by Eric Griffin, Managing Director of Research and Innovation
Whether it’s a $1 trillion company or a family of four, businesses and people are always seeking to improve their situations. One way to do that is to conduct some research on greener pastures.
Part of the process of locating those pastures – hopefully – involves an objective analysis of key deciding factors (be it the cost of living, job opportunities, worker availability, etc.). That’s where the Research and Innovation department at the Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) comes in.
Research and Innovation draws information from a broad range of sources – including the Department of Labor, Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI), the North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS), or our community partners and DRC members – to tell the story of our region.
We do so in both print and online publications that we produce (among them, the Dallas Region Relocation Guide and the annual Economic Development Guide), custom-assembled Requests For Information (RFIs) for prospective relocations and for major bids, such as the competition for Amazon’s HQ2. We also work with industry leaders such as Accenture, SMU and others to create content that includes the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Innovation Assessment released in June 2018 and the Design with a Big D User Experience industry profile in September 2018. We also support other DRC teams’ story-telling efforts. For instance the Say Yes to Dallas talent attraction initiative relies on our economic, demographic, and workforce data.
The combined body of work from the DRC Research and Innovation department allows individuals and companies to make better-informed decisions based on benchmarks and other comparative data. We don’t just say the Dallas Region is the best place to be – we present the facts. Perhaps the best complement we hear from newcomers who read one of our narratives is when they tell us there were few surprises when they arrived.