Innovation Infrastructure

Wake Forest is home to a wealth of resources for entrepreneurs to start, grow, and succeed - known as Wake Forest’s infrastructure of innovation. 

Wake Forest’s “Innovation Infrastructure” is providing businesses of all sizes direct pathways to success by creating spaces and resources for growth, access, and more. Discover more about the infrastructure of innovation fueling new history in Wake Forest. 

Innovation Spaces + Research Labs

A key component to the innovation infrastructure in Wake Forest is the access to spaces for growth. These spaces that are developing an ecosystem conducive to success include accessible, world-class R&D labs, and multiple current and planned coworking spaces and business incubators. The Wireless Research Center of North Carolina offers convenient access to wireless tech and IoT development and engineering resources with facilities found in few places around the globe, and professionally supports the commercialization of new products from initial concept through high-volume production. Multiple coworking and business incubator spaces, including Hatch and Wake Forest Coworking can be found throughout Wake Forest that are conducive to collaboration and cross-pollination of start-ups and business ideas. Currently, a 24,000 square-foot space near the heart of downtown Wake Forest is under renovation as a sophisticated business incubator and coworking space that will include dining options and event spaces. Capitalizing on giving access to tangible spaces for launching, development, and success of business in Wake Forest is a keystone of the community’s strategic growth. 

Fiber

Access to gig-speed fiber is a necessity for a number of tech companies that call Wake Forest home. With well over 500 miles of fiber weaved beneath the community, residents and businesses in Wake Forest have readily available access to high-speed internet needed for any thriving tech ecosystem. While a wide variety of service providers including Ting and AT&T are located in Wake Forest, the local North Carolina headquarters of CenturyLink considers Wake Forest its primary showcase in the state for its growing high-speed fiber optic network.

Mentor Culture

A key component to the success of multiple startups in Wake Forest can be directly attributed to the tech and business mentor culture easily found in the community. The Wireless Research Center of North Carolina has helped launch 80+ local startups through its Commercialization Center and stands readily available to mentor entrepreneurs at all stages, offering access to resources, advanced tech research and design, intellectual property neutrality, and business development. Radeas Labs, a sophisticated clinical laboratory in Wake Forest, recently committed a significant portion of its new facilities to supporting new and growing startups. In addition to the WRC and Radeas Labs, several other companies in the community have founded apprentice style programs to develop the local workforce with highly technical professional skills. Launch Wake Forest will soon begin its third cohort of entrepreneurial development for business professionals with limited access to business or financial resources. 

Greenways

Local navigability and regional access is a necessity for a community with a population boom of more than 232% in the past two decades. In addition to strategic roadway design, Wake Forest uniquely merges the need for navigability with quality of life through an ever expanding greenway network. With over 50 miles of greenways, it is common place for residents to use these unique forms of connectivity to get around Wake Forest for living, working, and playing. Greenway corridors planned for the future are prioritized to meet economic and transportation objectives of the Town, ushering in even greater experience and quality of life dynamics to local commutes.

Human Capital

Wake Forest is home to a workforce poised to accelerate the growth of startups and large businesses alike. This community is 22 percent more educated than the rest of the nation, with nearly 55 percent of residents holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. While much of the educated workforce found here can be attributed to the Triangle’s major research institutions, apart from Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, Wake Forest is the only Triangle community where educational achievements from pre-K to PhD can be obtained. In addition to the community’s highly learned human capital, the median age in Wake Forest is 35, closely mirroring the average age of an entrepreneur. The capability of the workforce found here gives powerful credence to the success to be discovered by new businesses starting or relocating to the community.

Smart City

The Town of Wake Forest is committed to implementing technology in the community that seeks to strengthen Town operations and services, enhance quality of life, and holistically invest in the community’s economic development objectives. These initiatives that are ushering in a futuristic infrastructure for Wake Forest include a municipal fiber network, a growing, free and accessible WiFi network across the community, unique quality of life amenities in downtown Wake Forest like BigBelly solar trash cans, and immersive Town of Wake Forest smart phone app, and more. The “Technology Strategic Plan” for Wake Forest is currently under development with the intent of progressively addressing the community’s greatest opportunities for growth as a smart city.

Regional Accessibility

While an important part of the Triangle Region, Wake Forest is uniquely situated away from the congestion in the immediate Raleigh-Cary direction of growth. The town’s strategic location in northern Wake County frees the community from many of the traffic issues plaguing our municipal neighbors while still offering immediate access to the vast resources found in the region. RDU International Airport, offering 400+ flights daily, is just 22 miles from downtown Wake Forest. Both downtown Raleigh and Durham are a short, direct drive down US 1 or Highway 98. Three of the nation's leading research institutions, UNC, Duke, and NC State are all found within a 45 minute commute and the internationally recognized Research Triangle Park at just 30 minutes. The immediate access to each of the regions most significant amenities is proving to be a powerful asset for businesses of all varieties in Wake Forest.

Quality of Life Amenities

Consistently ranked in the top 5 most livable communities in North Carolina, Wake Forest offers over 50 outdoor events annually, hosts multiple parks having recently undergone millions of dollars in investment, a variety of outdoor markets, a sizable indoor sportsplex, state champion high-school sports teams, and a vibrant historic district comprised of a thriving downtown and walkable residential district. The quality of life offered to residents in Wake Forest is a driving force behind a pipeline of well-skilled workers in pharmaceuticals, defense tech, wireless and IoT R&D, and more. These intangible piece of Wake Forest’s innovation infrastructure is one of the primary assets the community owns in developing a space for all to live, work, and play.