Tag: New Castle County

Datwyler Sealing Solutions plant in Middleton Delaware

Datwyler Sealing Solutions Chooses Delaware for $100 Million Facility

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Datwyler Sealing Solutions Chooses Delaware for $100 Million Facility

Datwyler Sealing Solutions new facility Middleton DE

13 November, 2019 – 

When Datwyler Sealing Solutions decided to expand its manufacturing and distribution capabilities in North America, the Swiss company’s site selection criteria were quite specific. After considering locations across the United States, company leaders concluded that Middletown, Delaware, was the optimal location for its new $100 million, 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant.

“We identified a handful of areas across the country that might satisfy our needs, “says Frank Schoubben, site director of the company’s new Middletown, DE, plant. He served as a member of the team tasked with selecting the new U.S. site.

Datwyler, a more than 100-year-old firm headquartered in the heart of the Swiss Alps, began as a manufacturer of rubber products, including tires. Today, however, Datwyler Holding owns 50 business entities, with sales in over 100 countries and employing more than 8,000 employees. Its product line includes a broad range of rubber stoppers, aluminum seals, plungers, combiseals, tip caps and needle shields used in pharmaceutical products, medical devices and for diagnostic research and drug development. Datwyler Sealing Solutions also makes products for the automotive business, consumer goods, oil & gas, and general industries.

The new Middletown plant, opened in 2018, is dedicated to Datwyler’s proprietary clean-room technology dubbed “FirstLine.” The technology is aimed at eliminating contamination in the manufacturing process, a critical concern in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries.

During the site selection process, location was first on the list of Datwyler’s critical considerations. The site had to be near the company’s major customers in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. Sites across the continental United States were under consideration, but Datwyler was especially interested in locations in the tri-state area of New York, Delaware, and New Jersey, an epicenter of the American pharma industry.

In addition to geographic concerns, the company knew it would need to hire in excess of 100 employees with a variety of technical and business skills. So, a critical element of the search process was a survey of educational resources that would be nearby and responsive to Datwyler’s requirements.

Finally, the new site had to be near a major, international airport.

In the end, Middletown, Delaware, made the cut. 

A native of Belgium, Schoubben holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and electrical mechanics with a specialty in polymers. A 16-year veteran of Datwyler, he has worked at company sites around the world. Most importantly, he led a greenfield site project in India, so he has lived through – and mastered – the tricky process of managing the technical and regulatory details of site selection.

“A number of things attracted us to Delaware. Of course, its proximity to our customers, many of whom are in New Jersey, was a key factor,” says Schoubben. “There are about 100 colleges and universities within a 2-hour drive from Delaware, so we knew we would have an attractive pool of well-educated people to satisfy our hiring needs.”

While technical competency is a requirement for employment with companies like Datwyler, so-called “soft skills” are also in demand. “A key objective of our hiring process is to identify people we can groom as future leaders,” says Schoubben. “We are engaged in that search now and expect to hire a total of 120 employees for this site.”

“We appreciate and admire Delaware’s historic ties to the chemical industry and manufacturing,” says Schoubben.  “And, of course, the scale of business and industrial growth in the Middletown area made it clear that this area welcomes companies like ours.”

Once Delaware emerged as the leading contender, Datwyler reached out to state economic development officials to explore the feasibility of locating in the Middletown area.

“Our experience was great,” Schoubben says. “It was very easy to establish open communications with state and local officials.”

He says they helped the company overcome potential barriers to obtaining permits and navigating regulatory workstreams. Because of their extensive experience, Delaware officials were able to arrange key contacts, make introductions and sequence events so that the overall process flowed smoothly.

“It’s been a good ride for us,” says Schoubben. “We continue to have good relationships with state and local officials and they continue to provide support when we need it. The fact that it took only 18 months from groundbreaking to grand opening is really notable. This is a winner for us!”

