Smart water, energy and electric vehicles are turning out to be a major growth sector in the Research Triangle region.
Charles Hayes is President and CEO of . He says all the growth in smart grid and clean technology caught them by surprise.
鈥淲e quite frankly didn鈥檛 know what we had until people from around the world started calling us and asking us to be involved in various things. So you know, we said, let鈥檚 do a little studying and see what we have here," said Hayes.
Hayes says a shows the region has 96 smart grid companies alone. That鈥檚 60% more firms than two years ago. If you include companies that specialize in efficient water management and transportation the count goes up to 200. Hayes says it's excited.
"Smart grid and smart water and smart transportation is centered in our region. And it's up to us to make sure that we bring the resources necessary to continue to grow that part of our economy to the benefit of the citizens in our area," said Hayes.
The Research Triangle Regional Partnership formed the in order to spur growth in the smart grid and energy sectors. Some of the Cleantech founding members in the region are SAS, ABB and Duke Energy.
