Why Durham and the Triangle are the hottest places for Tech

Move over, Silicon Valley. There’s a new tech hub earning a name for its innovations and entrepreneurship opportunities. While Triangle residents have long known the Raleigh-Durham area is an epicenter of research, invention, creativity, and technology, it’s only been in recent years that tech companies have begun recognizing how much opportunity exists here. The area is continuing to grow exponentially, due in large part to the incredible business climate in Durham. Recently named “the Startup Capital of the South” by CNBC, Durham is a hot place for tech companies to thrive.

What’s contributing to the explosion of opportunities in Durham? Consider the following factors.

Innovation is a priority here.
The Research Triangle Park (RTP), which is located on the outskirts of Durham, has seen incredible growth since its inception in the 1960s and had earned its name as the Research Triangle by the 1990s. In recent years, however, RTP has boomed, and today, more than 55,000 employees across over 300 companies are growing their businesses in Raleigh-Durham. The addition of new shared workspaces, living areas, greenways, retail and restaurants, and collaborative spaces for K-12 students to find STEM opportunities are giving businesses even more reason to choose the RTP as a corporate location.

In March, both Google and drug manufacturer Fujifilm Diosynth made major announcements about their expansion into the Triangle. Thanks to Durham’s diverse workforce, the downtown area will soon be home to one of five Google Cloud engineering hubs and is expected to bring 1,000 new jobs to the city and make the region a leader for cloud computing. Likewise, Fujifilm Diosynth’s pharmaceutical expansion is an expected $2 million investment into the Triangle, and the state’s leaders say it will be the largest monoclonal antibody manufacturing facility in the world.

Durham itself is enjoying similar growth to RTP. Durham’s American Underground houses hundreds of startups in a space that’s designed to inspire productivity, creativity, and culture. The American Underground provides workshops, programs like Google for Startups and Black Founders Exchange for raising capital and training, and other types of business support to ensure the success of entrepreneurs. The community has become welcoming and inspiring for startups within the past 10 years and will only continue to grow.

Durham is close to everything a business needs to succeed.
Close proximity to an international airport, access to top talent, partnerships with universities and top companies, and so much more make Durham a great place for business, specifically in the tech and life sciences industries. Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which is just 10 minutes from RTP, offers direct flights to major cities across the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

The Raleigh-Durham area also has a wealth of education and training, and a workforce that will ensure you’re working with some of the brightest talent in the country. It has some of the top-ranked universities in the country: Durham’s Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University in Raleigh. These universities, along with the RTP, bring top talent and research to the area, which has contributed to its tech and entrepreneurial success.

Durham is an affordable place for growth.
North Carolina is known for its affordability, and while the cost of living in the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area is lower than the national average, Durham’s cost of living is even lower than the City of Raleigh. That means finding a home that meets all of your needs is possible.

For those considering moving to the Triangle area to launch a business, you can expect success with the move. Forbes has consistently named North Carolina one of the top 5 Best States for Business for more than a decade. The state offers incentives, low taxes, and a strong business climate that will propel a company into success. The cost of doing business in Durham is affordable and the talent pool is deep, making it a smart decision to call it home for business, too.