Fairfax County in Northern Virginia has spent decades building a tech scene that helps put the DC region on the tech hub map. But it sees a hole that can be filled with a new Northeast presence.
Jerry Gordon will be perfecting his Boston accent as the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority he runs establishes a presence there to woo companies. Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications has been hired to run the Boston marketing efforts. (One of its VPs is a product of the county's public schools.) The strategy is not to move Boston businesses to the county but to offer them a place for expansion. The pitch to Boston's large biotech community will focus on the county as a hub for the confluence of IT and life sciences.
Fairfax's Maryland neighbor has long been home to biotech and life sciences, but Jerry doesn't think the county's Boston strategy will ruffle any feathers. He sees Maryland as more of a science hub, whereas Northern Virginia's strengths are personalized medicine and genomics research, as well as a large IT community. Fairfax has been laying down roots in other big cities like LA and London for 20 years, resulting in nearly400 foreign-owned businesses coming to the county and 25,000 in direct employment.
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