While Silicon Valley may be considered the primary tech hub in the US, the Southeast is also becoming a tech hub, particularly these states.

1. High-Tech Boom
Continues in the
Southeast

2. America has always been a wellspring of innovation,
starting with the founding documents and continuing to
today’s modern technology. Since the 1970s, America’s
largest technology hub has been located in California’s
Silicon Valley. While this region remains the most
prominent center for tech jobs, other areas, such as the
Pacific Northwest and Texas, have also grown into
thriving tech hubs.

3. Additionally, the Southeast has a well-educated
employee base, comprehensive transportation system,
and hands-off mentality regarding government
regulations. As a result, technology industry has most
recently been booming across this region, especially in
the following states:

4. North Carolina

5. Several population centers in North Carolina are
attracting technology companies at an unprecedented
rate. Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, an
esteemed financial center, earned Forbes’ ranking as the
nation’s second-best city for technology jobs in 2017.
Between 2006 and 2016, the city grew its supply of tech
jobs by 62 percent.

6. The area has also seen a 23 percent increase in the
number of people employed in STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields,
particularly in environmental technology and health
care. In the last decade, the metro area has created
7,400 systems design services and custom
programming jobs. Software publishing jobs have also
grown by almost 700 percent.

7. Another up-and-coming North Carolina tech mecca is
Research Triangle Park (RTP), which encompasses the
cities of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham, as well as
their respective research universities (North Carolina
State University, the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, and Duke University). These universities
produce a constant supply of highly-trained workers for
tech companies to hire. The area also boasts a number
of venture capital firms looking to invest in RTP
companies.

8. In 2017, Forbes named Raleigh as the sixth-best tech
job generator in the nation due to tech job growth of
46.9 percent over the last decade. A hotbed for
biotechnology and agricultural research, RTP serves as
the US headquarters for several leading crop-science
companies, including Bayer Crop Science and Syngenta
Biotechnology, both of which continue to expand their
facilities.

9. According to the president of Syngenta Biotechnology,
Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, “This is an
extraordinary time of growth for agriculture in North
Carolina and we are proud to be part of the region’s
growing agricultural technology cluster.” RTP is also
home to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center,
which hosts numerous life sciences companies. Among
them are BioPharma, Symmetry Biosciences, and
GlaxoSmithKline.

10. Georgia

11. The Peach State is also laying the groundwork to attract
tech companies and help startups gain a foothold. In
2013, Atlanta helped launch an AT&T Foundry
innovation center next to Georgia Tech to accelerate the
development of automation, mobility, and home
security technologies.

12. When speaking about the new Foundry, AT&T
Mobility’s then-President and CEO Ralph de la Vega
expressed his belief in the city’s future as a tech hub:
“With its great mix of Fortune 500 companies,
world-class research institutions, and a strong
workforce, Atlanta can truly become one of the world’s
premier locations for tech innovation.”

13. Georgia is also home to numerous life sciences
companies, the largest of which is the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention located in Atlanta. Other
life sciences firms residing in Georgia include Baxter, GE
Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, and Greenway Medical
Technologies. These companies perform vital research
in a variety of areas, such as medical devices, health
informatics, as well as hematology and immunology.

14. Kentucky

15. Previously known for its mining economy, Kentucky is
now focusing on a future in high tech. The state has
constructed a Nucleus Innovation Park in downtown
Louisville to support early-stage life sciences and
biotech companies. Further, Northern Kentucky
University’s College of Informatics recently created a
business accelerator called UpTech, which works with
over 50 informatics startups.

16. The state also awards grants through its Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business
Technology Transfer (STTR) matching funds program to
encourage tech companies to launch in or move to
Kentucky. Organizations like Shaping Our Appalachian
Region are also helping to transform Kentucky’s
economy into a technology-based one.

17. One technology company that has made it big in
Kentucky is Bit Source. Launched in Pikeville in 2014,
the software development firm relies on its own
training program to teach former miners how to code.