Business Climate

CBRE identified Tucson in the Top 25 for “Tech Talent Markets 2021” due to its strong labor market and growth opportunities for companies.

Southern Arizona is blessed with warm weather, lots of sunshine and very few natural disasters. The welcoming climate extends into the welcoming business environment. 

Businesses regard Southern Arizona as an emerging location of choice for many important reasons including:

• Availability and affordability of land, water and power
• Competitive operational and payroll costs
• A diverse talented workforce and skill set availability
• No corporate inventory tax
• Favorable regulatory environment
• Focused incentives for jobs and capital investment

Businesses and companies can benefit from a variety of regional and state tax incentive programs including state and local Job Training Grants, Foreign Trade Zone and the Arizona Quality Jobs Tax Credit.

Industry clusters and technology-oriented companies thrive here because of the research expertise and business support organizations.

There are robust tech trade organizations like the Arizona Tech Council, the premier trade association for science and technologies in the state which is home to over 750 member companies. And Southern Arizona Leadership, which is on a mission to improve greater Tucson and the state of Arizona by bringing together resources and leadership to enhance the economic climate and quality of life in our communities.

Aerospace

Southern Arizona’s clear blue skies, year-round flying weather, and dry climate have attracted aerospace-related businesses since the early 1900s. These qualities contribute to Tucson and Southern Arizona being the fifth-highest concentration of aerospace and defense employees in the country.

Tucson is ranked a top 10 metro for aerospace manufacturing due to its highly concentrated aerospace product and parts manufacturing sector that has an 8.62 location quotient, a ratio calculated to compare a region’s industrial activity level to the rest of the United States. The location quotient means that Tucson is 8.62 times more concentrated in the aerospace product and parts manufacturing industry than the average of all metropolitan statistical areas across the country.

The region’s aerospace industry presence includes:

• Defense and space-related manufacturing
• Research and development
• Industrial high-tech fields, assembly
• Distribution
• Warehousing
• Firms that maintain and rehabilitate the nation’s commercial aircraft fleet

Bioscience

Southern Arizona continues to climb in prominence for bioscience, diagnostics and medical device companies. Anchored by its strengths of an educated workforce, access to funding and a cutting-edge research university, Southern Arizona is poised to meet the needs of companies looking to relocate or expand in the region. The region is known as one of the nation’s most innovative bioscience centers and is home to Roche Tissue Diagnostics, Accelerate Diagnostics, and Critical Path Institute just a few firms with headquarters here. Due to the demand and bustling bioscience scene, the University of Arizona Center for Innovation at Oro Valley opened up a bioscience focused incubator to help move research from the lab to the market.

Optics

Gaining notoriety as Optics Valley, Tucson is home to a high concentration of optics companies, as well as research activity tied to the University of Arizona and several astronomical observatories located in the mountains of Southern Arizona. The Tucson region is a leader in Arizona’s $3 billion optics industry. Optics Valley, a committee of the Arizona Technology Council, one of the leading clusters for optics, photonics and astronomy in the world.

Mining Technology

Copper mining has been an important part of Arizona’s economy for more than a century.  Long known for mining operations, Tucson has now established itself as an industry leader in mining technology.

There are over 600 graduates* from the UA College of Engineering that work to support the mining industry, which provides over 38,000 direct and indirect jobs** in Arizona. (* UA Factbook 2020 / **Arizona Mining Association, 2018) 

Renewable Energy

Recognized globally as a location of choice for solar energy activities, Southern Arizona’s emerging solar industry promises a bright future. Eighty-five percent of the year, the sun shines in Tucson, making it the perfect place for testing, evaluation, and demonstration of solar technologies. Tech Parks Arizona is focused on developing innovation hubs that unite industry and research to advance leading-edge technology. One of the key initiatives underway is the Solar Zone at the UA Tech Park, one of the largest multi-technology solar testing and evaluation sites at the grid level.  The Solar Zone is an innovative strategic partnership between The University of Arizona and Tucson Electric Power where the renewable energy power generated from ten companies produces a total of 25 MW of power.