New Hampshire

Area Development Site and Facility Planning, Aug 2002 by Schantz-Feld, Mali R

A steady in-migration of workers and a strong focus on an educated labor force have helped New Hampshire's gross state product outpace not only its regional neighbors, but also the national average.

NEW HAMPSHIRE outperformed all the New England states in growth of employment, income, and state product in the last 20 years, according to the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development. The New England Economic Project predicted that New Hampshire would be the first New England state out of the national recession by mid2002. The 2001 New Hampshire Industrial and Office Real Estate Index notes that last year, the Granite State outperformed the rest of the New England states in terms of favorable tax climate, standard of living, and child and family well-being. And a 2001 Morgan Quitno report lauded New Hampshire as the second-safest state.

Governor Jeanne Shaheen has pursued new ventures in New Hampshire. "Working in partnership with business, we have increased New Hampshire's international trade, supported innovative high-tech companies, invested in developing a strong, educated work force, made New Hampshire more competitive by cutting electric rates, and maintained the high quality of life that attracts businesses and workers to New Hampshire," Shaheen says. A portion of the continued success is attributed to the steadily increasing in-migration of workers. U.S. Department of Commerce data released in June of this year showed that New Hampshire led New England and was fourth in the nation in growth of gross state product between 1997 and 2000, the first four years of Governor Shaheen's administration. From January 1997 to December 2000, the state's gross product grew by 31.56 percent, compared to the New England average of 24.96 percent and the national average of 20.72 percent. New Hampshire's leading growth industries include electronics components, commercial physical research, printed circuit boards, computer programming and related services, employment agencies, and analytical instruments.

Taking the Initiative

In early July, Governor Shaheen announced plans for a new technology-incubator initiative that will target high tech, with a focus on biotechnology. Through the initiative, the state and nonprofit and private partners will start two hightech incubators, the first in Lebanon and the second in the state's Seacoast region. Dartmouth College has donated land to help build the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center, a 40,000-square-foot facility in the Centerra Technology Park in Lebanon. The initiative's partners, including Dartmouth College, the University of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Community Technical College System, the Grafton County Economic Development Council, the New Hampshire Biotechnology Council, and the Department of Resources and Economical Development, have launched the fundraising effort to build the center. Partners in the initiative will explore economically underdeveloped parts of the state for companies that are ready to expand outside the incubator.

John O'Donnell, commissioner of the New Hampshire Community Technical College System, asserts, "The community technical colleges will play a vital role in working with these communities to provide the work-force development component... Our biotechnology training program at our Pease International Tradeport campus will be linked to the technology incubators and will serve as a prototype for work-force development programs in other strategic locations around the state."

The AeA (the former American Electronics Association) noted that high-tech workers in the state earned an average wage of $66,400, or 88 percent more than the average privatesector wage in 2000. Several associations work to build high-tech growth, including the Greater Nashua Software Entrepreneurs' Group, the New Hampshire High Technology Council, the Industrial Research Center, Network NH, and the Software Association of New Hampshire (SwANH).

Millipore Corporation has plans to expand its manufacturing operations in Jaffrey with the addition of a new facility adjacent to its current plant on Prescott Road. The proposed addition is a 30,000-square-foot state-of-the-art membrane-manufacturing facility, which will enable the firm to increase production of its ultrafiltration membranes, currently produced in Bedford, Mass., for worldwide biopharmaceutical and life-sciences markets. The new facility, on the company's 32-acre site, is slated to include a clean room, a wastewater pretreatment plant, and an onsite power-generation facility. Groundbreaking is scheduled for August 2, and completion is expected next summer. The expansion is expected to 'create 30 to 40 new high-tech positions with growth potential. The plant currently employs 335 people.

East of Jaffrey in Portland, Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza Biologics is adding 270,000 square feet on land contiguous with its site. The company is expected to complete the expansion and have the new facility online by 2004.