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sustainable fish feed

White Dog Labs and Cargill Team up to Offer Sustainable Fish Feed

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White Dog Labs and Cargill team up to offer sustainable fish feed

30 SEPTEMBER, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

September 5, 2019 – Cargill, the global agricultural supply company, has entered an agreement with Newark-based White Dog Labs to develop sustainable alternatives to fishmeal in aqua feed.

The deal gives Cargill access to ProTyton, a patented single-cell protein developed by White Dog Labs that is produced by fermentation with corn feedstock.

The protein is set to ship out from White Dog Labs’ demo facility in Sutherland, Nebraska in 2020.

“This agreement underlines our commitment to sustainable aquaculture and discovering new and strategic ingredients that will help feed the world in a safe and responsible way,” said Adriano Marcon, president of Cargill’s aqua nutrition business. “ProTyton offers a good source of protein for fish and shrimp, an affordable feed ingredient for farmers and a sustainable option for the planet that lessens our reliance on fishmeal—which we know to be a finite resource.”

Starting off Cargill will offer ProTyton in salmon feed, with shrimp and other species on the horizon. In trials, salmon fed a diet containing ProTyton™ achieved a growth performance comparable to salmon on a conventional diet.

“We’re honored to partner with Cargill to lead the industry in the application of highly scalable, alternative proteins for aquaculture,” said Bryan Tracy, chief executive officer, White Dog Labs.

The agreement follows another collaboration for White Dog Labs. This summer the firm announced a strategic partnership with InnovaFeed to scale up and jointly market fish feed made with insect protein.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/white-dog-labs-sustainable-fish-feed/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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American Airlines’ in-flight magazine, American Way

Delaware Gets Major Push Through American Airlines In-Flight Magazine

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Option: 1

Delaware gets major push through American Airlines in-flight magazine

30 SEPTEMBER, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

September 26, 2019 – Delaware is about to lose its status as one of the country’s best-kept secrets.

The October issue of American Airlines’ in-flight magazine, American Way, hits seatbacks on Oct. 1, with a 16-page, 4,000-word special section on six topics with a range of local leaders extolling the virtues of the First State.

The magazine chooses the subjects of its section using five criteria, said Carsten Morgan, vice president of special projects for Ink Global, which publishes 25 magazines with clients including United Airlines and Amtrak:

  • Is the community misunderstood and does it have a great story to tell?
  • Is the community ignored? Morgan said this will be one of the largest articles on Delaware to be printed by a major publisher.
  • Is it about to go through an economic renaissance? Morgan says the article will be “forward-looking.”
  • Is the timing right? “The question is whether we have the opportunity to tell the story before others do,” he said.
  • Does American Airlines have a major presence in the subject of the article?

On that last question, Morgan said American handled 69.3% of the passengers boarding flights originating in Philadelphia in 2018. That represents nearly 10.6 million of the 15.2 million enplanements the airport had last year.

But the visibility is potentially much larger.  American flies about 17 million passengers per month, with about 70% of those domestic passengers.  Morgan said American Way has an audited readership of 5.4 million domestic flyers and an additional 30% for international passengers for a total of 7.1 million anticipated readers. All seats throughout the system globally have American Way in the seatback pocket.

“It’s the first time we’ve covered the state of Delaware in any kind of detail since the American Airlines-US Airways merger” in 2013, Morgan said, adding that the section includes stories on such topics as:

  • Welcome to Delaware, featuring a Q&A with Gov. John Carney and timelines and factoids about the state.
  • The Trailblazers, with a focus on innovation and interviews with Delaware State University Provost (and future President) Tony Allen; CSC CEO Rod Ward; and FMC CTO Kathleen Shelton.
  • Changing the World, a story about health care in Delaware, featuring interviews with Christiana Care CEO Janice Nevin and Nemours CEO R. Lawrence Moss.
  • Global Impact, a 1,500-word story about key industry clusters that includes Delaware Prosperity Partnership President and CEO Kurt Foreman; Incyte CEO Herve Hoppenot; Adesis President Andrew Cottone; Delaware Tourism Office Director Liz Keller; GT USA Port of Wilmington CEO Eric Casey; and presidents Dennis Assanis and LaVerne Harmon from the University of Delaware and Wilmington University, respectively.
  • Guide to Delaware, which provides information on Sussex, Kent and New Castle counties.
  • State Tour, a lifestyle section that highlights arts and culture; the beaches, outdoor recreation; and the DuPont mansions.

