>> FEMALE VOICE: 2009 was a year of global economic meltdown. Not experienced since the
great depression. Despite that, in the Research Triangle region
of North Carolina, new and expanding companies announced a record 1.9 billion dollars
in investments and plans to create more than 10,000 jobs.
The growth is coming from both new and existing companies, domestic and international, in
a range of industries and across the region, in both rural and urban areas.
>> MADHU BERIWAL: And I felt that there is a spirit of innovation here. That's something
that's just in the air. It's not something that you propagate particularly, but you breathe
it in and you produce it as you breathe it in.
>> FEMALE VOICE: Madhu Beriwal spent more than a year deciding where to locate her 25
year old risk management and disaster modeling company.
>> MADHU BERIWAL: We are the company that produced Hurricane Pam, which was an exercise that
looked at what would happen to New Orleans if it was struck by a major hurricane. And
that was in 2004, and in 2005 hurricane Katrina hit. And it was sort of a scientific bull's
eye. The event actually mirrored exactly what we had developed in Hurricane Pam.
>> FEMALE VOICE: Knowledge, talent, a collaborative business-friendly climate and quality of life
led Beriwal to relocate her global headquarters from Louisiana to RTP and Durham County
In the next six years, she expects to create 430 new jobs.
>> MADHU BERIWAL: And we have twice as many people wanting to move to the
Research Triangle Park as we expected. So that's great.
