International Attraction Summit

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More than 60 individuals from 12 nationalities and nearly all 16 counties attended the Summit. During the session, we discussed how Team NEO can support your existing international business attraction efforts with consistent regional marketing messages and tools, as well as assist you with lead execution support.

International Business Attraction Summit
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In addition, we gathered wonderful ideas regarding how the region can work more effectively together in international business attraction efforts. Team NEO can work on some of these ideas, but given limited resources and scope, some of the ideas need third party leadership and support. The following was discussed:

  • Team NEO’s threshold for working on projects: While Team NEO typically follows the state of Ohio’s incentive guidelines (20 jobs over 3 years, $1 million capital investment and 18 – 24 month close time), if you have a project with excellent potential, but less than these guidelines, we suggest you still  contact Team NEO.  We may be able to help and if not, we will do our best to direct you to other sources of assistance. a
  • Team NEO’s econometric research capabilities: Team NEO employs some of the region’s best econometric researchers. They are able to develop labor maps, supply chain and other key data in business attraction. During the meeting, questions arose about their ability to produce information about ethnic populations, international business presences, and Northeast Ohio business presence internationally. Our research department will be reviewing what pertinent international data is available to determine what is possible.
  • Distribution of Attendee List: For networking, sharing of best practices and building collaborative partnerships, many attendees asked Team NEO to distribute the Summit invite list. Out of respect for colleagues, Team NEO would like for invitees to “opt-in” for inclusion in a distributed list. Please reply to this email “yes, include me”, or answer so in the linked survey. (link below).
  • An idea arose for a $1 million fund for Team NEO to manage for competitive funding of local international initiatives. This is a nice idea, but it  needs third party funding and ownership to be implement.
  • Lack of funding for international companies: There was discussion at length about the need for funding (both bank loans and equity funding). This is a clear need, but not within Team NEO’s capacity or capability at this point. If another organization wants to form a task force to tackle this, Team NEO would be happy to participate.

We will keep you informed as Team NEO’s proactive attraction plans take shape.  Thank you for your active participation in this Summit and the many excellent ideas generated.