“Part of DPP’s strategy is to build greater awareness and understanding of Delaware’s value proposition locally, regionally, nationally and internationally,” Foreman said.  “Having our governor and major business leaders share their vision in a major publication is a powerful way to let others know why Delaware is an ideal place for business location and growth.”

Delaware is a great place to do business, and we are competing every day with states across the country for good-paying jobs.” “This was a chance to showcase Delaware to folks who may not be aware of what our state has to offer. We continue to look at opportunities to highlight Delaware’s strong economy and quality of life to attract businesses and visitors to the First State.”   – Gov. John Carney

DSU’s Allen is excited about the additional visibility that his university will get over the next month.

“I fly a lot, and when I get the chance to visit the cockpit I look to see if there’s a pilot of color sitting in one of the seats. When I find one, I ask them where they trained. Five times out of six in the last year, the answer is ‘Delaware State University.’ As the No. 1 provider of professional pilots of color in the United States, getting covered by American Airlines is a beautiful fit,” he said. “Delaware State University is the most diverse, contemporary historically black college/university in America. Our challenge is telling our story to as many people as possible, and American Airlines is the perfect vehicle to spread the word as far as possible to a huge readership.”

Ink Global’s Morgan said, “Delaware: Why the First State Wants to Be First to Mind for Businesses, Workers, and Visitors” is an editorial-first publication and not sponsored content, meaning you did not have to advertise in the issue to be featured in it.  But Delaware State has a two-page ad in the publication (plus a free smaller ad that Allen negotiated); full-page ads for Nemours, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership and Christiana Care; and half-page ads for CSC and FMC.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/american-way-delaware-focus/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Governor Carney

Gov. Carney Designates Four Cities as Downtown Development Districts

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Gov. Carney designates four cities as Downtown Development Districts

20 AUGUST, 2019 | DELAWARE PUBLIC MEDIA

Gov. John Carney is designating New Castle City, Middletown, Clayton and Delaware City as Downtown Development Districts.

The selections mean property owners and developers can get up to 20 percent of their construction costs refunded back to them for eligible redevelopment projects.

State Rep. Jeff Speigleman represents parts of Middletown and Clayton. He said plenty of projects in the eight other development districts would not have gotten done without this program. He points to the House of Coffi in Dover as one example.

“Right around the corner from Legislative Hall, which has become a meeting place for legislators and lawyers,” he said. “One of those like neat little coffee shops that people love where a lot of us get business done, doesn’t happen without the DDD.”

Carney said the program is very successful and will help the economies of smaller cities and towns by leveraging state funding and private investment.

“It’s also a signal that the economic development efforts of the state are not just geared towards larger businesses and large corporations and big banks, which are an important part of our economy, but small businesses as well,” he said.

Former Gov. Jack Markell designated the eight current Downtown Development Districts, which include Dover, Seaford, Harrington, Georgetown and Wilmington.

Lawmakers approved $8.5 million for downtown redevelopment in this year’s budget. Delaware State Housing Authority Director Anas Ben Addi said the program has issued $31.6 million in rebates, leveraging $597 million in private investment.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Public Media at: https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/gov-carney-designates-four-cities-downtown-development-districts

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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25 Opportunity Zones Ready for Development

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25 Opportunity Zones ready for development

9 JULY, 2019

Whether you are looking for mixed-use, multi-family, affordable/attainable housing, commercial rental, owner-occupied, energy, transportation, infrastructure, social impact or traditional projects, Delaware has options for you within our 25 qualified Opportunity Zones.

