SAN DIEGO—San Diego continues to show its potential as a diverse growth and innovation market with long roots in STEM talent, biotech and life sciences, med-tech and tourism, San Diego Regional EDC's COO Lauree Sahba told attendees at RealShare San Diego yesterday during her keynote address on the state of San Diego. Sahbee's address explored the factors that are driving San Diego's CRE market and outlined the opportunities to help San Diego grow as a city economically, talent wise and as a global entity.
Sahba said that despite many companies leaving Southern California for Texas due to its lower taxes and cost of living, many of them are back in San Diego because it is such a strong market that attracts residents and business. The three top economic drivers in the market are innovation, leisure and hospitality and defense and military.
And while the market has the largest concentration of military in the world, it is also a center for genomic companies and genomic studies, housing some of the most prestigious biotech and life-sciences universities in the world. The number-one factor in the growth of innovation economy is STEM talent, and there are 34% more STEM workers in San Diego than in other regions, Sahba said.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
