Category: Blog

EDC’s Employee Retention & Return to Office Study

By EDC Research Bureau,

The pandemic has dramatically changed how people work, leading to a ‘great reshuffling’ with record high quits across all industries. In 2022, more than 3.5 million jobs were advertised as remote positions. This has left nearly half of the office space unused across the country. Despite all this disruption, the competition for talent has never been greater. There were more than nine million unique job openings in August 2023.

In San Diego, job growth is strong with nearly all industries more than fully recovering job losses from the pandemic. Yet, official office vacancy rates remain elevated (14 percent) and another five million square feet are in the pipeline. Meanwhile, many employers remain unsure of when and who should return to the office.

These changing dynamics add complexity to talent recruitment and retention efforts, while adding uncertainty to the future use of office space across the region.

To respond to this persistent and pervasive quandary, EDC is scoping a unique study of the local workforce across 2024. We have seen the results of a similar study of a large city in the Midwest. We will survey the employees of large and small companies throughout San Diego County. To our knowledge this is the first local study of scale on workforce requirements and desires.

Goal and objectives

Goal: Identify evolving local trends in how work is done, workers’ needs, workforce trends, and workplace requirements to inform company return to office plans as well as office tenant attraction strategies.

Key objectives:

  • Survey workers to understand their needs related to in-office and remote work to strengthen retention.
  • Inform individual company return to office planning and strategies.
  • Inform regional and sub-regional tenant attraction strategies.

Deliverables

  • Report: A comprehensive web report, summarizing regional and sub-regional trends related to work activities, worker needs, and workplace adaptation. Individualized company results and briefing for employers (assuming minimum workforce participation).
  • Forum: EDC will organize a forum for a broad audience in Q3 2024 to disseminate the region-wide results.
  • Presentations: EDC’s Research Bureau will present the data and analysis to stakeholder audiences, including EDC’s board of directors, HR Forum, and Economic Development Committee as well as to local associations including SHRM San Diego, NAIOP San Diego Chapter, Downtown San Diego Partnership.
  • Promotions: News release highlighting aggregated study results to local media. Active social media across EDC channels, plus e-communications including Good News of the Week and Quarterly Economic Snapshot.

We need your input. To participate in the study or sponsor, contact our team:

Eduardo Velasquez
Eduardo Velasquez

Sr. Director, Research & Economic Development

San Diego’s Good News of the Week – January 5, 2024

By Kyle Winnick,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week. GNOTW is sponsored by Manpower San Diego.

Get Good News of the Week in your inbox every Friday. → Sign up

For the week of January 5, 2024, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are some events and opportunities:

MetroConnect VII Kickoff

Join us on February 8 as we announce the 15 San Diego companies selected to join our seventh and newest cohort of MetroConnect, World Trade Center San Diego’s flagship export assistance program. Hear remarks from San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, celebrate emerging global companies, and meet international service providers like Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, and JPMorgan Chase.

Register Here

Business information and resources page

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Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

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Kyle Winnick
Kyle Winnick

Coordinator, Marketing

Monthly Report – December 2023

By Liz Muthoni,

Smart economic development is inclusive economic development. That’s why for more than six years, EDC’s programs and priorities have been rooted in growing the region’s quality jobs, skilled talent, and thriving households critical to San Diego’s competitiveness. Scroll below to see the work in our monthly report, or check out the whole year at:

EDC’s YEAR IN REVIEW → 

By the numbers

  • 150+ Attendees at Reaching Tomorrow’s Talent event
  • 30 Newly Verified Programs announced
  • 31k Students from Verified Programs
  • 16 Different institutions host programs

Featured stories

New and renewing investors

  • Ace Parking
  • Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Cajon Valley School District
  • Cubic Corp
  • Federal Reserve
  • Gafcon
  • Insulet
  • Junior Achievement
  • Layton Construction
  • Meyers Nave
  • Port of San Diego
  • Taylormade Golf
  • WD40

See our current Monthly Report

San Diego’s Good News of the Year 2023

By San Diego Regional EDC,

In business and in life, our ability to plan is only as effective as our understanding of the circumstances we are working through.

Despite ongoing uncertainties, EDC remains both optimistic for the future and continuously amazed by what San Diego business, academic, community, and civic leaders are building, sustaining, and improving all around us. Looking back at the highlights and headlines of the year that was, our vantage point remains an amazing one.