Click here for more information.

Opportunity Zones are an economic development tool designed as revitalization programs in economically-distressed communities in Delaware and in other communities by providing tax benefits to investors.

Governor John Carney selected 25 census tracts as Opportunity Zones in April 2018 in which communities and economically-distressed properties across Delaware could see additional private sector investment. These Opportunity Zones are designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The 25 Opportunity Zones in Delaware are found in specific census districts in the following towns and cities, from the top of the State of Delaware (located less than 15 miles from the Philadelphia International Airport-PHL) to the bottom (located 20 miles from Salisbury Regional Airport – SBY).

Click here for more information.

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Delaware’s Fintech Boom is Already Here

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Delaware’s Fintech Boom is Already Here

25 JUNE, 2019 

If you’re still waiting for fintech to explode in Delaware, you may be looking at it in terms too narrow.

“It already has,” says John Taylor, director of economic research for the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, who recently completed an in-depth report on fintech in Delaware along with First State Fintech Lab and University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration.

The view that fintech has yet to truly materialize in Delaware is fueled by a definition that hyper-focuses on the startup sector and disregards established financial institutions as not real tech companies.

As we’ve written over the past few years, companies such as JPMorgan Chase and Capital One are tech companies. Once you factor in the evolution of banks — and their large pool of Delaware tech jobs — the Wilmington fintech boom materializes.

(Fun fact: Delaware accounted for 75% of all fintech investment in the Philadelphia region in 2018.)

“We think taking the broad view makes a lot of sense here, particularly from a workforce angle,” said Taylor in an interview with Technical.ly. “A major reason early stage fintech companies are so interested in Delaware is because of our strength in the broader financial services space — they know they can hire folks with talent on the financial services side, the credit risk analysis side and tech talent.”

While several digital-born fintech companies such as Paypal, Acorns and SoFi have bases in Delaware, and homegrown fintech startups like Fair Square Financial and Marlette Funding continue to grow, they’re only half of the picture.

“Just focusing on the startup side of things really misses a big piece of what fintech has become,” said Taylor. “Particularly if you look at the increasing synergy between startups and established firms. We’re seeing more acquisitions in this space, as some of those larger firms look to grow their services.”

How much impact does fintech have in Delaware?

“Right now, we have the most jobs we’ve ever had in Delaware, about 465,000 jobs in the state; unemployment is 3.2%; and financial services is really a significant driver of our economy: We’ve got nearly 48,000 jobs, up from about 41,000 at the bottom of the recession,” said Taylor. “We’ve seen some pretty significant growth, and fintech accounts for about 9% of employment in the state, the highest share of any state in the country — about double the national average.

“And these jobs are at firms of all shapes and sizes,” he said. “One of the rules of our report was to help bring in some clarity and shared understanding to what that means and some of the trends.”

Delaware is #1 in patents issued in the United States. (Screenshot via Delaware Prosperity Partnership report)

And it’s not just jobs: “We’re not just an employment, hub, but really a hub for innovation,” Taylor said.

“One thing I found particularly interesting was that when we looked at some data over the last decade in fintech-related patenting activity, we found almost 200 over that time, which ranked Delaware first nationally on a per capita basis,” he said. “That accounts for where these companies and individuals are based, not necessarily where the patent is created. And even if we look at that, we still rank second.”

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Premier Research Campus Available

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Premier Research Campus Available

11 JUNE, 2019

Available: Premier Research Campus

974 Centre Rd. Wilmington, DE 19805

  • First time on the market.
  • 444,000 sq ft of laboratory and support space.
  • Master planned development includes 14 buildings. Existing space totals 788,000 sq ft.
  • Seven stand-alone buildings, totaling 468,000 sq ft available for lease.
  • Existing infrastructure includes chemical, engineering, and process laboratories.
  • Campus served by central utility plant for the generation of chilled water and steam.
  • Highly flexible traditional poured concrete and steel constructed buildings.
  • Land available for potential build-to-suit opportunity

Click here for a campus map.

