R&D Centers - increasingly known as Innovation Centers - are among the most highly visible operations that companies locate.
Both the fact that a new center is being created and the perceived qualities of the selected location can positively impact the company’s articulated strategic direction, brand, reputation, and preferred employer status. WDGC’s Research and Development Location Consulting services can help you determine the optimal location for your innovation center. Start the R&D center site selection process today!
The attraction (and retention) of world class talent will exert the greatest influence over how well the new R&D center performs. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) skillsets are among the most challenging to secure regardless of location. This scarcity of highly-skilled talent often drives these projects to Tier I or Tier II metros having a strong research university presence and favorable life quality attributes.
Unlike back-office and middle-office operations, R&D centers tend to benefit from locating near competing firms. This clustering of talent and resources helps establish a culture of innovation through intellectual synergies and allows for the effective crowdsourcing of otherwise prohibitive costs associated with high-tech lab equipment and machinery.
To better serve our clients with critical R&D Center site selection decisions, WDGC has developed a custom set of analytical tools enabling our professional staff to identify STEM Talent Clusters by education and work experience. Regardless of industry or research and development specialty, we can help you find the best location to achieve your strategic goals.
We're Here to Help
WDGC stands ready to guide you through the alignment process to ensure that the overall site selection process advances your business objectives. Our role is flexible, we can either lead to the study team or provide selected expertise (e.g., labor market metrics) as a dedicated team member.