The novel coronavirus has required economic development professionals to embrace new tools and technology.
And so far, TNECD has been taking full advantage of them, especially when it comes to one of the most important parts of economic development: site selection.
For our business development team, we’re doubling down on digital resources – not starting scratch. Long before COVID-19, Tennessee had been on the forefront of using more technology and virtual resources to help tell the Tennessee story and pitch potential industrial sites to businesses. TNECD saw more and more corporate executives and consultants who wanted to research sites remotely; and we made it a priority to tap new digital resources to help our marketing efforts. For quite some time, we have had interactive industry dashboards and county profile tools on our website. TNECD’s Select Tennessee Certified Sites are all featured online, complete with interactive maps, aerial drone videos of sites and other technical videos.
The future of our recruitment efforts will rely heavily on these virtual tools. Sites with more due diligence are even more competitive in this new environment, as corporate site selectors consider them lower risk options. For us to continue to recruit new jobs and industry, it’s crucial to get Tennessee’s available sites before corporate decision makers. And with a steady pipeline of economic development projects, we are doing just that.