For more information:

Becky Harrington
Director, Business Development
302.576.6577
BHarrington@choosedelaware.com

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Biotech Institute Expanding to New Space on STAR Campus

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Biotech Institute expanding to new space on STAR campus

22 MAY, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

The Delaware Biotechnology Institute will expand into 70,000 square feet within the new six-story, $160 million Biopharmaceutical Innovation Building on the STAR Campus next February.

The building, which includes labs, offices, collaborative space, and shared research instrumentation facilities, will be the home of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), a UD-led coalition of 150 companies, educational institutions, nonprofits and state governments.

Biopharmaceuticals are prescription drugs made with living cells.

“We need more space to support the expanding needs of life science researchers across campus,” said Dr. John Koh, the interim director of DBI and a UD professor in chemistry and biochemistry. “We’re not abandoning our current site, but expanding and moving our core facilities to support current and future initiatives on STAR campus. There’s an enormous difference between office space and wet research space. Being in the new building will also help us support the new NIIMBL program.”

The Delaware Biotechnology Institute is a magnet for life-science research and development. The institute supports multidisciplinary, collaborative research at all of Delaware’s research organizations, including the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Christiana Care Health System, Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wesley College, and Delaware Technical and Community College.

The Institute houses research laboratories with scientists, students, and faculty working on projects related to agriculture, human health, and energy and the environment and also makes available high-end instrumentation facilities to Delaware’s entire life-science community. DBI researchers are focused on advanced sequencing technologies, imaging technologies, and computational capabilities.

NIIMBL is funded through a $70 million cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce and leverages additional commitments from partners.

Koh said the new building will be occupied by UD faculty from four colleges and will help faculty and staff that will help launch a new program in pharmaceutical sciences at the university. The Delaware Biotechnology Institute will take a little over two floors of the six-story building besides the 70,000 square feet it has in its current location at 15 Innovation Way.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/biotech-institute-expanding/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Wilmington Delaware Skyline

Wilmington Becoming a Tech Hub

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Wilmington becoming a tech hub

16 MAY, 2019 | DELAWARE ONLINE

There’s a huge demand for technology professionals — and for good reason.

Almost everything about our behaviors as consumers is changing, becoming more digital, meaning that the companies that serve us have to become digital as well.

At M&T Bank, we recognize that organizations need to be adaptable in order to find success in the future, a change largely driven by technology.

We recently announced plans to hire hundreds of professionals in Delaware in the next few years, including about 200 technologists. Our goal is to make Wilmington a destination for tech talent, and we plan to embed our new tech hires with all the other employees driving the growth in our downtown offices.

Choosing Wilmington was no mistake. Wilmington offers businesses like ours a unique opportunity to work with local government, higher education, non-government organizations, startups, and other private corporations to create a unique ecosystem conducive to the very tech talent hub we are working to build.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Wilmington offers a lower cost of living and stronger sense of community when compared to the top-tier cities competing for the very same tech talent.

So we asked ourselves, how can M&T Bank be part of the solution in cultivating and bringing tech talent to Delaware? To put it simply, we saw an opportunity to bring our use of technology in-house and place it within the communities we serve.

We think this gives us an edge in differentiating our products and services, but it also challenges us to build a strong tech community in Delaware.

To create alternate pipelines for hard-to-find tech talent, we will establish a technology development program in partnership with higher education institutions such as the University of Delaware and other colleges. We have also committed to partnerships with programs such as Zip Code Wilmington, which coaches motivated people from diverse backgrounds into skilled, professional developers.

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Port-of-Wilmington

GT USA Wilmington Launches new Infrastructure Investments

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GT USA Wilmington launches new infrastructure investments

3 MAY, 2019  | THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

GT USA Wilmington is on track with its first improvements at the Port of Wilmington after its first quarter managing the facility, according to its new CEO, Eric Casey.

