Sam Markowitz

The leader who helped transform North America’s largest research park into a mixed-use hub is stepping down this fall, and his replacement is ready to lean even further into collaboration. Scott Levitan, widely credited with reinvigorating North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park into a growing community with coworking, retail and residential spaces, will retire Oct. 2 from his role as president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation, the nonprofit that guides the 7,000-acre park.

Across New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and rural parishes, what once might have appeared as a series of isolated wins is increasingly showing signs of statewide cohesion. New Orleans recently landed in the top 15 of a national innovation ecosystem ranking, and Louisiana’s Q1 2026 startup deal count tied its highest level since 2016.

Philadelphia has a deep industrial legacy, stretching back to the Frankford Arsenal and ship construction at the Navy Yard. Today, the region is aiming to build on that history to create a modern competitive advantage through the DVIRC “Manufacturing Moonshot” initiative, which lays out a 2030 vision for the area as a nationally recognized advanced manufacturing hub with an ambitious operating target of 10% annual growth in the state’s manufacturing economy.