ABC11 went one-on-one with North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, who said it starts with the area's workforce.
"Everything from extremely high-level, highly trained PhDs and professional services all the way through to great technicians who can do every part of the job," Lilley said.
Lilley said North Carolina's business success story may not be new, but this level of investment in the state is.
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"What's changed, and if you look out my window, you can see one, two, three different cranes out my window here in downtown Raleigh, is the amount of capital that's coming in to take advantage of these professional services talents that come out of our university system," he said.
Amid federal cuts to research and some tariff uncertainty, Lilley said they'll need to find state and private sector investments to support that workforce if the state wants to maintain its stellar reputation.
"Those investments really have to be made to make sure we have a quality of life, an infrastructure, a transit network, and really a livable community to continue to attract that kind of workforce and ultimately investment," he said.
An ecosystem built around that workforce has also taken shape in the Triangle. On NC State University's Centennial Campus, the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, or BTEC, is churning out hundreds of highly-trained graduates each year to support the region's rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry. That industry includes major Triangle investors such as Pfizer and Novo Nordisk, and helps innovate popular drugs such as insulin.
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"We put them in a position to really hit the ground running at the companies that they're working for," said Gary Gilleskie, BTEC's Executive Director.
BTEC offers an undergraduate minor and a master's program, teaching students how to produce biopharmaceuticals in a miniature manufacturing setting. That allows local companies to hire graduates who already have hands-on experience. Similar programs are offered through North Carolina's community college system and at North Carolina Central University.
"Companies locate here and will expand their operations here because they know they can get the skilled workforce, that there is a skilled workforce in place, that they don't have to come and hire from other companies," Gilleskie said.
BTEC graduates such as Megan Hackman -- who studied there from 2015 to 2018 before working at Fujifilm at RTP -- say it's proof of BTEC's power in the local economy.
"Because I came through the BTEC minor, I have so much experience with upstream, downstream, analytical techniques, things I use in my job every single day," she said.