Archive: Business & Technology

Pittsburgh, PA – The 'Fourth Economy Community (FEC) Index' was released April 12 listing the nation’s top 10 small-sized Fourth Economy Communities. This category features counties with between 100,000 to 150,000 residents that are ideally positioned to attract modern investment and managed economic growth.

“The ‘fourth economy’ defines our nation’s current economy, reflecting a combination of the previous three: agrarian, industrial, and technological,” said Rich Overmoyer, Fourth Economy President and CEO. “This new index is intended to serve as a dashboard for community stakeholders to gauge their capacity to attract and retain modern investment.”

“In the midst of many economic challenges, interest is growing rapidly in communities and economic development organizations across the country that are effectively responding to the new economic reality,” said Overmoyer. “We continue to build upon these experiences and were eager to launch this next listing of Fourth Economy Community Index.”

“I am delighted to learn that Tompkins County is being recognized as a great place to attract and retain investment” said Jean McPheeters, the President of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. “This new index lists Tompkins County as fourth among 10 counties that are great places to grow businesses in the new economy and gives us an A+ for innovation capacity. I think they got it right.”

“It is not surprising once again to see the leading fourth economy counties blend both rural and urban character, offering their residents diverse living and working options,” said Stephen McKnight, Fourth Economy Consulting Vice President of Community and Market Assessments.

“Like we witnessed with the inaugural mid-sized listing announced at the end of 2011, a common attribute among the smaller communities is a geographic association with institutions of higher education, which are the modern engines in the fourth economy. As a result, these communities can provide the talent and place-based strategies that address housing, recreation and amenities for smaller, high-value businesses to thrive,” McKnight added.

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