See what San Diego accomplished in Good News of the Year:

Growing and planting roots in San Diego

This year, several companies moved into and expanded within the region, creating jobs for San Diegans across life sciences, manufacturing, and other industries. Some highlights include:

Major acquisitions and IPOs

Local companies continue to prove that San Diego competes on a global stage. Here are some of our region’s standout acquisitions and IPOs throughout the year:

Startups nab big venture investments

Despite the slowdown in VC investment, San Diego startups continued to secure millions of dollars in funding across sectors including life sciences, AI, agtech, and other innovation industries. More than $3.7 billion flowed into the region this year, including these notable investments:

  • Unicorn Shield AI with $2.7B valuation raises additional $200M to build AI ‘pilots’ for military aircraft
  • Boundless Bio snags $100M to continue oncogene-amplified cancers clinical trials
  • Measurabl lands $93M to expand real estate ESG tool to new geographies
  • Lenz Therapeutics raises $83.5M to replace eye-glasses with eye drops
  • Fabric8Labs secures $50M to triple staff
  • Kneron raises $49M to scale up AI chip R&D
  • Cultivated seafood startup BlueNalu lands $33.5M to scale up San Diego facility

Higher ed institutions double down on research and innovation

Home to the best and brightest—as noted in Clarivate’s highly-influential scientists list—San Diego education institutions continue to foster life-changing innovation. This year we celebrate:

  • Forbes names UC San Diego #3 and San Diego State University #16 on top public colleges in the U.S.
  • Wexford, UC San Diego partner on a 23-acre Science Research Park
  • SDSU, LPC West partner on 1.6M sq. ft. Mission Valley Innovation District
  • USD to launch AI-ML boot camp to address labor demand
  • CSUSM professor secures $2.5M grant to expand Quantum Information Science and Technology education
  • MiraCosta College secures more than $1.6M in NSF grants
  • Miramar College awarded $1.4M grant for math, engineering, science program
  • National University receives $400K National Science Foundation grant to integrate visual and fine arts with STEM education
  • City of Chula Vista breaks ground on UniverCity with 6M sq. ft. academic, innovation space

Defense contracts abound

A cornerstone of our regional economy, the military represents almost one-quarter of all jobs in the county and a quarter of the local economy with more than $36 billion in direct defense spending in 2023. Home to global defense innovation powerhouses, new contracts include:

San Diego to the world

San Diego expanded connections to Tijuana, and to the European and Asian markets. Increased access to these markets facilitates the exchange of talent and expands opportunities to strengthen economic ties. In 2023, global wins include:

Making strides in cleantech

San Diego continues to respond to California’s bold commitments to a clean energy future where battery and other sustainable technology will play a major role. It’s no wonder Wallet Hub ranked San Diego #1 on its “Greenest Cities in America” list. Here are some of the locals leading the charge:

Premier travel, sports destination

San Diego remains a top spot to live, work, and play…sports! A few of the many wins we’re proud of in 2023:

EDC’s own good news

Top 10 in 2023
San Diego’s good news is EDC’s good news. With and through our investors, our year in review includes support to 117 local companies, more than $3.1 million in export growth through WTCSD programs, 30 new Verified Programs of Talent, and much more.

See OUR YEAR in review

 

Q3 2023: San Diego’s remote work policy and the impact on commercial real estate

By Sofia Nelson-Ferezi,

Each quarter, EDC’s Research Bureau releases its Economic Snapshot to analyze key economic indicators in San Diego’s economy. Read on as we take a closer look at how remote work trends are reshaping the workplace and the broader economy.

Remote first work

As the cost of living in San Diego continues to outpace compensation, remote work flexibility has emerged as a valuable incentive for job seekers—often, the most valuable. With San Diego median home prices reaching an all-time high of $1 million in Q3, working remotely opens affordable housing markets to employees without being limited by geographic constraints. Meanwhile, this allows employers to hire out-of-county or even out-of-state, increasing the pool of talent available to them.

Even still, employers grapple with concerns about the potential impact on employee productivity, leading to a spectrum of opinions on the efficacy of remote schedules. Yet, cutting overhead costs by adopting fully remote schedules has become an attractive possibility for firms.

SANDAG’s recent report on Remote Work Policies and Practices shows how the percentage of businesses that offer remote work options to their employees jumped from 27 percent pre-pandemic to 47 percent during, and 57 percent post-pandemic. This has had an obvious and indelible impact on commercial real estate demand.

