Business & Economy

Raleigh leaders are setting their sights on creating a new brand for the city. They hope a plan to assist small businesses will lead to Raleigh becoming a “city of innovation.”

Most of the City Council stood with outgoing mayor Charles Meeker to make the announcement earlier today. They gathered in the small back loading bay of Xanofi, a nanofiber company spun off from NC State. It’s exactly the kind of company they hope to cultivate – small, innovative, and full of promise

Twenty-five years ago – pivotal reports were released focusing on major issues confronting the South.  They found that despite improvements in the high school and college graduation rates and technological advances, the South still lingered behind other regions.  A report released yesterday by U-N-C’s Global Research Institute sets out to follow-up on the Southern agenda and makes recommendations to improve national AND global competitiveness. 

A major take-over is in the works in the North Carolina technology sector.

TIMCO Aerosystems is showing off its newest manufacturing facility today in Davidson County.   The company needed a second plant to keep up with demand.

The new TIMCO Aerosystems plant is in the town of Wallburg.  There are about 140 employees at the facility where airline seating is manufactured for companies like Boeing and Airbus.  Rick Salanitri is President of TIMCO Aerosystems.  He says they conducted a national search to determine the best place to expand.

It could take years to make-up for all the jobs lost since the Recession.  Since December 2007, North Carolina has lost more than 300-thousand jobs. President Barack Obama says “Innovation” is the key to NEW economy jobs.

Pres. Barack Obama:  "We know what we have to do to create jobs right now.  And create jobs in the future.  We know that if we want businesses to start here and stay here and hire here, we’ve got to be able to out build and out educate and out innovate every country on earth!"

A major push is underway in North Carolina to help grow businesses in the Life Sciences.