This year has without a doubt been an unforgettable year, which in itself has posed a lot of challenges both for individuals and for companies alike. Economic Developer's have faced many challenges in 2022, ranging from the outbreak of the War on Ukraine, along with the global stock market decline.
However, in order for us to end on a high note, we choose to keep things on the positive side in this round up, and share our best highlights from 2022.
Wavteq has had another busy year and as a result of this increased business we have expanded our teams across the company, making 17 new hires across the globe. Meet some of the new faces at Wavteq, based in locations ranging from Dubai to Oklahoma City!
In 2022 Wavteq held its first training standalone workshop in New York City on "Accelerating Investment Attraction in 2022" hosted in partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), Financial Times and Foreign Trade Commissioners Association in New York (FTCA).
It is safe to say our first physical workshop since Covid-19 was a resounding success. In the session, expert speakers Chris Knight (CCO, Wavteq) and Guillermo Mazier (President, Americas, Wavteq) focused on ways economic developers can attract corporate investment to FDI to their location, along with an overview of current corporate investment trends affecting investment attraction in 2022.
Due to the positive feedback from attendees, Wavteq will be holding more of these workshops in 2023 throughout a number of different locations globally.
If you would like to be first to know when our next in-person or digital events take place, sign up to our newsletter below to get free early-access for registration.
In the last year, we expanded our research team for IncentivesFlow, and dramatically improved data coverage both in the US and Europe. Given the recorded increase in data coming from Europe and a recognized interest from clients, we released an Incentives Briefing which uncovered the investment incentive trends & insights from the EU-27. Over the last year we also launched an enterprise version of IncentivesFlow in 2022, allowing both educational and enterprise clients to subscribe to the tool. Work is progressing on our Incentives Calculator,
Our software team are currently developing a new Incentive Calculator feature which will enable economic development organisations and site selectors to pinpoint destinations that give the greatest value incentive return for their investments. The feature is close to being ready for launch and we expect it to go live in the first half of 2023. We are very excited about this new tool and believe it will bring IncentivesFlow to the next level.
Wavteq’s CRM solution for Economic Developers, Amplify, is set for a major UX upgrade with a multi-device compatible interface set to be launched early in 2023. This will allow Amplify to be used effectively on any device type and screen size.
Wavteq Institute, a subscription service which provides practical tools you need to enhance your skills and knowledge as an economic developer, continues to receive many new and exciting updates with fresh and industry leading content being continuously added by our skilled content and consultancy teams.
New reports included our Opportunity Field Guide series which focuses on countries which present opportunities for economic developers.
Wavteq undertook an ambitious data update to our intermediary classifications for our advisory database Influencers in 2022. The key focus has been ensuring maximum coverage and up-to-date contacts for the global site selection community and the major industry and business associations across all major source countries, states, and cities worldwide. We plan to release these upgrades very soon with regular tranches of new data published regularly in the coming weeks and months.
2022 has been a successful year for Wavteq's Product Division, with development and expansion throughout the majority of our products.
As we approach the end of the year it's time to reflect on what has passed and what is to come. 2022 has been a good year for the company with Lead Generation services being the fastest growing part of the business. The team has delivered some incredible successes - our Korea partner secured a $4 billion+ project in Ohio, the biggest ever investment success in our history, along with our India team continuing to deliver signed leases in Dubai Airport Freezone and all our teams from UK, to Europe to UAE to North America generated a record number of leads and project opportunities for our clients.
On the Consulting side, the team had a stellar performance in closing off some of our biggest and most complex ever projects, including completing a 4-year tourism investment promotion program in Indonesia with the World Bank Group, a multi-year contract in Tunisia also with the World Bank and many other projects including multiple programs in Colombia.
I am really excited about the new Digital Marketing services we have added to our portfolio and the clients we have already onboarded. These services have great synergy with both lead generation and consulting, and in 2023 I look forward to seeing more package solutions to clients including these digital marketing services.
In summary, it was a good year in 2022 and thank you to everyone in Wavteq for your contribution and commitment. I am really excited about 2023 and believe we have built the ground work to achieve our best ever year and take the company to new heights next year - in all parts of the business. I wish all our employees and clients a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Wavteq hopes to be able to attend all the major investment events in 2023. We are especially looking forward to AIM (Annual Investment Meeting) in Abu Dhabi, along with SelectUSA which will return to National Harbor, Maryland.
We are excited to be planning a range of Wavteq webinars which will take place on Zoom. Our first will kick off in February when we will present a review of 2022, along with looking at how 2023 will pan out in the world of FDI.
