The sum is more than the parts - Greater Portland is more than Maine or even New England

Greater Portland consists of the communities of Portland, South Portland, Scarborough, Westbrook, Falmouth and Cape Elizabeth. In this case the sum is more than the parts because Greater Portland is more than Maine or even New England. It is more than lobsters or forests or halcyon vacations, although we have all of those things in great abundance. It can provide your business with a global portal with excellent access to New England, the Northeast, United States, Canada and the rest of the world. Whether you are interested in building a new facility, expanding an existing one or an entrepreneur considering starting a new small business, Greater Portland with a population of over 500,000 not only has the physical resources to accommodate your needs, but the human capital as well. The region is home to world class research institutions such as the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a marine research technology park, the Universities of New England and Southern Maine, the Maine Medical Center Research Institute and the Foundation for Blood Research to name but a few. In addition, the Southern Maine Community College, home of a Maine Quality Center, offers flexible custom training programs and a range of funding options. In an age where workforce quality and availability have never been more important, Greater Portland has the education and training programs to deliver globally competitive employees to new companies and those that want to expand. Our highly educated workforce has an educational attainment that far exceeds the national average, yet our wages can compete with locations in the Southeast. While Greater Portland is noted for its haute cuisine, arts and crafts and hip atmosphere, these are just the beginning of its thriving creative economy. It also encompasses entities such as the Casco Bay Technology Hub that provides incubator services to small and medium size entrepreneurs in order to grow the knowledge based economic sector so much a part of Greater Portland. Technology centers such as this and the companies that occupy them can avail themselves to world class funding programs offered by organizations such as the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) just 30 minutes north in Brunswick. MTI offers some of the most progressive funding opportunities in the nation for small "tech" companies. The University of New England plays a crucial role in Greater Portland's createive economy with centers of excellence such as: Center for Land-Sea Interactions (CLSI), Human, River and Ocean Health, Center for Excellence in Interprofessional Education, Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN), Center for Global Humanities (CGH) and Center for Community and Public Health (CCPH). All of this in a location that provides easy access to Greater Boston, but is on the average 20% less expensive to do business, far less congestion and a quality of life that cannot be overstated. In fact there are over 61 million people within a day's drive of Portland. Greater Portland also has the resources to deliver your product anywhere in the world. Our uncongested, modern and comfortable International JetPort can move you and your products easily and efficiently to any destination. For heavier goods, our modern maritime facilities have direct ocean links to Canada, and Europe with service available to every continent for containerized (including reefers), bulk and break-bulk goods. Greater Portland realizes that in order to manage its economic future it must maintain its existing infrastructure and acquire new facilities that keep pace with the global economy and encourage new growth. Our communities are creating the infrastructure to provide investors with the best location opportunities in the nation: * Portland has completed phase 1 of its new Technology Park that will accommodate some 120,000 s/f of building space and is further developing its already considerable port facilities. *Falmouth is preparing to provide infrastructure to create a shovel ready industrial village on Rte. One. * The town of Westbrook has over 100 acres of shovel ready land available for development. * South Portland has shovel ready land available at its Wallace Avenue and Rumery Industrial Parks in addition to plans to further develop its port facilities and Maine Crossing regional shopping center. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Find out more about the industrial and technology parks available in our region by visiting our website at www.gpedc.org. Remember, if you have not considered Greater Portland as place to invest and grow, your site search is not complete. Give us the opportunity to show you what Greater Portland has to offer. We want your business. Tom Turner is the executive director of Greater Portland Economic Development Corp.