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Moody’s Predicts Continued Growth

Moody’s projections for the Roanoke Region of Virginia show the regional economy is slated to grow 6.1% this year and 3.5% next year when adjusted for inflation. This is the fastest growth this market has seen in more than 15 years.

Recent expansion and business attraction developments in the Roanoke Region are adding up and making a notable difference.  Some of the recent Partnership announcements contributing to this remarkable market uptick include Munters Groups AB, Balchem Corporation, Cardinal Glass, and A. Duie Pyle.

The impact of these announcements paired with data from Moody’s Analytics paints a picture of an economy on the verge of rapid recovery with economic growth far surpassing previous performance.

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One of the Nation’s Fastest-Growing Research Enterprises

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia

Founded in 2010, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers.

In 2021, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute had $140 million in current, active research grants and contracts – more than four times1 the combined research spending of Roanoke’s 15 peer cities, including Savannah, Asheville, and Erie.

Part of Virginia Tech – which had $560 million in cumulative research spending in 2020 – the institute support 37 faculty-led research teams focused on studying addiction, brain health and disease, heart disease, cancer, children’s health, and neurorehabilitation. Together, their work has led to more than a thousand publications in leading scientific journals and produced nearly one startup per year over the past five years.

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Roanoke Named as a Booming Zoom Town

The Roanoke Region of Virginia made yet another nationally recognized list as one of the 10 Unique Zoom Towns You’ll Want to Move to in 2022 by Rent.com. So what is a Zoom town? In the article, they refer to it as a community experiencing consequential population increases as remote workers and digital nomads move to town.

Most sources specifically reference Zoom towns as a community that has seen a significant population increase in the wake of the pandemic, with the shift occurring largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The notable move toward remote work is expected to have significant economic implications. Pre-pandemic only 10% or less of the population worked remotely full-time, but those statistics are rapidly changing. 

Towns listed in the article were recognized for their livability-related amenities and low cost of living. Remote workers have the luxury of moving anywhere in the country, which gives a clear advantage to outdoor destinations where biking, hiking, skiing, paddling, or other outdoor activities provide an easy escape regardless of COVID status. 

The Roanoke Regional Partnership’s decade-long effort to brand the Roanoke Region as an outdoor wonderland has paid dividends during the pandemic as people flee larger cities for clean air, open spaces, and affordable housing. The article in Rent.com is just one of many national features in the past several months highlighting this phenomenon.

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Roanoke Times Article Highlights Rise in ‘Boomerangs’

The Roanoke Times recently interviewed John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, to discuss the surge in people moving back to the Roanoke Region after growing up here, getting their undergraduate here, or going to medical school here. These returning professionals are known as “boomerangs” in the talent attraction world and have been a big focus in the Partnership’s talent attraction efforts.

The article ‘Boomerangs’ fly back to Roanoke, New River valleys for medical careers (by Casey Fabris) focused specifically on people coming back to work in the live sciences, innovation, and medical research fields which have become a target sector for growth by the Partnership in recent years.

Those featured in the article mention the employment opportunities were important, but cited the arts & culture scene, low cost-of-living, easy access to outdoor amenities, and being a great place to raise a family as being crucial to their return.

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