The 2025 Tech Report focuses on the continued momentum of the region’s 10-year strategy to make greater Grand Rapids the Midwest’s leading technology hub, blending software development, systems integration, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity with the region’s manufacturing expertise.
Launched in 2021, the goal is to create 20,000 tech jobs over 10 years.
Progress so far includes adding more than 5,600 tech jobs, 1,300 in the last year with top jobs being industrial engineers, software developers and mechanical engineers.
Andria Romkela is The Right Place Senior Vice President of Business Development.
“These are high-quality good paying jobs with your average salaries of over 90 K. So these are the kind of jobs we want to be creating and attracting here in the region for people to have a high-quality of life and live and work here.”
Venture capital activity in 2024 showed fewer deals and less money raised than the previous year, but 2025 is trending better with growth in healthcare and software industries.
“Healthcare and health sciences has been an area where we've been focusing on for a couple decades now so we're happy to see that marriage of healthcare and tech and we're seeing significant job creation in those areas.“
The region is gaining national recognition, named by several well-known economic and technology organizations as a top emerging market.
The full report can be found on The Right Place website.
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
