Here is today's summary of economic development news, a free service of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, representing Alabama's private sector investment in economic development. If you enjoy NewsFlash, thank an
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In the 10 years after it's completed, the Northern Beltline is estimated to cause a $2.67 million economic impact each year in the Birmingham area, according to a
study by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The Birmingham Business Alliance, which gave input on the study, announced the results of the research on Monday.
That impact includes the creation of about 14,000 jobs with an average salary of more than $61,000 -- an amount higher than the median Alabama income, the study found.
UAB lands multimillion-dollar NASA contract for 'cool' project
Huntsville isn't the only Alabama metro area making some waves in the space industry.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has landed a $6.2 million from NASA to design and build a new set of freezers, called "Iceberg" for the International Space Station.
UAB's
Engineering Innovation and Technology Development team will be working on the project to replace the MELFI, or Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer, which have been on board the International Space Station since 2006.
By Tim Day, senior vice president of C_TEC (Chamber Technology Engagement Center), U.S. Chamber of Commerce
on July 31, 2017
It's no secret that the economy is changing. As technology plays a greater role in our personal and professional lives, our economy too increasingly relies on technology to create jobs and encourage growth. Technology is the foundation of our digital economy, and its modern infrastructure is data.
However, in order to use data, we need a place to process and store it - in other words, data centers. Data centers are facilities that house the computers that process data. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are three million data centers across the country - including here in Alabama.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Chamber Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC) recently set out to learn how data centers impact their local communities, and the findings were substantial.
According to our recent report, the average data center adds $32.5 million in economic activity to its local community each year.
Tomberlin's Take: Jeff Bezos and workforce among what Alabama is doing right with economic development
By Michael Tomberlin
Alabama just may be serious about tackling two of the biggest economic development issues facing the state today - education and infrastructure.
A key step is having the executive and legislative branches on the same page.
At last week's
Economic Development Association of Alabama summer conference, Gov. Kay Ivey revealed her economic development agenda would focus on those two areas. Two days later, Sen. Del Marsh, president pro tem of the Alabama Senate, spoke to the same body and emphasized the same two critical issues.