Interview: Scott Levitan, President CEO, Research Triangle Park

Active year

Billions in transactions over the past year are expected to lead to thousands of new jobs

Scott Levitan

President & CEO – Research Triangle Park

What were the key highlights for the park over the past year? It has been the most active year transactionally that we’ve ever had. We had over $3.5 billion in transactions just within RTP. As they come online, those transactions will produce about 3,500 jobs. The total job population at RTP is about 55,000, so that’s a really significant increase in the workforce for just one year. Our market is clearly very active.

What are some pandemic trends RTP has adapted? Clearly, everybody is now on a virtual platform and working from home, so the question is what the future will look like. We’re in the middle of developing a new town center for RTP called Hub RTP. It will sit within what we hope is the kind of environment that companies will be looking for. We’re trying to think forward and envision what kind of environment companies — or, perhaps more importantly, a company’s talent — are going to choose as a place they want to operate and work.

What makes the Triangle region appealing? Research Triangle Park was created on the backbone of these three wonderful research institutions: Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and NC State. Over time, we’ve attracted other partners in proximity to the Triangle that are really doing things that are remarkable and add to the area not only in talent but also research. North Carolina Central University, which is actually the closest university to RTP, has something called BRITE (Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise). On the bio side, it is a world-renowned institute and a real draw for companies doing genetic research. We have North Carolina A&T, which is in Greensboro and produces the highest number of Black engineers in the country. We offer opportunities in terms of talent development for those companies that really want to refocus and be purposeful about attracting a diverse and unique workforce.

How does RTP benefit the state of North Carolina? Like many states, the economic success of our urban areas is not reflected in the rural areas of North Carolina. The question is how do we advance the benefit that comes from RTP and make sure that that has an impact on our rural areas? That’s happening naturally. A lot of the announcements that come from RTP are biomanufacturing facilities that are locating in the “halo” counties: the seven counties that ring the three counties that make up the Triangle. That is a great benefit because these companies don’t need to be in the center but they still want to be in the milieu of what is happening in the Triangle region.