What this means for real estate now

In the Q3 2023 Economic Snapshot, we saw that San Diego office real estate experienced its fifth consecutive quarter of negative net absorption, which reflects the difference between space that became physically occupied and space that became vacant. When this number is negative, it means more space became vacant than occupied during the quarter, perhaps because tenants decided not to renew leases as they became due.

San Diego’s negative net absorption trend is noteworthy for two reasons:

  1. Despite net absorption remaining negative for five quarters, asking rates remained at an all-time high throughout, reaching $3.31 per square foot in Q3 2023. Typically, asking rates would be expected to decrease in response to a slower demand for office space.
  1. Since 2010, the only other time the region has experienced five consecutive quarters of negative net absorption was during the onset of the pandemic, from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.

Find this and other data trends in our interactive dashboard.

We know that office spaces became unoccupied during the pandemic due to public health mandates and safety protocols. But why are we seeing this trend again and what could be causing it? The answer could be observed in the previous graph, leading firms to cut office space.

While net absorption remained negative in Q3 2023, the number recovered greatly and indicated potential recovery from past quarters. In Q3, the office market experienced 37,868 square feet of negative net absorption, compared to 159,262 square feet in Q2 and 874,036 in Q1.

The negative net absorption in Q3 was primarily driven by larger office vacancies in areas such as UTC, Kearny Mesa, and Del Mar Heights, according to CBRE’s quarterly report. Similarly, the highest asking rates in Q3 were found in UTC, Torrey Pines, and Del Mar Heights. The low tenant demand and the continuing construction of office spaces combined might generate more available, yet unoccupied space.

Looking ahead and how you can get involved

As the San Diego region anticipates continued changes in commercial real estate, EDC is scoping a unique study of the local workforce in which we’ll survey the employees of large and small companies throughout the county. The first local study of scale on workforce requirements and desires (to our knowledge), our goal is to identify evolving local trends in how work is done, workers’ needs, workforce trends, and workplace requirements to inform company return to office plans as well as office tenant attraction strategies.

Updated survey work and studies combined with tools such as EDC’s Investment Map can help private and public investors better understand workforce and workplace trends when making commercial real estate development decisions that benefit both employers and workers. To get involved, contact EDC’s Senior Director of Research and Economic Development:

Eduardo Velasquez
Eduardo Velasquez

Sr. Director, Research & Economic Development

 

You might also like to read:

EDC’s Top 10 in 2023

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Smart economic development is inclusive economic development. That’s why for more than six years, EDC’s programs and priorities have been rooted in growing the region’s quality jobs, skilled talent, and thriving households critical to San Diego’s competitiveness. Day-by-day and year-by-year, together with and through 150 investors and partners, EDC chips away and tracks against the region’s Inclusive Growth goals. See how we did it in 2023:

  • Supported 117 companies across the region.

    High growth industries create quality jobs and enable economic mobility. In 2023, EDC’s core economic development work provided 117 companies with economic incentive and export consulting, permitting and regulatory support, marketing/visibility, and more services at no cost, supporting 19,490 total jobs. Key wins include supporting American Lithium Energy in securing $13.2 million in grants to expand operations and triple its workforce, and spotlighting ways the County of San Diego, one of the largest institutional buyers in the region, can award more contracts to local and small businesses.

EDC CASE STUDIES

 

  • Grew local exports and wrapped MetroConnect VI.

    Globally connected businesses are more resilient. In 2023, through the MetroConnect program and Export SBDC, WTCSD supported 22 small and medium-sized businesses in accessing foreign markets. Notably, this included 15 MetroConnect companies that collectively generated more than $3.1 million in new exports in 2023, a 60 percent increase from the beginning of the program. These commitments earned WTCSD recognition by the U.S. President for Export Service.

WTCSD’s ANNUAL REPORT

 

  • Led trade mission to South Korea.

    San Diego deserves a spot on the global stage. To make our mark, WTCSD led a trade mission to South Korea together with Mayor Todd Gloria, SANDAG and County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas, and 30 regional delegates from the private, academic, and public sectors. The trip celebrated the partnership of Dexcom and Korean tech giant Kakao, among others, and serves to drive foreign investment and job growth back at home.

  •  Published progress to 2030 Inclusive Growth goals.

    Measure what matters. In 2023, EDC released its Inclusive Growth Progress Report. With updated data and bold objectives set around increasing the number of quality jobs, skilled talent, and thriving households critical to the region’s competitiveness, the report measures San Diego’s growth and recovery, and spotlights the greatest threats to prosperity. See this and more at progress.inclusiveSD.org.

  • Launched digital tools to inform regional decision making.

