North Dakota attracting new businesses

Efforts to attract new businesses to North Dakota are working, particularly in the technology industry, state officials said.

“North Dakota continues to pride itself on being the best place in the world to start and grow a business,” Kim Schmidt, communications manager at North Dakota Commerce Department, told The Center Square. “So much of our economy is dependent on energy and agriculture, but we have made tremendous strides in advancing other industries as well. Technologies like unmanned and autonomous systems, advanced manufacturing and robotics and bioscience innovations have helped us diversify our economy.”

North Dakota also is home to some of the best enterprise software talent in the world and that is an industry that continues to develop and evolve across the state, Schmidt said.  The state has made strategic investments in new technology, such as the Vantis network, which enables unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to fly beyond the visual line of sight.

“This is the first network in the nation to allow this type of innovation, which cements North Dakota as a pioneer in the autonomous systems space,” Schmidt said. “This network has allowed us to recruit numerous companies from around the world to locate in North Dakota, and (allowed) many homegrown ones to flourish as well.”

Grand Forks is becoming the center of the UAS industry with 40 new startups, Gov. Doug Burgum said last month during his state of the state address.

Growth also is occurring in the bioscience industry throughout the state, which has implications for the medical, energy and agricultural sectors.

More than 30,000 new businesses have been registered in North Dakota over the last two years, Burgum said in his state of the state address. In the past year, capital investments in North Dakota have totaled over $21 billion. Twelve billion dollars has been invested in biomanufacturing and other technology businesses, $7 billion in the energy industry and $2.2 billion in value-added agricultural products, Burgum said.

This article was originally posted on North Dakota attracting new businesses