Networking with Niedersachsen plus LaunchPad audience hears why Washington is #1
DAY 3: The mighty Choose Washington delegation marches on at the 2019 Paris Air Show. Highlights from our state’s largest delegation ever to the world’s largest aerospace event included a great networking event with companies from Germany’s Niedersachsen region. This area in Lower Saxony is another of the world’s top aerospace and tech clusters. The meetings today offered some exciting conversations and potential new partnerships. The relationship between Washington state and Niedersachsen has grown thanks to a memorandum of understanding between the two signed at the 2017 Paris Air Show.
Also today, Greater Seattle Partners hosted “Take Flight in Washington State,” showcasing the many reasons why Washington state is again ranked the #1 place to design and build aircraft. Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib and Commerce Director Lisa Brown led the event, which also featured top aerospace industry analyst Richard Aboulafia presenting the 2019 Aerospace Competitive Economics Study, conducted by his firm the Teal Group and Olympic Analytics, on behalf of Gov. Inslee’s New Mid-Market Airplane (NMA) Council.
For the second straight year, the Teal Report ranks Washington head and shoulders above all other U.S. states for aerospace manufacturing, including a move from #2 last year to #1 in the costs category .
The Teal Report ranks states across 41 metrics, measuring factors relevant to aerospace production like cost structure, skilled labor availability, global trade connectivity and tax climate. First released in 2018, the Teal Report is the most comprehensive, data-driven state-by-state aerospace competitiveness research ever done in the United States.
In addition to our highly trained and experienced workforce, Washington possesses characteristic advantages built over a century of aerospace industry leadership, such as a deep culture of innovation and collaboration with the technology sector.
“Washington state is the only place in the world with both the start-up mentality and the tradition in aerospace that is necessary for a company like MagniX to succeed,” said Roei Ganzarski, CEO of MagniX, developers of an all-electric propulsion system for commercial aviation and defense based in Redmond, WA.
The Choose Washington delegation wrapped up this final day with a full slate of business-to-business meetings, while leaders including Lt. Gov. Habib, Commerce Director Brown, Assistant Director Chris Green and Gov. Inslee’s Aerospace Sector Lead Robin Toth met with Toray, Mitsubishi Aircraft, Airbus, Gardner Aerospace, Web industries, GE Aviation, Singapore Aero Cluster, AMT Senior and others.
Early results are very positive, with the Choose Washington delegation companies already reporting a high number of requests for quotes and great contacts.
Follow the Washington delegation on twitter @WAStateCommerce #PAS19.