The Research Triangle Region is likely to hit a goal set five years ago of gaining 100,000 net new jobs by June 30, 2014, according to Charles Hayes, president and CEO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership.

Hayes, speaking at the packed 2014 State of the Research Triangle Region breakfast Thursday morning, said that in the first six months after setting the goal in the Shape of Things to Come five-year plan in 2009, the area actually lost jobs. But the plan’s creators never lost faith in the goal.

“So how are we doing,” Hayes asked. “So far, we gained 83,338 net new jobs as of March and we’re likely to meet that goal of 100,000 by June 30,” he said.

If you look at other economic indicators, they all point to resurgence in the region. Unemployment is at 5.5 percent, well below state and national figures, and the nearly 10 percent regional employment growth rate is well above both. “In virtually all economic indicators, we are leaders,” Hayes said.

But, while “location, location, location,” has long been the economic developer’s mantra, in the Research Triangle, it’s “education, education, education,” that has been the region’s key differentiator. “Talent is our competitive advantage,” Hayes said, and that’s what our colleges and universities bring to the table. If you had to identify the one thing that makes our region different and gives it a competitive advantage, it’s clearly our universities. In the Research Triangle, education is economic development.”

(So where did all those new jobs we’ve gained in the Triangle region come from? WRAL TechWire has more.)

The Athens of North Carolina

Hayes noted that regional geographies, territories, or “city states” are rising in influence globally. “If we call them city states,” Hayes said,

“Then we are the Athens of North Carolina.” For instance, The RTP is the only region in the world with three tier one research universities so close.

No one mentioned that the current GOP-led NC legislature has cut university funding and that pay for K-12 teachers is lower than in all but four other states, but every speaker at the event hammered on the idea that the state’s past investments in education paid off handsomely.

“Our 21 regional universities and colleges provide reliable value in unreliable times,” Hayes said. “They bring in new talent and wealth from outside, students, faculty and dollars from around the world.” For instance, he said, they bring in $3.25 billion in research funding on robotics, health, food safety, smart fabrics, biodiversity and “the mating habits of Zebra fish.”

He added, “Seventy-five percent of every research dollar comes from outside of NC. The salaries of 55,000 workers are directly linked to that research, while more than 5,500 businesses support it.

Not only that, the research generates news jobs and companies.

Hayes said 280 startups license their technology from NC universities. Both SAS and Quintiles were created by NC university professors, he pointed out. Cree, a leader in LED lighting, evolved from materials science labs at NC State University, and now has $1.44 billion in revenue. Bronto Software, an email and digital marketing firm, was started by a Kenan-Flagler Business School grad student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and now employs 150 people.

The area’s educational levels exceed those of the state and nation with 44.3 percent holding associate or higher degrees and the largest concentration of engineers in the country. “That translates into power that translates into jobs,” Hayes said. “Education is the fuel that primes the pump and gives you leverage going forward. Our investments in higher education have yielded huge returns.”

RTP Foundation Leader Wants Education Investments

Other speakers at the State of the Triangle event echoed Hayes on the importance of continuing to invest in education so that the region continues to prosper.

Bob Geolas, president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation, which manages Research Triangle Park, said, “Commitment to education, more than anything else, has lifted this region and this state. We love the 190 companies in the Park, but it would be nothing but a land deal without our vital universities.”

Geolas also noted the RTP is under-taking the first re-development effort in the Park’s 50-year history, referring to the planned 100-acre Park Center, which will include retail, residential, and office components. The mixed-use project is a first for the Foundation.

Details from the Research Triangle report can be read online.