Rhode Island has never lacked a compelling story.
We have world-class institutions, innovative companies, an unmatched quality of life, and strengths in future-shaping industries — from defense and the blue economy to life sciences and advanced manufacturing. In a state where you can travel from one end to the other in 45 minutes, proximity is one of our greatest advantages.
But for businesses looking to invest, expand, or relocate, Rhode Island doesn’t always feel quite so easy to navigate.
If we’re serious about competing for new investment and giving the companies already here every reason to stay and scale, we need to make Rhode Island easier to understand, navigate, and ultimately, choose.
That starts with something very basic: Make it simple for businesses to see what Rhode Island has to offer.
When a company considers a new location, its first questions are often practical. Is there a building that meets our needs? Is there available land? Is the site development-ready? What infrastructure is nearby? What does the surrounding community offer our employees?
Those questions matter because economic development is competitive. Companies are often evaluating multiple states at once, and if another state can more quickly provide clear answers, that state has a head start.
That’s why the addition of the Zoom Prospector property search tool to the Select Rhode Island website is important. It allows users to search available properties based on location, building size, acreage, property type, sale or lease status, and other criteria while using mapping and comparison tools to evaluate opportunities across the state.
But a better property search tool is only the beginning. It can open the door. What happens after a company walks through it depends on the strength of Rhode Island’s entire business ecosystem.
Businesses don’t make location decisions based on real estate alone. They evaluate whether they can find and retain talented workers. They look at infrastructure, energy costs, housing availability and affordability, taxes, and the regulatory environment. They consider access to transportation, higher education, and workforce partners. They want to know whether state and local governments will be responsive when challenges arise.
And increasingly, they’re asking a broader question: Can this state work together to help us succeed?
Rhode Island’s size should be the advantage in answering that question.
In a state this small, leaders, officials, organizations, and community partners can — and should be able to — quickly gather around the table. We can solve problems faster, connect employers with decision-makers, align education and workforce programs with industry needs — and we can coordinate around opportunities that create jobs and investment.
That kind of collaboration can be one of Rhode Island’s greatest competitive advantages, but only if we use it.
At Partnership for Rhode Island, our members include many of the state’s largest employers, who understand what it takes to compete for investment and talent because they make those decisions every day. They also understand that business attraction and business retention are two sides of the same economic development strategy.
Attracting a new company makes headlines, but helping an existing Rhode Island employer add hundreds of jobs, invest in a new facility, or choose Rhode Island for its next expansion can be every bit as impactful.
Our goal should be straightforward: make Rhode Island the easiest place in the Northeast to say yes to.
That means reducing unnecessary friction, creating more development-ready sites, accelerating permitting and approvals without sacrificing standards, and strengthening our talent pipelines. On top of that, it is vital to invest in infrastructure and have a coordinated strategy for pursuing companies in sectors where Rhode Island has a genuine competitive advantage.
Ultimately, this requires consistency.
Economic development cannot simply be the focus during an election cycle or when a major prospect comes knocking. Regardless of who occupies the State House, the state needs a long-term economic strategy that survives political transitions and gives businesses confidence about where we’re headed.
Businesses make investments on five-, 10- and 20-year timelines. Rhode Island needs its eyes on the same horizon.
So let’s ask: Where is the friction? What can we simplify? Who should be at the table? How can we respond faster? And what would make a Rhode Island-based company — or one considering the state — more confident about investing here?
Rhode Island may be small, but our ambitions for our economy should not be.
Liz Catucci is the executive director of the Partnership for Rhode Island and a distinguished business leader focused on championing local commerce, fostering government relations, and committing to community development.