Foreign Direct Investment is a dynamic and active part of the New Hampshire economy, of which more than 186 foreign companies, representing more than 24 countries-of-origin, and more than 45 industries are a part.
PSU Professors PSU professors Chen Wu, left, Jonathan Dapra, and Roxana Wright at last month’s foreign direct investment summit.
Collectively, these businesses support more than 43,300 jobs, as outlined in the 2019 New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment Report prepared by researchers at Plymouth State University. Highlights from the latest study were shared last month at a PSU forum hosted by the university and the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.
The forum was aimed at economic development professionals and others on the role of foreign direct investment in the state’s economy, and ways to attract FDI to their areas, touching on the state’s particular advantages, opportunities and challenges in attracting foreign companies to do business in the state.
A panel of experts, including Ryan Wallace, domestic portfolio investment specialist at SelectUSA; Leanne Spees, senior vice president of international finance at Provident Bank; Chuck Withee, president and chief lending officer of Provident Bank; Bruce Morrison, shareholder of Bernstein Shur; Marc Jacques, senior political and economic affairs officer and Consulate General of Canada, and Cynthia Harrington, business development manager at BEA, shared insights on attracting and growing FDI.
Ryan Wallace, SelectUSA, left; Cynthia Harrington, BEA; Marc Jacques, Consulate General of Canada at last month’s FDI Summit at Plymouth State University.
“(The day’s)conversation and sharing of information illuminated the incredible impact and potential FDI has in New Hampshire,” said Dr. Jonathan Dapra, assistant professor of management at PSU, who moderated the panel. “It will continue and deepen as professionals throughout the state explore the opportunities that our research is revealing.”
Introduced in 2018, the New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment study is conducted annually by PSU professors Dapra, Dr. Roxana Wright, and Dr. Chen Wu. It provides an overview of foreign business presence in New Hampshire and analysis of the countries of origin of foreign subsidiaries represented across the state’s counties and industries.
Highlights of the 2019 New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment Report include: • Foreign businesses contribute to a varied economic landscape, with growing employment and easy integration among industry and supply chain partners; • Most foreign subsidiaries in the state are local operations with fewer than 50 employees, and nearly half have fewer than 10; • There has been a pattern of growth and expansion of foreign businesses in New Hampshire over the past two decades; • While the majority of foreign businesses are concentrated within New Hampshire’s southern tier, potential exists for FDI to grow in the northern region of the state.
Click here for the complete 2018 and 2019 reports.
There’s a world of opportunity out there for businesses and New Hampshire is great example of that, to wit, foreign direct investment, or FDI.
FDI is present in all 10 New Hampshire counties, with more than 450 subsidiaries owned by 186 companies from 24 countries, according to research last year by Plymouth State University, and there is potential for more.
Click here to register for the FDI Summit Oct. 11.
That’s the topic of this month’s New Hampshire Business Matterson WTPL-FM 107.7, as well as a summit next month, hosted by PSU and the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.
Christopher Way, deputy director of the Division of Economic Development, and PSU’s Dr. Chen Wu talked about the importance of FDI, and the upcoming seminar, The Future of Foreign Direct Investment in New Hampshire, set for Oct. 11 at PSU.
The program is geared toward municipal and economic development professionals, with an informative program planned to inform them about benefits of FDI and ways to attract it.
Click here for more information about FDI in the state and the FDI Summit next month.
Foreign direct investment is present in all 10 New Hampshire counties, with more than 450 subsidiaries owned by 186 companies from 24 countries, according to research presented today by Plymouth State University.
The New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment Report, the first of its kind analysis, was conducted by PSU professors Chen Wu, Ph.D., and Roxana Wright, DBA, with a goal to provide a complete picture of foreign business presence in New Hampshire, and analysis of the countries of origin of foreign subsidiaries represented across the state’s counties and industries.
Dr. Wu and Dr. Wright created innovative indices to help state policy-makers strategically allocate resources to attract FDI from various countries, and to estimate the New Hampshire jobs that could potentially be created by companies headquartered in other countries.
View the New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment Report here.
“Plymouth State University’s comprehensive analysis of foreign direct investment in New Hampshire is substantial and important,” said Taylor Caswell, Commissioner, Department of Business and Economic Affairs. “This work will be highly useful as part of our department’s growing concentration on key geographic areas and sector emphasis as we refocus New Hampshire’s international commerce activities. The relationship between BEA and our state’s innovative academic centers is crucial to the advancement of our economy. The work that went into this report and the action that it will inevitably lead to is an excellent example of New Hampshire’s competitive edge.”
According to Dr. Wu and Dr. Wright, East Asia (Japan, Korea, and China), Australia and the Middle East show the possibility of strong FDI growth for New Hampshire. However, the Report’s FDI Origin Index shows that European and Canadian companies lead all others in current and potential FDI in New Hampshire. European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and the Netherlands show strong desire to invest here.
“Today’s report is a shining example of why public universities exist and is at the heart of our commitment to this region, all New Hampshire residents and the entire state of New Hampshire,” said Donald L. Birx, Ph.D., President, Plymouth State University. “This report highlights the kind of work our faculty and students do every day, important, cutting-edge research that provides businesses, residents and government entities insight into challenges and opportunities that can increase business, job opportunities and spur economic growth.”
A day-long business forum aimed at strengthening ties between New Hampshire and Canada and encouraging companies there to expand over the border is planned for Oct. 27 at the Mountain View Grand.
The New Hampshire – Canada Business Development Forum is organized by the New Hampshire-Canada Trade Council and the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs. With 2016 exports valued at over $500 million, Canada is the state’s largest trading partner.
