| Startups Are Abandoning Suburbs for Cities With Good Transit | 520 | Startups Are Abandoning Suburbs for Cities With Good Transit | https://www.phoenix.gov/econdev/inthenews/520 | <div class="ExternalClass7A0F28B8C68A47E5ADA9E9E24874D2C3"><figure>
<img src="/econdevsite/MediaAssets/EconomyUpdate/UPDATE-20190719-Light-Rail-Midtown.jpg" alt="Photo of a light rail train traveling north in Midtown" />
<center><figcaption><em>Westbound Metro Light Rail train travels north on Central Avenue in Midtown Phoenix, Arizona, US.</em> Image: City of Phoenix</figcaption></center>
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<center><em>By Richard Florida for CityLabe (The Atlantic Monthly)</em></center><p><span style="font-size:15px;">A new study finds that new business startups are choosing cities with good public transportation options over the traditional suburban locations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">During the late 20th century, startup companies were quintessentially suburban, in standard-issue office parks dubbed “nerdistans.” Think of Silicon Valley, the North Carolina Research Triangle, and the suburbs of Seattle where Microsoft is located.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">But high-tech startups have become increasingly urban in the past decade or so, gravitating to dense neighborhoods in downtown San Francisco and Lower Manhattan, which have supplanted Silicon Valley as the nation’s leading centers for such startups.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">Now a new study finds a close connection between transit access and startups of all types—not just high-tech startups. The study, by Kevin Credit from the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago, uses advanced spatial econometric techniques to examine the connection between transit and business startups in five cities. Two of them, San Jose (Silicon Valley) and Austin, are well-documented startup hubs with underdeveloped transit infrastructure; two others, Philadelphia and Cleveland, have reasonably well-developed transit systems but low rates of startup activity; and Boston has both a high level of startup activity and an established transit system.</span></p></div> | 7/19/2019 6:00:00 PM | https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/07/startup-cities-public-transportation-new-business-development/594286/ | |
| 27 Innovations We Use Constantly, But That You (Probably) Didn't Know Were From the NASA Space Program | 516 | 27 Innovations We Use Constantly, But That You (Probably) Didn't Know Were From the NASA Space Program | https://www.phoenix.gov/econdev/inthenews/516 | <div class="ExternalClass385CCA9AF4004FB281B315D53808A94E"><figure>
<img src="/econdevsite/MediaAssets/EconomyUpdate/UPDATE-19690720-Buzz-Aldrin-Steps-onto-the-moon-NASA.jpg" alt="Photo astronaut Buzz Aldrin steps onto the surface of the moon" />
<center><figcaption><em>Astronaut Buzz Aldrin steps onto the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.</em> Image: NASA</figcaption></center>
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<center><em>By Bill Murphy Jr. for Inc.</em></center><p><span style="font-size:15px;">It's finally here: the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is tomorrow.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">It turns out NASA keeps a running tally of the most interesting innovations that came out of the space program on its website "NASA Spinoffs." </span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">While NASA takes credit for thousands and thousands of these innovations, here's a look at some of the most interesting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;"><strong>1. Freeze-dried foods</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">If you are old enough to have had TANG for breakfast, or if you served in the military and have eaten MREs, you have the space program to thank.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;"><strong>2. Dustbusters</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">Really any hand-held, battery-powered, cordless tool. Because how are you going to plug in a drill during a spacewalk?</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;"><strong>3. Digital cameras</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">There's a lot of technology in your iPhone's camera that came from the space program originally.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;"><strong>4. Precision GPS</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">NASA takes credit for developing software that "that has enabled precision GPS capable of guiding commercial aircraft, self-driving farm equipment and more."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;"><em><strong>The article features 23 other space-initiated innovations.</strong></em></span></p></div> | 7/19/2019 7:00:00 AM | https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/27-innovations-we-use-constantly-but-that-you-probably-didnt-know-were-from-nasa-space-program.html | |
| From the Editor: Here comes the Valley's next wave of tech startups | 518 | From the Editor: Here comes the Valley's next wave of tech startups | https://www.phoenix.gov/econdev/inthenews/518 | <div class="ExternalClassB2F14FB4E9714485A78E3B7D47562CB8"><figure>
<img src="/econdevsite/MediaAssets/EconomyUpdate/UPDATE-20180220-pHX-startup-week.jpg" alt="Resound CEO Mike Jones talks to a group in the Galvanize building for Startup Week" />
<center><figcaption><em>Resound CEO Mike Jones, and Startup Week volunteer, presents on branding and marketing for startups at the 2018 TechStars Startup Week PHX.</em> Image: Matt Le, Startup Week</figcaption></center>
