Decades of planning and long-standing partnerships have cultivated a business community in Scottsdale that supports innovation, welcomes diverse talent and celebrates business growth. Now, we are ready to continue building on that momentum with a new strategy to bolster Scottsdale’s economy.
The past 18 months have been a trying time for everyone, especially businesses, yet the Scottsdale Economic Development department found new ways to support the business community and continued to promote the city as a premier destination for business.
This spring, the City Council approved the economic development five-year strategic plan, setting into motion new ways to grow Scottsdale’s economic base. While business as usual is changing, so too is the way we approach and set our goals. What remains, however, are the core values of this community that guides our work.
From supporting robust business retention and expansion efforts and encouraging business formation to advance economic prosperity for Scottsdale residents and businesses, to fostering resiliency through upskilling and talent attraction, to highlighting Scottsdale’s quality of place, it was important to weave these values into the newest plan.
Over the next five years, the plan will guide a phased-in approach to meeting a new set of goals. To begin, the team will look at growing Scottsdale’s existing industry base to increase economic vitality by executing a retention and expansion strategy focused on the six key industries in our business ecosystem, promoting commercial developments to support business expansion and provide technical resources to small business recovery and growth.
Additional strategies aim to diversify the economy by attracting new investment to ensure resiliency through site-selector engagement and continuing to work with our key partners, and bolstering the startup ecosystem to accelerate the growth of high-tech startups by leveraging investment in Scottsdale’s Smart City Strategic Roadmap.
Further, the plan includes making inclusion and diversity an economic priority to ensure all residents and businesses have the opportunity to thrive by working with our local partners to support Scottsdale’s diverse businesses, and by celebrating Scottsdale’s arts, culture, heritage and diverse entrepreneurial success stories.
Lastly, the new economic development strategy will focus on building Scottsdale into the premier destination for talent in the Southwest, through a remote worker campaign, for example, and enhancing the city’s brand for business, capital and talent through a storytelling program that promotes Scottsdale’s economy.
Our goal is to reflect upon the outcomes of this plan in five years and know that we worked collaboratively with the business community to diversify our industry base, spur innovation and business formation, and created a business climate that is open, diverse and inviting to both talent and business. Read the entire strategic plan.
Rob Millar is the economic development director for the City of Scottsdale and is a certified economic developer.