    Affordability is the region’s greatest threat to economic competitiveness. In 2023, EDC launched the San Diego Investment Map, an interactive tool embedded with a range of geographic, employment, development, and transit data, as well as regional analysis. Partners are leveraging insights from the map to inform development and investment decisions such as locating optimal headquarters or office space, identifying priority areas for housing development, or prioritizing on-site childcare.

  • Published economic intelligence on San Diego’s key industries.

    Economic development must be data-driven. In 2023, EDC’s Research Bureau launched several reports on the region’s key industries quantifying:

    • The economic impact of San Diego’s RNA cluster together with 1STRAND. RNA therapeutics innovation is a key part of the region’s life sciences ecosystem and supports more than 11,000 jobs sitting at the intersection of R&D, manufacturing, trade, and healthcare.
    • The economic impact of cybersecurity in San Diego together with the Cyber Center of Excellence. Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing $4 billion cluster with more than 1,000 local firms working to help thwart cyber risk across San Diego and beyond.
    • The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) in Smart Cities together with underwriter Booz Allen Hamilton. Although AI-ML integration with Smart Cities is still in the early stages, if done right these technologies could enable cities to be both more efficient and more inclusive.

MORE from RESEARch 

 

  • Strengthened relationships between employers and training programs.

    A competitive innovation economy relies on skilled talent. In 2023, EDC’s Talent Initiatives team quantified the region’s workforce needs, and spotlighted opportunities for employers to lean into talent pipeline development. Wins include:

    • Computer and Engineering Talent Demand reports spotlighting local demand for tech professionals. To build this pipeline and better connect employers with top regional talent, EDC hosted ‘Reaching Tomorrow’s Talent,’ where employers met and vetted computing and engineering curricula of local universities and training programs and celebrated a new roster of Verified Programs.
    • San Diego being brought to the forefront of the Navy’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, which addresses major gaps in the talent pipelines and supply chains of critical defense industrial base companies. This culminated in an IBAS-hosted event in San Diego where EDC’s Talent Initiatives team presented findings from a Talent Flow Analysis. Ultimately, these efforts have led to several opportunities to pursue funding to build the skilled trades talent pipeline in San Diego.

MORE TALENT INITIATIVEs

 

  • Hosted Seattle Leadership Trip.

    Sometimes it takes stepping outside of our region to get the best look at who we are and who we want to be. In 2023, EDC hosted a Leadership Trip to Seattle where more than 30 delegates learned about what makes the Pacific Northwest region so successful and what challenges have stymied it most. Major takeaways included bringing federally recognized apprentice program Apprenti to San Diego employers to strengthen our region’s talent pipeline.

  • Told San Diego’s innovation story to attract talent.

    Talent growth requires multiple approaches. In 2023, EDC’s talent attraction brand San Diego: Life. Changing. (SDLC) profiled more than 320 local job opportunities in STEM fields. The Lead was sent to 900 local student subscribers and 3,000+ mid-level STEM professionals across the U.S. SDLC also deployed paid, geotargeted social media campaigns during BIO International, Comic-Con, and the winter months in life sciences hubs Boston, New York, and Chicago.

  • Celebrated San Diego with investors and regional partners.

    Togetherness is our strength. In 2023, more than 800 San Diego leaders joined EDC at Petco Park for our Annual Dinner where we honored Taylor Guitars and Garry Ridge for their life-changing contributions to our region. We then wrapped up summer by celebrating San Diego innovation with more than 400 guests at our 2023 Summer Bash, hosted together with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. and keynoted by Vuori founder Joe Kudla.

And see San Diego’s top headlines from 2023 in:

Good News of the Year

Get involved with EDC

San Diego’s Good News of the Week – December 8, 2023

By Liz Muthoni,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week. GNOTW is sponsored by Manpower San Diego.

Get Good News of the Week in your inbox every Friday. → Sign up

For the week of December 8, 2023, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are some events and opportunities:

Investor Spotlight: General Atomics

General Atomics (GA) has long been an EDC investor and global leader in nuclear fusion energy and defense research and development. Driving the world’s clean energy future, GA operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego on behalf of the Department of Energy. In early 2023, GA hosted Mayor Todd Gloria at its Sorrento Valley campus as part of a series of tours of the region’s leading innovators.