“GT USA Wilmington is immensely proud to have received a 50-year concession to operate the port and to provide $600 million to upgrade and expand the terminal,” Casey said.

Improvement and extension of the dock and crane rail are under way, and these projects should be completed by this summer at a cost of $17 million. GT USA is also enhancing warehouse storage by increasing racking for palletized cargo.

According to Casey, the port will soon begin work on upgrading cargo throughput capacity from 350,000 TEUs to 600,000 TEUs, along with new capacity for roll-on/roll-off cargo.

Casey was appointed CEO of GT USA Wilmington LLC in October. He was previously vice president of Virginia International Terminals and an executive at Maersk Line. Casey spent 26 years with the U.S. Marine Corps, including roles in Special Operations, a National-Level Special Mission Unit and tours in Force Reconnaissance.

GT USA Wilmington, a subsidiary of UAE-based Gulftainer, signed a 50-year concession agreement last September to operate and expand the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, which has served shipping lines since 1923.

As part of the concession agreement, Gulftainer will invest significantly in the port by building a new container facility at DuPont’s former Edgemoor site. GT USA Wilmington also will establish a training facility for the ports and logistics industries, which is expected to train up to 1,000 people a year.

This article was originally posted on the Maritime Executive at: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/gt-usa-wilmington-launches-new-infrastructure-investments

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Wilmington-Trust

M&T Commits to Tech Jobs, Other Roles in Delaware

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M&T commits to tech jobs, other roles in Delaware

3 APRIL, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

M&T Bank and its Wilmington Trust subsidiary will hire hundreds of tech talent over the next few years, including 50 new “technologists” over the next nine months and reinforce its commitment to downtown Wilmington by housing them in a space that will embed technology teams with the people driving the growth of the bank’s business.

In addition, the bank hopes to fill more than 100 open positions in 2019 throughout the state — nearly half in Sussex County — as it continues to grow through all lines of business. It will also be establishing a technology development program at the University of Delaware and University of Maryland for professional positions and internships as well as filling jobs through partnerships with organizations like Zip Code Wilmington, which offers a 12-week coding boot camp with job placement assistance upon completion of the program.

The bank has quietly consolidated 130 employees over the past few months on two floors of the 10-story Wilmington Plaza building at 301 W. 11th St.

We need to be less dependent on outsourcing,” said M&T Chief Information Officer Mike Wisler. “Buying other people’s products mutes your ability to compete and create differentiated experiences.”

Wisler said M&T plans to add 1,000 technologists — software engineers and designers, UI/UX and web developers, database and cybersecurity experts, and technical team leads — over the next five years to its two primary technology centers in the company’s hometown of Buffalo, New York and in Wilmington, with Wilmington expected to get about 200 of those jobs.

The Wilmington Plaza building offers “puts everyone together, creating collisions that will allow us to operate at the speed of our competition,” Wisler said. “The physical environment plays a big role in our efforts to be transformational and agile. We’re trying to create a community [feeling] and align various initiatives with the bank’s mission, purpose, and vision.”

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki praised the decision to locate the new jobs downtown as proof that “M&T believes in the city. It’s important because people look to the future to make financial decisions so when people make decisions like this to invest in the city, it’s great for confidence.”

Purzycki said he likes the idea of more people walking along Market Street shopping and experiencing the “grit, humanity and personality” of the city.

“Generally speaking, people love to be in cities. As long as you don’t scare them away for the wrong reasons, announcements like this demonstrate we can overcome” structural issues like parking and the wage tax, he said. “I want employers to tell their people that Wilmington is a great place to be. The more people who live here, the more things change.”

M&T Delaware Region President Nick Lambrow says the bank is moving toward an “integrated model with lots of initiatives that provide us with different ways to look at and serve our client base.”

