In early 2020, the start of the pandemic left all of us with far more questions than answers. One year later, in spite of ongoing uncertainty and frustration, St. Louis has responded to the year’s challenges with resiliency. In the midst of a year characterized by sweatpants, remote work and long stretches of isolation, St. Louisans have pushed forward to advance the region. Here are a few wins we’re celebrating. 

In the past few years, St. Louis has quickly made great strides to become the geospatial capital of the world. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is currently constructing their new $1.7 billion Next NGA West campus in North St. Louis. Upon completion, the new NGA building will span 700,000 sq. ft. and house 3,100 employees in 2025.

Project wins are hard to come by in a global pandemic. The pipeline is full, but decisions seem to be just over the horizon. The good news is that companies continue to make plans for their near future. But it’s hard to choose a location for a significant investment when travel is restricted and Zoom can only take you so far. To me, it feels like we lost six months of 2020. 

St. Louis has long been a hub for agtech, with well-established players like Bayer making way in recent years for new and equally innovative start-ups to the region and the industry. But agtech cannot exist efficiently and effectively today without another St. Louis standout: geospatial technologies. The two industries are irrevocably linked, said a panel of industry experts Tuesday, Nov. 10.

I have been involved in economic development for many years – nearly 20 of them in St. Louis alone. We created AllianceSTL to more effectively compete as a region for job-creating business investment to boost employment and development. During that time, we’ve seen a lot of progress. We’ve seen small wins, and we’ve seen big wins, and this announcement was a BIG win for the St. Louis region.  

How has St. Louis’ agtech ecosystem evolved over the past 10 years, and what does future growth look like for companies that have made the region a hub for the agtech sector?

I’ve used this space to speculate about potential looming changes in the corporate office environment. Once we get beyond this pandemic, does everyone then go back to the office, or is remote work the new normal? Recently, I’ve been reading more about emerging trends poised to disrupt the warehouse and distribution sector.

AllianceSTL’s CEO, Steve Johnson and Molly Ketcham, Managing Director, Strategic Planning and Operations at Accenture Federal Services (AFS) were recently guests on The Project: Inside Corporate Location Decisions podcast.

Our CEO, Steve Johnson, was given the opportunity to be a guest on the Associated General Contractors of Missouri (AGCMO) podcast by Leonard Toenjes, President of AGCMO.

AllianceSTL, along with our many partners, have been celebrating the recent announcement that Accenture Federal Services (AFS) selected St. Louis as the location for an Advanced Technology Center. The center will create 1,400 new, high-paying technology jobs over the next five years. Economic modeling suggests the overall impact will be closer to 2,800 jobs total.

A big debate’s brewing over what the future office environment looks like. Does everyone return to the office once safe, continue working from home, or does it look more like a blended and evolutionary process that each company (and individual) must figure out over time? 

Please read our following statement, issued in collaboration with our partners across other private sector business and economic development organizations in St. Louis.

This week we’re starting to slowly and purposefully open back up across Greater St. Louis. The bi-state area has shown great strength during this pandemic and I expect no less when it comes to the reopening of our economy. Read about reopening guidelines for the county here and the city here.

Robert Frost wrote, “Men (women) work together whether they work together or apart.” That seems an apt description of where we are today. 

Everyone’s talking about risk these days. It’s why we keep our distance, wash our hands, wear a mask—all designed to lessen the risk others may pose to us and we may pose to others. It just makes sense.

I’ve been asked recently how AllianceSTL is “pivoting” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the basic shutdown of the global economy. The impact of this crisis on everyone’s lives is very significant and we probably don’t yet fully understand its true scope. But I’m convinced the best thing AllianceSTL can do for the region is to remain true to the purpose for which we were created just over a year ago.