These metrics catch the attention of site selectors and companies wanting to locate in a tech city.
As an active member of Arizona Technology Council, we at Commercial Real Estate Group of Tucson get an inside look at why companies seek out Tucson high-tech space. Over the years we’ve come to deeply understand the needs of these businesses.
Here is how Tucson meets the needs of high technology industries, including aerospace and defense, biosciences and biotechnology, green activities, optics, mining support and manufacturing.
University of Arizona
Arizona’s premier research university logged $606 million in research and development spending for fiscal year 2015. That’s enough to rank in the top 5% in the National Science Foundation’s last annual survey of research activity at the nation’s universities.
The funds support basic science, but also technological advances that spin off into startup companies. Tech Launch Arizona provides the support that researchers and faculty need to create markets for their inventions and discoveries.
It helped launch 15 startups in 2016-2017 and 14 startups in 2015-2016. They include Airy Optics Inc., Avery Therapeutics Inc., Horizon Biotechnologies LLC, Lunewave Inc., MetOxs Electrochemicals LLC and Nanosonic Bioreagents. Since 2012 there have been 60 startups from UA research.
The university also runs Tech Parks Arizona, locations that include a new-venture incubator, a research park and development-ready Tucson high-tech space.
Startup Support
Organizations like Startup Tucson, Southern Arizona Leadership Council and Arizona Technology Council help budding companies refine their pitches, identify venture capital funds and support other efforts to establish a foothold and thrive.
Desert Angels is one of a handful of Tucson-area investors willing to support technology startups. Local business leaders have pledged to attract $600 million in high-tech venture capital by 2025.
CREG Tucson works with business owners and site selectors to locate Tucson high-tech space that matches their needs. There are lots of options, including Pima County’s Sonoran Corridor, UA Tech Parks and Oro Valley’s Innovation Park. We have a systematic approach to identifying several properties to consider.
Workforce
Tucson’s advanced industries hire nearly 33,000 full-time high-tech workers, as well as provide more than 26,000 indirect support jobs.
This talented worker pool drives Tucson’s high-tech economy that includes aircraft products and parts, computer systems design, engineering, metal ore mining and research and development. Nearly 9% of Tucson’s workers hold jobs in advanced industries.
A knowledge workforce counts people in computer, architecture, engineering, science, management, education and health care fields. By that measurement, 27.5% of Tucson’s workers fall in this knowledge category, higher than the United States’ 25.7%.
The area also fosters an educated workforce, 30% of which has a bachelor’s degree or higher. That’s just about the same as the United States as a whole.
Tucson boasts two nationally top-rated high schools: BASIS charter high school and public University High School. Other science-focused campuses include the Sonoran Science Academy K-12 charter school and the public Innovation Academy elementary school.
Pima County’s Joint Technical Education District trains high schoolers in a variety of job-ready skills, including those needed in agriscience, bioscience, electronic technologies, engineering, mechanical drafting, veterinary science and precision machining.
The UA graduates prepared engineers, business administrators, scientists, researchers, inventors and others who work across high-tech fields.
Synergy
Industries have formed Tucson high-tech space hubs that provide the ready workforce, research and support that help them grow.
Several state and local groups provide industry support. They include Bioindustry Organization of Southern Arizona (BIOSA), Arizona BioIndustry Association (AZBio), mining-supporting AMIGOS, Arizona Technology Council’s Optics Valley and Startup Tucson.
Tucson is a specialized location based on its LQ—or location quotient—for metal ore mining, aircraft products and parts, software products and magnetic and optical media, as well as for the energy sector. The area also has a higher-than-average LQ in seven other advanced industries.
Ventana Medical Systems Inc., World View Enterprises Inc. and Caterpillar’s Surface Mining and Technology Division are just a few of the companies that have committed resources and set down roots for the long haul in the Tucson area.
All of these metrics point to a Southwestern hub of innovation and expertise, just the right kind of place for high-tech industries to thrive. Contact us to find your Tucson high-tech space.
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