M&T retained the Wilmington Trust brand for its wealth and institutional business after acquiring the bank in
2011. Wilmington Trust now employs about 2,000 people in 54 locations with a little more than half in Delaware, according to Executive Vice President Bill Farrell, who oversees the Wealth and Institutional Services Division.

“We’ve developed new products and grown market share across our businesses,” Farrell said, noting as an example that Wilmington Trust’s structured finance (securitization) business has increased its market share over the past five years from 1.3 percent to 16.9 percent to become the third-largest in that market niche.

“Adding these technologists to our team alongside our product managers will enable us to continue developing products like Wilmington Trust FastTrack, which makes it easier for our Merger and Acquisition Escrow business to get people paid more efficiently and WT Connect, which created a new front end for investors to self-serve in the structured-product area,” Farrell said.

“We take pride in operating much like a fintech in accelerating our speed to market,” Lambrow said. “We realize that our competition is no longer just large banks, and we’re of a size where we can act or react like a fintech.”

It’s generally accepted that there is an industrywide shortage of tech jobs, giving rise to organizations like Zip Code Wilmington and Year Up.

“It’s the scarcest resource on the planet with lots of competition. But we feel that our story is an advantage.
One big differentiator for M&T and Wilmington trust is that its size allows employees on both the tech and operations side to have an impact on our business. That may not be the case at a larger institution.

“University programs are not producing the talent we need so we have to create other pipelines while still making a meaningful investment in local universities,” Wisler said, adding that there is a growing opportunity to attract experienced professionals from the traditional big-city tech hot spots. “We are focusing on professional recruiting and relocation as we find lots of people from this area who would like to return.”

“It’s never been more important to create a sense of belonging and inclusion,” Lambrow said. “We still think of ourselves as a community bank and we’re committed to our branch system. But we must provide alternative ways to connect with our customers” who don’t need to come into the branch.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/mt-commits-to-tech-jobs-other-roles-in-delaware

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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STAR Campus: Innovative, Award-Winning STEM Hub

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STAR Campus: Innovative, award-winning STEM hub

A center for synergy in science, technology, advanced research — and business development.

3 APRIL, 2019

If Delaware is where the world comes to do business, the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus at the University of Delaware (UD) is where the STEM world and the business world come together to stimulate innovation and employment opportunities in science, high-technology and health sectors.

Once home to a Chrysler auto assembly plant, the 272-acre site has been transformed into a live-work-learn, opportunity zone that Collaborating tenant companies accelerate research commercialization by leveraging UD’s internationally renowned expertise in science, engineering, business, public policy and entrepreneurship.

STAR offers unique access to highly sought-after talent, innovative research state-of-the-science facilities including incubation space and equipment in one of the most accessible locations in the United States, just steps from a new rail station and minutes off I-95, in the center of the New York City to Washington, D.C. power corridor.

Investment and Growth

With more than 1 million square feet of real estate in use and under active construction plus more than $0.5 billion of invested capital, STAR Campus has grown exponentially since it was acquired by UD in 2008. STEM organizations and investors can benefit from tax credits and incentive programs that encourage innovation and job creation in Delaware.

In March, STAR Tower, a 10-story innovation hub with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs and high-tech business partners, was featured on USA Today’s list of amazing university buildings.

Chemours, a Delaware-based global chemicals company has invested $150 million in the development and construction of the Chemours Discovery Hub on the campus. This 312,000-square foot research facility will be home to 330 researchers and technicians, and an important center for talent development, when it becomes operational in 2020.

Also on the campus is the Delaware Technology Park, a full-service incubator working in collaboration with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and UD, featuring flexible, state-of-the art incubation space and access to the resources startups need to drive and accelerate economic success.

Also contributing to the culture of synergy and innovation that exemplifies STAR Campus are the UD College of Health Sciences, the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), Bloom Energy, a zero-emissions vehicle test laboratory, and a performance computing company.

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