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Energy, tech companies drive job growth in Metro Denver
New business activity is thriving in Metro Denver, with several prominent national and international companies announcing headquarters relocations or major expansions to the Metro Denver region.
NetSuite Inc.,
a San Mateo, Calif.-based vendor of business management software, opened a sales and service office in Centennial. Company officials say the site will employ 65 people and that "the information technology sector is growing rapidly in the Greater Denver and Centennial areas, due in no small part to the region's qualified and educated workforce."
Petroleum Development Corp. recently announced that it will move its corporate headquarters from Bridgeport, West Virginia to Denver. With over 80 percent of the company's production in the Rockies, company officials said "the move is in response to a need for its executive management and key employees to be in Denver near our largest asset base and in a national oil and gas hub."
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited,
a British satellite company, opened its new U.S. headquarters in Douglas County. The company, Surrey Satellite Technology U.S. could eventually employ 250 people according to company officials, who say they chose to locate in Metro Denver because of "its well-developed space industry and military installations."
Vestas Wind Systems A/S,
the world's leading supplier of wind power solutions, announced plans in August to significantly expand in Colorado with two new facilities that will employ 1,300 people in Brighton. One facility, a wind turbine blade manufacturing plant, will supplement its existing blade production facility in Windsor. The second factory will assemble nacelles, housings for turbine generators and other sensitive components. The nacelle factory is Vestas' largest and the first such factory in the U.S. The company also announced it will build a tower factory in Pueblo with 550 employees.
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Metro Denver uses unconventional marketing during the DNC
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) used "unconventional" 
marketing to pitch the region's business messages to over 15,000 national and international media attending the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC) Aug. 25-28 in Denver.
During the DNC, the Metro Denver EDC hosted a 1,000-square-foot "Media Spa" for journalists to get a daily dose of business information and altitude adjustment.
"The reporters we talked to were not only receptive to our spa treatments and custom political buttons but also to our major business story lines such as energy, transportation, and workforce," said Janet Fritz, director of marketing and technology for the Metro Denver EDC.
The Metro Denver EDC's efforts both pre- and post-convention resulted in several top-tier placements, including a feature on National Public Radio's Marketplace edition. The story, "
Denver's ambitions are a mile high," highlights the region's economic hot spots, including the energy industry, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Fitzsimons, and the FasTracks mass transit expansion.
Interviews and business stories about the region were also covered by media outlets such as the BBC, MSNBC, and FOX.
Learn more:
» DNC Media Center on metrodenver.org
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Milwaukee taps Denver as a model for regionalism
Regional economic development in the nine-county Metro Denver area has thrived since the early 1980s and continues to serve as a model for other areas of the country such as Milwaukee, according to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Denver's lessons for Milwaukee."
"The Democratic Party National Convention brought new attention to Denver. And in almost every television picture of the Denver skyline, there was one feature: a construction crane, the symbol of a growing economy. Denver's growth offers mile-high lessons for Milwaukee," said reporter Thomas Hefty.
The article touts Metro Denver's successful regional approach on several fronts, from arts and workforce development to sports and economic development.
Hefty adds, "Regions compete in sports - and in economic development. But in the growth of good paying jobs, Denver crushes Milwaukee."
Learn more:
»
Mile High Advantages: Regionalism (on metrodenver.org)
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