Read More

Business information and resources page

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

sign up for gnotw

Liz Muthoni
Liz Muthoni

Coordinator, Investor Relations & Marketing

World Trade Center San Diego’s 2023 Annual Report

By World Trade Center San Diego,

World Trade Center San Diego (WTCSD), the international affiliate of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and the regional leader on trade and investment, cultivates a pipeline of export-ready firms, maximizes foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities, and enhances San Diego’s global identity.

In WTCSD’s 2023 Annual Report, see how we helped San Diego companies participate in a globally connected economy to create quality local jobs, and make the San Diego region more prosperous, competitive and resilient.

WTCSD’S CORE PILLARS

  • Exports: Supporting exporters creates quality jobs and builds resiliency in small businesses. WTCSD grows regional exports by facilitating sustainable connections to customers and markets for local firms.
  • Investment: Foreign investment strengthens competitive industry clusters and enables the expansion of local companies. WTCSD assists investing companies and supports international air service expansion.
  • Global Identity: A strong global reputation for innovation makes the region more competitive and connected. WTCSD communicates the impact of global trends on the regional economy and stewards relationships with the markets that matter most for growth.

EXPORTS

Priority: As the region’s Export Specialty Small Business Development Center (SBDC), WTCSD cultivates a pipeline of export-ready firms, and supports these companies in their efforts to grow in international markets.

INVESTMENT

Priority: Maximize foreign investment opportunities for the region by building and institutionalizing linkages with strategic markets abroad, as well as better leveraging local companies, partners, and assets.

  • Following WTCSD’s 2022 Netherlands trade mission, Dutch applied research organization TNO revolutionizing urban development strategy established its first North American office in San Diego.

  • WTCSD refreshed its primary print collateral for foreign investment attraction. The new brochure tracks San Diego’s key industries, FDI data, notable exports, and a regional summary; and soon, top metrics will appear as a digital dashboard on WTCSD’s website. The brochure was printed in English and Korean ahead of WTCSD’s Korea trade mission, and included a Korea-San Diego economic comparison.

GLOBAL IDENTITY

Priority: Enhance the San Diego region’s reputation and visibility to underpin investment retention and attraction efforts, as well as global connectivity goals.

  • Mayor Todd Gloria, SANDAG and County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas, and WTCSD led 2023’s trade mission to South Korea. The binational delegation of 30 civic, academic, and corporate leaders promoted San Diego’s key industries, established and strengthened public-private partnerships, and explored best practices in technology, life sciences, and clean energy innovation.

  • In honor of World Trade Month, WTCSD hosted its first World Trade Week San Diego. More than 200 international business professionals, consulates, and service providers from across Southern California attended the expo and MetroConnect VI Grand Prize PitchFest.

READ THE FULL WTCSD 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

 

GET INVOLVED

Investor Spotlight: General Atomics

By Liz Muthoni,

As a nonprofit, San Diego Regional EDC is supported by investment from nearly 150 private organizations, companies, and public agencies like General Atomics. With this support, EDC provides direct services to help companies grow and thrive in San Diego by leading initiatives to enhance the region’s growth and prosperity.

General Atomics has long been an EDC investor and global leader in energy and defense research and development. In early 2023, Mayor Todd Gloria visited the DIII-D National Fusion Facility at GA’s Torrey Pines campus as part of a series of tours of the region’s leading defense innovators.

Hear about General Atomics’ leadership in the world’s clean energy future and how the company is investing in San Diego.

Tell us about General Atomics and its mission.

Headquartered in San Diego, General Atomics (GA) specializes in diversified research and development for energy, defense, and aircraft. As the world’s largest private participant in fusion energy research, GA aims to provide sustainable, reliable carbon-free energy for future generations through commercialized fusion power plants. Cracking the code on fusion would mean no harmful emissions, no radioactive spent nuclear fuel waste, and no mining for fuel because fusion fuel is derived from seawater.

GA operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego on behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE) and has been the sole-source supplier of targets and target support services for the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s inertial confinement fusion program since 1991.

Why San Diego?

Founded in San Diego in 1955, GA has proudly called the region home for nearly 70 years. GA’s Torrey Pines campus was originally made possible by the City of San Diego, which arranged a public vote to approve the sale of what was then an empty cow pasture overlooking the Pacific Ocean. While the company now operates on five continents with more than 12,500 employees and more than 8.3 million square feet of engineering, laboratory, and manufacturing facilities worldwide, the majority of GA operations remain in San Diego County.

