July 27, 2012

Fort Collins

Anyone who thinks beer and business don’t mix has never been to Fort Collins.

The city, home to microbrew giants New Belgium and Odells and the Great American Beer Festival, easily makes various lists of top cities in the world for beer, while at the same time racking up bragging rights in multiple business arenas. Recent national recognition includes (but is not limited to):

• Ranked third best place for business and careers by Forbes, June 2012

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• Ranked 11th on America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities by Bicycle Magazine, May 2012.

• One of the Top 10 Best Places to Retire, CBS “Money Watch,” February 2012

• Ranked third in the Milken Institute’s “Where America’s Jobs are Created and Sustained,” Best-Performing Cities list, December 2011

• Chosen as one of America’s 20 Most Economically Vibrant College Towns by TheAtlanticCities.com, September 2011

• Named one of the top 10 Cities Adopting Smart Grid Technology by U.S. News and World Report, May 2011

Fort Collins’ lifestyle is at least in part to thank for its health statistics. The city’s bike-friendly roads, location at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and proximity to the Poudre River Canyon and Horsetooth Reservoir make for a host of recreation opportunities, including hiking, biking, rafting and kayaking.

Downtown Fort Collins, know nationally for its flower program in warmer months and decorative holiday lighting in the winter, is widely considered the city’s main attraction. Its Victorian-era buildings, home to modern offices, retail and loft developments, create a vibrant work/live area that surrounding cities have striven to emulate.

The city’s economic successes have not been by chance, but rather are the result of public policy and a network of support that favors growth and business.

The Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. supports existing employers and recruits new ones to the city and region. The NCEDC assists local companies to grow and expand and, in partnership with Colorado State University, encourages technology transfer to nurture local start-up companies.

The Rocky Mountain Innosphere, an engine for job creation, showcases area startups, and acts as a catalyst for entrepreneurship. The Innosphere provides programs and services to scientific and technology based venture, as well as network opportunities for its clients.

Fueled by a highly educated workforce (48 percent of residents hold a college degree and 14 percent hold a doctoral degree), a major research institution and a variety of federal laboratories, Fort Collins hosts operations of some of the largest technology companies in the United States, including Avago Technologies Inc., Agilent Technologies, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and LSI Logic Inc., among others.

Energy is another of the city’s prominent sectors. Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (a Fort Collins-birthed company) and Woodward Co. are both headquartered locally.

OtterBox is one of Fort Collins’ most recent (and most profitable) success stories. An innovator of protective solutions for handheld device manufacturers, wireless carriers and distributors, it started as a small venture in 1998 and is now one of the fastest growing privately owned companies in the U.S.

CSU is another principal driver of the economy in Fort Collins and the state overall, with programs in engineering, energy research, business, veterinary sciences, bioscience and other disciplines. The CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital is regarded as one of the top such programs in the nation.

The state and federal government also have a significant presence in the area, including the National Seed Storage Laboratory, U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center for the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest, National Wildlife Research Center and the National Institute of Standards and technology, to name a few.

Anyone who thinks beer and business don’t mix has never been to Fort Collins.

The city, home to microbrew giants New Belgium and Odells and the Great American Beer Festival, easily makes various lists of top cities in the world for beer, while at the same time racking up bragging rights in multiple business arenas. Recent national recognition includes (but is not limited to):

• Ranked third best place for business and careers by Forbes, June 2012

• Ranked 11th on America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities by Bicycle Magazine, May 2012.

• One of the Top 10 Best Places to Retire, CBS “Money…

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