Success Stories

The EDD has worked closely with Albuquerque Economic Development Inc. to recruit a number of new companies in recent years:

Eclipse Aviation plans to build aircraft at an aviation manufacturing center emerging the City’s Double Eagle II Airport. In choosing Albuquerque, the company cited business climate, tax environment, workforce, and location. In 2007 Eclipse completed a 60,000-square-foot, $7.5 million training facility at Double Eagle II. 

The Albuquerque area now has 19 aviation firms that employ 3,660.

Tempur-Pedic World Mattress Co. in 2007 completed its 800,000-square-foot plant, the largest mattress factory in the world, on Albuquerque’s West Side. Advent Solar opened its 87,000-square-foot plant and began producing about 1,200 solar cells every hour around the clock. EMCORE Corp. expanded its solar-cell factory, stepped up production, and moved its headquarters from New Jersey to New Mexico.

In the Spring of 2008, the City of Albuquerque announced that SCHOTT AG will build a solar products manufacturing plant, creating as many as 1,500 jobs at peak production. A $100 million first phase investment will require 200,000 square feet and open with 350 employees in early 2009 at Mesa del Sol, south of the Albuquerque Sunport. SCHOTT will manufacture solar photovoltaic modules and receiver tubes for concentrated solar plants at the new facility. SCHOTT is one of the largest solar manufacturers in the world. The company operates in 41 countries with 16,800 employees worldwide, and has been in operation for more than 120 years.

Also in the the Spring of 2008, it was announced that Fidelity Investments will open an operations center in Albuquerque to employ 1,250 over the next five years. Fidelity will lease a new 210,000 square foot facility at Mesa del Sol. The majority of the jobs will be in customer and client services to support payroll, health and welfare, and human resources services. Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services and employs over 44,000 people.

Mayor Chávez said, “Albuquerque’s recruitment of a global financial services leader like Fidelity speaks volumes about the continued strength of our community’s workforce and our economic viability overall.”  

Small Business Success Stories

In the early 1990s researchers at both Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine collaborated to develop a noninvasive glucose sensor for people with diabetes. The result was a device that uses optics – not needles – to measure glucose levels.

The company they spun out in 1993 became InLight Solutions, which continues to develop sensor-based measurement systems for life science applications and has become a world leader. The company enjoys a multi-year research partnership with Johnson & Johnson.

            InLight has spun out three other companies: 

• Lumidigm, 2001. InLight Solutions scientists and engineers discovered that light passes through every person’s skin differently. Realizing the potential for advances human identification and security systems, InLight spun out Lumidigm to develop biometric systems.
• TruTouch Technologies, 2004. InLight researchers realized that their technologies could also be adapted to detect alcohol levels and are now developing alcohol-testing products that could shift the standard from breath tests.
• VeraLight, 2004. This company’s focus is on noninvasive diabetes screening to provide early detection. VeraLight’s Scout instrument is more convenient and accurate than conventional methods and could revolutionize screening for type 2 and pre-diabetes.

All four companies are located in the University of New Mexico's Science & Technology Park. Link to Science & Technology Park in Major Partners section.