The pandemic was a challenging period globally, across many nations and many industries. Naturally, the East Bay and Tri-Valley were also significantly impacted. There have been challenges since then, but the regional economy has proved remarkably resilient overall. The most recent official figures, from 2022, put Alameda County's gross domestic product (GDP) at $169 billion, according to statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Ranked from highest to lowest, Alameda was number seven in GDP that year among the 58 California counties. The county's GDP grew about 10% from 2018 to 2022, adjusted for inflation.

East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA) is a cross-sector, public-private partnership that promotes strategic economic development throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties, serving as the regional voice and networking resource for strengthening the economy, building the workforce, and enhancing the quality of life in the East Bay. At the beginning of the year, it released the 2023 Impact Report: East Bay Resilience & Innovation. According to the publication, the East Bay’s economy in 2022 totaled $267.7 billion, making it the 50th largest economy in the world and roughly equivalent in size to the economies of Peru and Portugal.

Many Strengths

As we near the end of the first quarter of 2024 there are many reasons to be optimistic about the East Bay and the Tri-Valley, say East Bay EDA officials. The Tri-Valley plays an important role in the overall economic health of Alameda County. The Tri-Valley’s diverse economy is supported by a wide range of industries tied to education, professional services, information technology, health care, life sciences, and more.

The diversity of its industries is only one of the Tri-Valley’s economic strengths, according to Carline Au, Head of Planning and Strategy for East Bay EDA. It also has “a strong culture of innovation that is tied to the two national labs, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore. There are local incubators and accelerators that have accelerated the growth of startups in the area. The strength of the Tri-Valley also comes from the collaboration and leadership of Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group and the Tri-Valley communities coming together with a collective vision to support economic development and grow the innovation ecosystem in the Tri-Valley.”

The Tri-Valley is an increasingly attractive location for emerging industries, particularly in life sciences and climate technology. One factor is the region's highly educated workforce, notes Au. The clustering of national laboratories, nearby colleges, and commercial real estate also contribute to its appeal.

“Compared to the inner Bay Area, the Tri-Valley offers more flexible commercial real estate options that have allowed companies to co-locate their administrative offices, research and development, and manufacturing in a campus setting or in close proximity to one another. This has drawn numerous companies that are not only doing research and development but also starting to commercialize and manufacture. The availability of flexible real estate in the Tri-Valley is a big economic opportunity.

Economic Buffer

“In many ways, the Tri-Valley has been a buffer for the region's economic strength because it is the only Bay Area subregion where population has been growing,” says Executive Director Stephen Baiter. “We are seeing a lot of new companies in the area, both startups and companies relocating from elsewhere. The Tri-Valley remains one of the strongest subregions in the East Bay in terms of economic activity and job growth.”

According to the 2023 Impact Report, the East Bay raised $7.54 billion in venture capital through 2022 and had the smallest year-over-year decline in funding in the Bay Area. As the region emerged from the worst of the pandemic, between November 2022 and November 2023, the total number of jobs located in the East Bay increased by 17,200 to 1.2 million. Future job growth involving cutting-edge technologies can be expected given the region’s history of innovation, including recent historic breakthroughs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), from pioneering fusion experiments to its groundbreaking Roads to Removal report on carbon dioxide removal.

“The Tri-Valley has been an emerging hot spot for life sciences, artificial intelligence, and climate tech companies,” notes Au. “There are innovative and mission-driven companies that are working to solve the greatest environmental and social challenges by combining the technology, science, and engineering strengths of the region to innovate quickly.”

East Bay EDA promotes regional economic development in a variety of ways. Last year, the organization hosted insider tours of LLNL and Tesla’s Fremont Factory to show potent examples of the innovative technology being developed and used in the East Bay. The LLNL tour included a visit to the National Ignition Facility and the Advanced Manufacturing Lab, “which facilitates partnerships between LLNL, industry, and academia to address manufacturing challenges across a range of commercial and government projects,” according to the 2023 Impact Report.

Meet the Innovators was East Bay EDA’s 2023 speaker and networking and event series, which highlighted innovative companies and organizations in the East Bay. The group also worked with a team of local officials from the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco to host members of a Mexican trade mission on a tour of Laney College’s highly-acclaimed Machine Technology and other training programs in the skilled trades.

The East Bay continues to be one of the nation’s leading manufacturing regions. Over the past year, East Bay EDA has been working to map and better understand the manufacturing and goods movement sectors as they have been growing and evolving, according to Baiter. The group’s Resilient East Bay initiative seeks to enhance connectivity and advance partnerships to ensure that the region’s manufacturing ecosystem receives ongoing investment and support.

The 11th annual East Bay Innovation Awards, scheduled for Thursday, March 28, and other events such as the speaker series and site visits to innovative organizations are valuable to East Bay EDA’s members and partners. Baiter says they spotlight examples of companies and other entities doing innovative work that often involve a convergence of technologies or new industries. Those examples “highlight how the East Bay and the Bay area, and to some extent the California economy, are more resilient than people often are led to believe.”

As Au points out, the Tri-Valley offers a great quality of life that's attracted a growing population. There is access to many parks and vast open spaces. There are numerous wineries and places for recreation, excellent school districts, and a wealth of amenities, including a growing number of diverse restaurants and services. The quality of life residents enjoy relies in large part on a strong economic foundation.

“Innovation is something that we need to continue supporting, investing in, and promoting as a region,” Au says. “The Innovation Awards is just one day, but it's something we do as part of our mission to showcase, spotlight, and convene people to understand the importance of continuing to invest in our innovation ecosystem.”

For more information about the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, please visit www.eastbayeda.org.

For more information about the 2023 Impact Report: East Bay Resilience & Innovation, please visit www.eastbayeda.org/2023-impact-report.

For more information about the East Bay Innovation Awards, please visit www.eastbayeda.org/innovation-awards.