The #1 U.S. Destination & World’s Best City Launches Charleston Regional Competitiveness Center

A free online data resource launched today through the collaboration of four local organizations: the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG), the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, and the Trident Workforce Investment Board.

The newly unveiled Charleston Regional Competitiveness Center’s website is the repository for rich information on the Charleston metro area, providing users with the significant leading indicators, research and data trends they need to make both business and policy decisions. The website offers up-to-date economic, demographic and workforce information sourced from official government data on the three-county MSA, which consists of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Users can compile data within six main categories: Industry, Wages and Income, Workforce, Population Demographics, Social and Other. Social, for example, contains data on crime, housing permits, veterans, and Social Security distribution. The Other category covers patents, imports/exports and agricultural production. All of the research is accessible free of charge and is presented in an easy-to-use interface that allows users to customize the data into a dashboard style display format.

The creation of the Charleston Regional Competitiveness Center was a key recommendation within the Opportunity Next regional strategic plan, which launched in April 2011. Opportunity Next identifies key priorities in which this region must invest to enable our community to progress despite industry fluctuations and build a globally competitive economy for the Charleston region. It calls for our region to leverage our limited resources by aligning our community development, workforce development, and economic development initiatives. The Regional Competitiveness Center is an example of ongoing alignment efforts, and it will support global business development, industry cluster growth and inform regional competitiveness planning.

“We believe the online Charleston Regional Competitiveness Data Center will prove to be a very useful tool for users across the region,” said Ron Mitchum, executive director of the BCD Council of Governments. “We are pleased to have collaborated with the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Charleston Regional Development Alliance on what we know will be a great resource for all citizens.”

”Instead of our organizations independently developing a similar product, we instead have partnered to develop one regional resource and the result is a better product for all,” said Bryan Derreberry, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce president & CEO. “One of the most important resources a 21st Century metropolitan area can provide is relevant and up-to-date business development and community demographic information.”

“Our region is in direct competition with communities around the world for business and talent. Success now means competing on a global scale and this vital tool allows us to accurately assess our region’s economic performance – its strengths and challenges,” said David Ginn, president & CEO of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. “The steps we take today will determine the type of economy we pass down to future generations. By working together to align, strengthen and grow our region’s core competencies and assets, we’ll truly become a global destination for business and talent.”

For more information on the Charleston Regional Competitiveness Center website, please visit www.charlestonregionaldata.com