We’ve heard enough about the ‘Great Resignation,’ which has people quitting their jobs right and left as they search for something better in their careers. Fortunately for Arizona, we now can shift the conversation to the ‘Great Opportunity.’
Arizona’s reputation for being ‘business-friendly’ has succeeded in keeping and attracting companies in exciting industries, from technology and security to health care and manufacturing.
Arizonans will soon benefit from $1.5 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan designed to boost local entrepreneurs and economies recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has been a record-setting year for Arizona entrepreneurs and their companies, which collectively pulled in well over $1 billion in outside financing from venture capitalists and private equity firms in 2021. The funding at the state level mirrors a national record for U.S. startups, which had collectively raised $238.7 billion as of September 30.
GoDaddy Inc. is in the final stages of moving into a new headquarters in Tempe, joining a growing mix of companies in the technology-rich southeast Valley.
José Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona University, has homed in on a workforce-development issue that’s challenging his new state. While scores of employers are expanding into Arizona and hiring workers, the state’s level of education attainment, which is the percentage of adults who complete education after high school, trails the national average.
There’s been a lot of talk about inflation these days – groceries are more expensive, gas prices are going up – but not a lot of talk about solutions. Passing commonsense immigration reform would go a long way to help address America’s labor shortage and get a handle on inflation. When businesses have the workers they need, they can meet consumers’ demands and costs go down.
In the Arizona Technology Council’s December 2021 episode of TechCast, Phoenix Business RadioX owner and president Karen Nowicki was joined by Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC); Joe Snell, president and CEO of Sun Corridor, Inc.; Vic Narusis, senior vice president of Business Development at the Arizona Commerce Authority; and Steve Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council to not only reflect on the obstacles and victories of 2021 but predict what is in store for 2022.
Today, Arizona business and technology leaders convened for a press conference sponsored by the Arizona Technology Council, calling on U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to make passing the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) the first priority in the new year. Voting in favor of the act would be a historic step forward in cutting carbon pollution by at least 50 percent by 2030, creating homegrown good-paying jobs, and accelerating Arizona’s clean energy economy.
An 18-member coalition led by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council was awarded a $500,000 grant for its proposed health care innovation project from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced 60 finalists for the EDA’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge, which aims to boost economic pandemic recovery and is tied to the Biden administration’s coronavirus relief package.