Biz Talk: Arlington Honored at 2020 International Economic Development Council Annual Conference

This article was written by Adam Henry, CEcD, Business Development Manager for Arlington Economic Development.

This October, Arlington Economic Development attended the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) 2020 Annual Conference.

IEDC is the largest organization serving the economic development profession, with more than 5,000 members around the world. Like most conferences in 2020, IEDC’s Annual Conference was held in a virtual format, connecting economic developers from all over the globe to discuss a wide range of topics and trends affecting communities and organizations.

During the conference, IEDC held its annual Excellence in Economic Development Awards program, which recognizes organizations with gold, silver and bronze awards for their efforts to promote economic development in urban, suburban and rural communities. This year, IEDC received over 500 submissions to be considered for awards, which are judged by a diverse group of economic developers from around the world.

At this year’s Excellence in Economic Development Awards program, Arlington Economic Development was honored with five awards in several categories for communities with a population of 200,000 to 500,000.

The awards included:

• GOLD for Regionalism and Cross-Border Collaboration, recognizing the regional effort to attract Amazon HQ2 to Arlington County.
• GOLD for Creative Financing, recognizing Arlington County’s Gazelle Grant program — a deal-closing incentive program created in 2017 for fast-growing or “gazelle” technology companies.
• GOLD for Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Initiatives, recognizing the county’s Arlington Premiere event — an annual event where Arlington’s new business owners have the opportunity to meet key leaders of the Arlington business community and learn about resources and assistance available to them.
• SILVER for Resiliency, Recovery and Mitigation, recognizing Arlington’ Small Business Emergency GRANT Program, which provided financial assistance to Arlington’s small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• BRONZE for Economic Equality and Inclusion, recognizing the Innovations in Healthy Aging Startup Competition that took place in November 2019, which was a collaborative initiative between multiple Arlington County departments.

These awards recognize Arlington Economic Development’s best-in-class initiatives and programs to help businesses in Arlington County start, grow and expand in the community.