What Will the Triangle Look Like in 20 Years? (Recap: Economic Development Forum)

Change is all around us. Disruption and reinvention are key to our present and our future.
If you ask Ted Abernathy about the future, he’ll talk with you about trends.
“Trends are changing every job and every industry,” he said.

Abernathy, the managing partner of Economic Leadership LLC, was the keynote speaker at our Economic Development Forum, taking a closer look at what the Triangle will be like in 20 years. Economic Leadership LLC is a consultancy that is currently working in more than a dozen states to develop economic and workforce strategies.

“Dozens and dozens of trends are impacting how we do business every day,” said Abernathy.
He said four trends, in particular are impacting everything, including the business community:

• Acceleration
• Hyper-connectivity
• Constant disruption
• Rising complexity

“Your response speed in business constantly needs to be accelerating,” said Abernathy. “Also, hyper-connectivity is all around us. There are 4.1 billion people on the internet and there will be 30 billion connected devices by next year.”

Twenty years ago, Abernathy told the audience at the forum, our region created the first 13-county strategic plan, focusing on priority growth opportunities.
Today, we are seeing the impact of that plan.

As we look to 20 years in the future, Abernathy said our area is going to become even more regional.
“We are going to need to connect all these communities that are growing,” he said.
Abernathy also discussed how a focus on the talent pipeline is critical.

“We can’t get enough talent,” he said. “Every one of your businesses is driven by that.”
The cost of childcare also is beginning to have an impact on the talent pipeline, said Abernathy.
“It’s expensive to have children and fewer millennials are having children,” he said.

He discussed how, as time goes on, that impacts the talent pipeline.

Abernathy encouraged the audience to keep adapting.

“All over the region, people are thinking about new ideas,” he said. “The question is how we will put them into practice?”

We want to thank Abernathy for giving us a clearer picture of what the future could have in store. His address and all the discussion at the forum generated a lot of interest on social media as our official Twitter hashtag, #EDForum19, was the top trending topic in Raleigh the morning of the event.

And, thank you to our panel speakers:

• Roberta Fox, urban designer and architect
• Dr. Daniel Stancil, executive director, IBM Q Hub at NC State University
• Catherine Truitt, chancellor, Western Governors University North Carolina
• Ted Abernathy, managing partner, Economic Leadership LLC

We also want to thank all of our sponsors of the Economic Development Forum. Without their support, this event would not have been possible.
Please also register for our Summer Leadership Conference, coming up June 25 – 26 at Pinehurst Resort. Following the Economic Development Forum discussion about the importance of the talent pipeline, we will discuss how to cultivate that pipeline during our Summer Leadership Conference. Register and find out more about what else to expect on our Summer Leadership Conference event page.