Representatives from the Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association (NETVRIDA) recently attended the Automechanika trade show in Frankfurt, Germany and visited companies and EU economic development agencies to develop partnerships to attract foreign investment to the region.
Automechanika is one of the largest automotive trade shows in the world and encompasses more than 3 million square feet of exhibit space. It is held every other year in Frankfurt, Germany. Approximately 4,000 exhibitors and 170,000 visitors from all over the world attended Automechanika Frankfurt during mid-September. NETVRIDA has attended the automotive show since 2004 to meet with automotive-related companies and market the NETVRIDA region.
The team also visited with German economic development agencies representing the State of Hessen, State of Saxony-Anhalt, Frankfurt-Rhein-Main region, and SPI+ in Liège, Belgium.
A news article from the visit to Liège can be found here: http://www.meuse-rhine-journal.com/html/Edi_20120914111216.html.
“With the success of Volkswagen in Chattanooga, which has been big news in both the United States and Europe, there is more awareness of our region than ever before. The Northeast Tennessee Valley area has much to offer automotive suppliers doing business in the southeastern region of the U.S. which has become a major hub for the auto sector,” said NETVRIDA Executive Director, Alan Bridwell. “We plan to foster the business relationships established on this trip and are hosting both companies and our EU economic development counterparts later this fall.”
In addition to Bridwell, NETVRIDA’s Tennessee representatives involved with the 2012 EU recruitment initiative were Richard Venable of NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership, Marshall Ramsey of Morristown Chamber of Commerce, Mitch Miller of Washington County Economic Development Council, and from Virginia, John Kilgore of Scott County Economic Development Authority.
The Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association is an organization which represents Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Northwest North Carolina.