The forum will include a discussion about North American Free Trade Agreement negotiation, with speakers David Alward, Canadian Consul General to New England, and former representative Mary Estelle Ryckman of the Office of US Trade; US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, member of the Foreign Relations Committee, has also been invited to speak.
Victoria Cimino, director of the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development; Dr. Katherine Harrington of Plymouth State University’s Bienvenue project and University System of New Hampshire Chancellor Todd Leach head a panel discussion about promoting the state’s cultural and natural resources.
The economic opportunities the state offers to Canadians will be discussed by panelists Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the BEA; Marie-Josee Vaillant of Kheops International, Colebrook, and Michel Pariseau of the Department of Homeland Security.
The event, which is being held at the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, is free, but space is limited. Register here before Oct. 23.
Dr. Roxana Wright , Dr. Chen Wu ~ Plymouth State University
New Hampshire companies looking for new business suppliers and international partnerships, as well as companies aiming to understand their contribution to the state economy, will be interested in a new globalization study underway at Plymouth State University, in collaboration with the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development.
We have created the project New Hampshire Economic Globalization Report: Contributions and Opportunities for the Local Economy, which will use data on international trade transactions and direct investment from foreign companies to map the distribution of foreign direct investments (FDI) and international trade within the state and across counties. This information will enable us to explore the impact FDI and trade flows have on the economy across counties and industries, and the performance of domestic and foreign subsidiaries.
This study is important because it provides valuable information that can help shape state policy and assist exporters and importers in identifying markets. This study includes a survey, in which we encourage business owners and executives to participate.
Encouraging globalization is good for the New Hampshire economy, as 43,400 people were employed by 456 foreign subsidiaries, and trade supported 183,900 (or 22 percent of) New Hampshire jobs in 2014. The importance of these investigations is far reaching in terms of state policy, such as serving the needs of New Hampshire exporters and stimulating trade and FDI as a means for economic development, income growth and improving our business climate.
The analysis will result in measurement and prediction of contributions that FDI and trade bring to the local economies in terms of employment, investment promotion, exports facilitation, labor conditions, technology/know-how spillovers and social welfare. This FDI mapping is meaningful to policy makers who intend to support the development of certain locations/counties or of particular industries and provides key information to foreign companies looking to establish operations in New Hampshire.
We highly appreciate your participation in the survey. Should you have any question about the survey, please contact Dr. Chen Wu at or Dr. Roxana Wright.
Plans for high speed linkages that connect Northern New Hampshire to Manchester and extend into additional networks in Northern New England received a major boost when the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $1.2 million grant to support building this fiber path. The funds will create new linkages among higher education institutions in New Hampshire, including the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University and Dartmouth College to help support collaborative research and education initiatives regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Funds are being awarded through the NSF’s EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Office’s Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track-2 grant (RII Track-2). The University of New Hampshire, which hosts the New Hampshire EPSCoR Office, is the grant recipient. The University System of New Hampshire operates the current network that serves its four institutions and provides Internet and connectivity services to the Community College System of New Hampshire, and several K-12 schools, libraries, public service centers, and public health and safety organizations across the state. These funds will, in part, help advance larger efforts to develop a regional optical network that will have significantly greater bandwidth speed and help address current and future bandwidth demands.
“This research and corresponding network development will thrust New Hampshire and the northeast region into the international research stage with the ability to collaborate with cyber-enabled tools and resources in ways that have not yet been possible,” said Scott Valcourt, UNH director of project management and consulting services for information technology and the New Hampshire principal investigator. “That research will have other economic development and quality of life benefits for New Hampshire citizens.”
The grant is a result of collaborative work by multiple NSF EPSCoR states that helped form the Northeast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (NECC) in 2006. Officials in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Delaware initiated two related efforts to identify and promote the shared use of research facilities across the region and assess and address cyber-infrastructure needs. The NSF EPSCoR grant, combined with the National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Supplement grant award to Dartmouth in August 2009, adds research infrastructure in a region of the country where the lack of bandwidth presents a significant barrier to tapping regional and national resources. The COBRE Supplement will extend the core research network to include Keene State College.
“Many of our leading academic centers that are constrained by the current fiber capacity will benefit, including the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at UNH, the Northern New England Computing Grid that is led by Dartmouth, and the Plymouth State University Meteorology Program,” said Tom Franke, the USNH chief information officer. “The fiber optic path will also continue to the University of Vermont, creating another significant opportunity for research collaboration.”
The NECC states have created NEBC (North East Bioinformatics Collaborative), a virtual organization that facilitates research projects that require data analysis for large data sets. Pilot projects on issues such as algae blooms are planned and the regional network will enable participating states to collaborate, exchange students, and work together from remote locations by taking advantage of video conferencing and other high speed services not currently available. The majority of the funds will be used for 12 fiber strands from Manchester to Plymouth to Hanover, the electronic equipment to operate the fiber network, and support for student participants in the algae bloom studies taking place in the NECC states.
The NSF established EPSCoR to assist states that traditionally have received lower levels of federal funding. Since New Hampshire became an EPSCoR jurisdiction in 2004, more than $15 million in EPSCoR research grants have been awarded by NSF, NASA, and the departments of energy and defense. NH EPSCoR is administered by the University of New Hampshire with oversight by a 14-member committee composed of representatives from industry, government and academia.
Funds are being awarded through the NSF’s EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Office’s Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track-2 grant (RII Track-2). The University of New Hampshire, which hosts the New Hampshire EPSCoR Office, is the grant recipient. The University System of New Hampshire operates the current network that serves its four institutions and provides Internet and connectivity services to the Community College System of New Hampshire, and several K-12 schools, libraries, public service centers, and public health and safety organizations across the state. These funds will, in part, help advance larger efforts to develop a regional optical network that will have significantly greater bandwidth speed and help address current and future bandwidth demands.