By City of Chandler Staff

The city of Chandler is developing a niche in the tech industry, and is laser-focused on the jobs those businesses bring to the community. During his State of the City address, Mayor Jay Tibshraeny announced that the city’s 2012 economic development efforts attracted, created or retained 3,600 jobs; the second highest number in the city’s history.

The city acts as a strategic partner with businesses, setting the stage for Chandler to lure such industry giants as the General Motors Innovation Center, Intel, ebay/PayPal and Infusionsoft. Chandler is earning increased recognition for the Price Corridor, a premier employment corridor with the infrastructure, workforce, open space and amenities that creative, high-tech companies require. Also, housing stock ranging from urban apartments to traditional neighborhoods and agrarian settings give companies a broad range of choices for their employees.

Chandler was recently named 4th in the country in startups per capita and has a broad strategy to nurture small business success. The city developed the Innovations Science & Technology incubator, and has partnered with Gangplank, a collaborative workspace in Downtown Chandler. In addition, TechShop is scheduled to open this fall in partnership with ASU’s Chandler Innovation Center, an engineering and technology-based education and research hub. TechShop is part of the entrepreneurial movement to allow individuals and early stage companies access to specialized equipment to further their product and design prototypes. The partnership will give students from ASU’s College of Technology and Innovation the ability to see their education in action, and bring up to 1,000 people to the city’s already vibrant Downtown.