Over the years, GA has benefited enormously from San Diego’s quality of life, competitive innovation workforce, and partnerships with world-leading universities like UC San Diego and San Diego State University (SDSU). GA has hosted countless students for internships and postdoctoral fellowships, and generations of UC San Diego and SDSU researchers working alongside its scientists and engineers on a wide range of projects. Many of these students have gone on to become leading scientists in their field, some of whom now work full-time in San Diego at GA.

GA is also known for its support of San Diego’s small businesses, which make up 98 percent of the region’s firms. Now a cornerstone of San Diego’s innovation ecosystem, GA as a long-time federal contractor is committed to supporting San Diego’s small, women-, veteran-, and minority-owned businesses through its comprehensive DOE-recognized Small Business Program.

Please share more about GA’s collaboration and partnership with San Diego Regional EDC.

GA has been an EDC investor for more than 30 years. Vice Chairman Linden Blue has served as a director and in EDC leadership roles over the years. As GA facilities have  expanded, EDC has provided permitting support as well as helping elected leaders understand the company’s economic impact on the region. In recent months, GA has worked the team to arrange behind-the-scenes tours for Mayor Todd Gloria and local business leaders sharing our exciting fission and fusion facilities with community partners.

Looking ahead, what is on the horizon for GA?

Among other initiatives, GA is drawing from its decades of experience in fusion to develop a new concept for a Fusion Pilot Plant that will deliver clean, safe, and economically viable fusion-powered electricity. The facility will utilize GA’s proprietary Fusion Synthesis Engine to enable engineers, physicists, and operators to optimize the plant for maximum efficiency, and has developed a concept for tritium, a fusion fuel, to make the fuel cycle self-sufficient. As part of this project, GA is joining with leading institutions around the world, including France-based ITER Organization, to pursue the most rapid, economically practical path to fusion energy.

The great thing about clean energy is that anyone with a passion for it can find their calling in the space. In addition to the scientists and engineers who create clean technology, San Diego’s GA team needs the same talented business, operations, and marketing professionals that any other company needs to operate successfully. For GA, a clean energy future means access to high quality jobs for all San Diegans.

Read more about EDC’s investors in our investor spotlight blog series and join GA and 150+ investors committed to supporting the region’s inclusive economic development by becoming a member of EDC.

Interested in publishing an investor spotlight? Contact our team:

Liz Muthoni
Liz Muthoni

Coordinator, Investor Relations & Marketing

WTCSD’s Q4 Global Brief: Enhancing San Diego’s global identity

By Sophia Antonopoulos,

Each month, World Trade Center San Diego delivers the latest global news and updates straight to your inbox.

In Q4 2023, here’s what you need to know about San Diego’s global trade, investment, and engagement. ➝ Get WTCSD’s Global Brief each quarter.

Mayor Todd Gloria leads trade mission to South Korea

To strengthen business relationships and grow quality jobs in San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria, SANDAG and County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas, and WTCSD led a binational trade mission to South Korea. With the U.S. government incentivizing the reshoring of supply chains and our regions’ complementary strengths in the life sciences, semiconductor, clean energy, and biotechnology sectors, South Korea is a critical global market and natural partner for San Diego companies expanding globally.
➝ Learn Why Korea

Reflections on our trade mission by Dr. Nikia Clarke

WTCSD’s 30 trade mission delegates showcased major regional development projects for foreign investors, toured Qualcomm and Illumina’s Korea offices, and explored opportunities to better connect our regions through travel and government partnerships while in South Korea. Most importantly, WTCSD’s Executive Director Dr. Nikia Clarke writes, “our binational region—with San Diego’s innovation ecosystem, Imperial Valley’s clean energy leadership, and Tijuana’s advanced manufacturing prowess—demonstrated its ability to compete like never before.”
➝Read the Recap

WTCSD in 2023: National recognition, export growth, and global connections

WTCSD cultivates a pipeline of export-ready firms, maximizes foreign direct investment opportunities, and enhances San Diego’s global identity. From winning the President’s “E” Award for growing regional exports through Export SBDC and MetroConnect to leading a Mayoral trade mission to South Korea, see how we supported 32 company projects with and through our partners in 2023.
➝Read our Annual Report

San Diego News

Events

Grow your company in san diego ↓

World Trade Center San Diego works directly with companies—free of charge—to help them expand internationally and grow in San Diego.

  • Export Specialty Center: For small companies interested in learning about exporting and international growth.
  • MetroConnect: For small and medium-sized companies ready to export and grow internationally.

➝ Get WTCSD’s Global Brief delivered straight to your inbox.

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For COVID-19 recovery resources and information: Visit this page, or see how we can help your company free of charge.