Last week in downtown Columbus, Ohio, site selectors and economic developers came together for the Business Facilities LiveXchange Emerging Industries event. The centerpiece of the long-running LiveXchange conferences are customized one-on-one meetings between corporate site selectors or site selection consultants and leading economic development organizations. At this year’s LiveXchange Emerging Industries, more than 130 meetings were held between these attendees — opening up opportunities and expanding knowledge about the choices available to companies in high-growth industry sectors. Projects related to semiconductors, electric vehicles, and data centers were among the conversations that took place at not only the meetings but throughout the three-day event.
“LiveXchange events utilize sophisticated matchmaking programming to create a forum for busy site selectors to meet one-on-one with economic development organizations from many locations — over just a few days,” said Ted Coene, Co-Owner and President of Group C Media Inc., the parent company of Business Facilities. “Those meetings, backed by the conference sessions and fun networking events like the tour of Ohio State University Buckeye’s stadium, helped foster new relationships and reinforce existing ones across the industry. We look forward to a blockbuster 20th annual LiveXchange in Richmond, VA next spring.”
Momentum Gets Going At LiveXchange Emerging Industries
The event kicked the annual event on Wednesday, October 4, with an exclusive tour of Ohio Stadium, the nearly century-old football stadium on the Ohio State University campus. After enjoying lunch overlooking the 50-yard line at the Home of the Buckeyes, the LiveXchange group walked behind the scenes led by Redcoats, the frontline ambassadors for the university.
LiveXchange meetings are complemented by high-level, timely conference sessions. In Columbus, the program began on Thursday, October 5, with Rosemary Coates, Founder & Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, presenting “Rethinking Global Supply Chains.” With the wave of manufacturers returning major facilities and operations to the United States, Coates provided a look at the culmination of factors leading to the current reshoring and nearshoring movement.
Other conference sessions focused on site selection for companies in emerging industries looked at financing, as well as regional implications for choosing a site. “Financing for Project Success” presented by Olivia Byrne, Partner at law firm K&L Gates, discussed a plethora of programs and incentives available to companies. And, “Understanding Regional Growth and Supply Chain Integration,” presented by Derek Cutler, Chief Economist for EBP-US, offered a data-driven view of the site selection process as well as economic development.
The momentum at Business Facilities LiveXchange continued on Friday, October 6 with site selection professionals and economic development representatives continuing conversations that began either in the previous day’s meetings, or during the many opportunities to not only get acquainted but to dive deeper into conversations about current and future relocation and expansion projects. Those who were meeting for the first time had the opportunity to discover resources for their relocation and expansion projects, while others have reconnected with peers to discuss the opportunities in their respective markets.
This conference program concluded with a talk on “Site Selection for Emerging Industries” presented by Mike Grella, CEO & Founder of Grella Partnership Strategies and Carl Nelson, Managing Principal of Infrastructure Ready. Having worked together on Amazon data centers, Grella and Nelson now partner on data center location projects across the United States. The session today focused on the current and emerging site selection landscape for data centers, as well as advanced manufacturers.
Before this year’s event came to close, attendees gathered for an evening networking event on Thursday, October 5, at Howl at the Moon Columbus. With live entertainment from dueling piano players and singers, Business Facilities LiveXchange delivered another lively and productive event that brings together site selection professionals and economic developers.
Thank you to the LiveXchange Emerging Industries sponsors:
- City of Henderson, Nevada
- Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, Texas
- Indiana Economic Development Corporation
- JAXUSA Partnership, Florida
- JobsOhio
- Louisiana Economic Development
- Maricopa Economic Development Alliance, Arizona
- Mississippi Development Authority
- Northern Utah Economic Alliance
- Ogden City, Utah
- Pflugerville Community Development Corporation, Texas
- Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, Florida
- Regional Growth Partnership of NW Ohio
- Temple Economic Development Corporation, Texas
- TexAmericas Center, Texas
The 20th Annual Business Facilities LiveXchange will take place March 17-19, 2024 in Richmond, VA at the Omni Richmond Hotel.