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<center><em>By Greg Barr for Phoenix Business Journal</em></center><p><span style="font-size:15px;">If there’s one thing that makes Zach Ferres cringe, it’s the persistent description of Phoenix as “Silicon Desert,” just because the city has a growing cadre of tech companies and, well, the name “Silicon Valley” is apparently already taken.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">Indeed, if anyone has good reason to object to that banal description, it’s Ferres, one of the region’s tech movers and shakers and CEO of Coplex, a Phoenix-based tech startup accelerator.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">Ferres and I met over coffee the other day, inside the former industrial warehouse south of Chase Field that houses his company’s headquarters and the Galvanize coworking space, to talk about where Phoenix could be heading as a tech hub.</span></p><br></div> | 7/19/2019 7:00:00 AM | https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2019/07/19/from-the-editor-here-comes-the-valleys-next-wave.html | |
| LGE Design Build contractor adds residential, development arms | 519 | LGE Design Build contractor adds residential, development arms | https://www.phoenix.gov/econdev/inthenews/519 | <div class="ExternalClassF45CC51AF5F845F6ADBA386692DA3D63"><figure>
<img src="/econdevsite/MediaAssets/EconomyUpdate/UPDATE-20190719-LGE-Headquarters.jpg" alt="Photo of LGE Design Building office building" />
<center><figcaption><em>LGE Design Build headquarters, 1200 N. 52nd St., Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.</em> Image: LGE Design Build</figcaption></center>
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<center><em>By Corina Vanek for Phoenix Business Journal</em></center><p><span style="font-size:15px;">Phoenix general contractor LGE Design Build has moved into its new headquarters building and is adding new services to its repertoire.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">“We are expanding into areas where we think our business model plays well,” said LGE CEO David Sellers.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">LGE added its architecture branch about five years ago, and the team has grown to meet the needs of the company.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:15px;">The firm launched its new residential company, LGE Residential Design Build, and is working on its first residential project, a custom home in Paradise Valley. It took about six months to put the residential company together, and it will focus on “architecturally significant” homes, Sellers said.</span></p></div> | 7/19/2019 7:00:00 AM | https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2019/07/18/lge-design-build-contractoradds-residential.html | |
| June 2019 employment for Phoenix metro up 68,400 over 2018 | 512 | June 2019 employment for Phoenix metro up 68,400 over 2018 | https://www.phoenix.gov/econdev/inthenews/512 | <div class="ExternalClass99C6BD00974B4C069A0367A7A0CE5381">
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<img src="/econdevsite/MediaAssets/EconomyUpdate/UPDATE-20190616-Valley-Forge-Workflow.jpg" alt="Craftsman quality checks forged bolt for flaws." />
<center><figcaption><em>Craftsman at Valley Forge & Bolt Mfg. Co., 4410 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., checks the quality of a bolt forged for use on an off-shore oil platform. </em> Image: City of Phoenix</figcaption></center>
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<center><em>By Eric Jay Toll for The Economy Update</em></center>
<p>Despite losing over 31,000 jobs for the school summer breaks in local, state and charter schools, the Phoenix metro still posted a June year-over-year hike of 68,400 net new hires, according to the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. That equals 87 percent of the new jobs in Arizona for June 2019.</p><p>In the Phoenix metro, advanced industry sectors are maintaining the major share of the job market, 60 percent of all private sector jobs in June 2018, compared to 49 percent of private sector jobs in June 2008. Strength in advanced industry jobs, according to economists, may make a market more recession resistant in a national economic downtown.</p><p>Advanced industries are manufacturing, business and financial services, bioscience and healthcare, and technology companies.</p><p>In the metro, the unemployment rate increased to 4.6 percent, up 0.2 percent over June 2018, and up 0.6 percent over May 2019. The jump in unemployment is directly related to layoffs in public education sectors. </p><p>The biggest Phoenix job gains over 2018 were reported in the big three Valley growth industries: Education, Bioscience and Health Services; Construction; and Professional, Scientific and Business Services. The three sectors gained 44,300 jobs this June, over the workforce in June 2018. Transportation and Warehousing hired 8,200 more employees this year than last. Manufacturing hit its 29<sup>th</sup> consecutive month of job gains adding 6,900 to the workforce this year over last year.</p><p>The private sector workforce in Phoenix increased, 3.5 percent in June. According to data compilations from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Phoenix metro topped national job growth in May with numbers about equal to June.</p><p>Across the state, the schools' summer break resulted in June hiring offering 44,600 fewer jobs than May 2019. </p><p>Overall, the state is still 78,000 new jobs ahead of June 2018. In year-over-year data, Tucson added 7,300 new jobs, Yuma added 1,600, and Flagstaff picked up 1,000 new hires. For Yuma, it represented one of its largest jumps in 12-month job growth, 3.0 percent. That compares with job growth of 2 percent or less in all the other state metro areas. Sierra Vista-Douglas metro lost 200 jobs in year-over-year data.</p><p>Even though April 2019 is still the record employment month for the metro area, the month-to-month declines in hiring for May and June still leave the Valley with a total workforce over 2.1 million. In Arizona, the total workforce, including Phoenix metro, is 2.9 million for June 2019.<br></p></div> | 7/18/2019 9:00:00 PM | | |
