“What’s special about doing business in New Orleans is that you get a combination of highly competitive business assets and an unsurpassed quality of life. I would not exchange it for anywhere in the world.” – Henry Coaxum Jr.
Why NOLA
Top Industries
Bio & Health Services Innovation
GAME-CHANGING BUSINESS INCENTIVES
WORLD CLASS FACILITIES
NEW ORLEANS BIOINNNOVATION CENTER
Louisiana’s premier biotech incubator, provides access to customized commercialization services, premier facilities, and a comprehensive support network.
LOUISIANA CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
State supported education and research in the diagnosis, detection, and treatment of cancer.
UNO Research & Technology Park
Through public and private partnerships, the University of New Orleans Research & Technology Foundation links the private sector to academia and various partners in the public sector. Tenants have opportunities to engage in joint proposals, to collaborate on research projects with university researchers, and to supplement their workforce through internships for undergraduate and graduate students.
THE NEW ORLEANS BIODISTRICT
The New Orleans BioDistrict is a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana with a mission that includes facilitating and promoting commercialization opportunities from research developed within the District, and with the power to incur debt. New Orleans boasts 25 Qualified Opportunity Zones; the BioDistrict spans across 5 of them.
BioDistrict New Orleans Board Meetings
NEW ORLEANS HEALTH INNOVATORS CHALLENGE
The New Orleans Health Innovators Challenge (NOLAHI) is an annual digital health competition, produced by the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) and partners since 2018, that brings together startups from around the country to collaborate with local healthcare leaders to find solutions to pressing healthcare challenges. NOLAHI creates strategic partnerships between top emerging companies and our New Orleans health system leaders based on articulated Challenge Statement topics.
Top Companies
Key Partners
Louis David
Hospitality
New Orleans is one of the top tourism destinations and hospitality epicenters in the world. Each year, the city welcomes nearly 20 million visitors from every corner of the globe in search of its unique cultural experiences and the opportunity to create memories that will last a lifetime.
Key Partners
Logistics, Transportation & Trade
For 300 Years, New Orleans has been the business gateway to America and the world. Now, with unmatched intermodal connectivity, our reach is only improved, and ready for the next Tricentennial. Local businesses benefit from incredible multimodal transportation (rail, air, truck, barge, and ship), value-added offerings including warehousing, storage, third-party logistics providers, state-of-the-art facilities, rail connectivity, port operations, ground and air freight, and wholesalers.
Key Partners
Software & Technology
There are good reasons U.S. News & World Report named New Orleans the “Silicon Valley of the South,” like unparalleled creative culture, leading entrepreneurial ecosystem, affordable business costs, and digital media tax credits to name a few. In the last five years, the city’s technology sector has seen unprecedented and inclusive growth, holding top national rankings for tech jobs held by women and people of color.
Quite simply, our success in this city can be measured in the relationships that NOLABA and the entire economic development community has helped us create.”
Key Partners
Food & Beverage Production
BIG EASY BUCHA ANNOUNCES MAJOR ACQUISITION BY BELIV
A true testament to the opportunities for startups here, New Orleans celebrated several major wins in 2021, including the sale of healthy drinks company Big Easy Bucha to Latin American beverage company Beliv and $1.1 million in seed funding for El Guapo Bitters & Syrups to open America's FIRST bitters brewery right here in the city.
Key Partners
BRANDS/MANUFACTURING
BREWERIES/DISTILLERIES
DISTRIBUTION/PACKING
VIRTUAL FOOD SITE TOURS
In September 2020, NOLABA launched a Virtual Food Site Tour series to provide more information for interested manufacturers and developers relative to food production in the city of New Orleans.
Music & Recording
The opportunities in the local film industry are like never before. Academy Award winners, blockbusters, top-rated television shows such as NCIS New Orleans - it’s all here - and so are the professionals, industry support services, and tax incentives to make it work.
Key Partners
Film Production
Academy Award winners, blockbusters, top-rated television shows such as NCIS New Orleans - it’s all here - and so are the professionals, industry support services, and tax incentives to make it work.
Key Partners
Energy
New Orleans, Louisiana is traditionally known for its energy assets, particularly those in oil and gas fields. But did you know that in the heart of oil country there is a Solar America City? Yes, New Orleans is a solar city.
Like other parts of the New Orleans culture, we are wonderfully multifaceted. Bottom line: we are proud that companies in every field from oil, gas, solar, wind and battery power call us home.
Key Partners
Light & Advanced Manufacturing
From specialized packaging to Mars rockets, New Orleans' light and advanced manufacturing is as diverse and interesting as the city itself. With thousands of acres of land available, much of it with immediate access to rail, road, and deep-water port facilities, doing business in the Crescent City works for manufacturers big and small.
In addition to connectivity and a world-renowned resilient spirit, we offer one of the nation’s lowest cost of doing business, and a large pipeline of educated workers combined with the nation’s top workforce development programs.
Key Partners
