Last year was a strong one for the Northern Kentucky region, with the Northern Kentucky Tri-ED — the region’s economic development organization — reporting that 21 companies in 2013 announced new locations or expansions in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.
These projects brought 1,181 new direct jobs to the region.
Last year, 13 companies that already had locations in the region took on expansion projects. Eight new companies entered the market.
Dan Tobergte, president and chief executive officer of Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, pointed to the College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University as helping to draw some of the new companies to the area, specifically tech firms Clear Measures and Xcelerated Learning Dynamics, both of which moved into the city of Covington in 2013.
“Northern Kentucky is building a high-tech informatics-based corridor,” Tobergte said in a written statement.
Both Clear Measures and Xcelerated Learning Dynamics — along with other tech companies ZoomEssence and Jacobs Automation — got their starts thanks in part to the Northern Kentucky ezone, a start-up company accelerator run by the Northern Kentucky Tri-ED.
“We’re proud of these homegrown technology success stories,” Tobergte said.
This activity has paid off for the Northern Kentucky region. Northern Kentucky Tri-ED says that the company relocations and new arrivals created more than $466 million in business sales in 2013.
