and wood processing. Their commitment to 24 hour / 7 day per week production and service installation availability, combined with strategic investments targeting key markets, has made Siegling America a strong and innovative leader in the industrial belting marketplace.
Cone Mills Corporation
For more than a century, Cone Mills Corporation has been one of Americaıs premier textile manufacturers. Today, Cone is the worldıs largest and most diversified producer of denim fabrics. In the United States, Cone is the largest commission printer of home furnishings fabrics and a leading producer of wide-jacquard fabrics for home furnishings. The company is the largest US exporter of denims and a major exporter of home furnishings fabrics.
Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Cone Mills is publicly traded (NYSE: COE) and has manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina, with a joint venture plant in Coahuila Mexico. Learn more at www.cone.com.
Progress Energy
What does it take to become a truly great energy company? At Progress Energy, we believe you start with a strong foundation, focus on what you do best, invest in your people, and give back to your community.
With more than 21,800 megawatts of generation capacity and $8 billion in annual revenues, Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN) is one of the nationıs top 10 energy producers. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., the companyıs holdings include two electric utilities, serving more than 2.9 million customers across the Carolinas and Florida.
In 2002, Progress Energy was ranked by Standard and Poorıs as one of the most financially transparent companies. Progress Energy is also a three-time winner of the EEI Storm Response Award and considered a great place to work with an environment that is team-oriented, professionally challenging and driven by results. www.progress-energy.com
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