Business Investment & Attraction (BI&A)
Business Investment & Attraction (BI&A)
Building Investment-Ready Communities
Attracting investment is about far more than marketing. Communities that successfully attract and retain investment understand that investors are looking for more than available land, incentives, or promotional materials. They are looking for communities that are prepared, responsive, competitive, and ready to support long-term business success.
Business Investment & Attraction (BI&A) is a core course designed for economic development practitioners responsible for attracting new business investment, supporting business expansion, and strengthening community investment readiness. The course provides a practical framework for understanding what investors and site selectors look for, how investment decisions are made, and how communities can position themselves to compete effectively in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Participants will learn how to assess Community Investment Readiness (CIR), identify and target investment opportunities, develop compelling value propositions, build investor-focused marketing strategies, navigate site selection processes, and manage investment opportunities through the full investment lifecycle. The course also explores emerging trends influencing investment decisions, including workforce availability, reshoring and nearshoring, ESG considerations, Indigenous economic participation, resilience, and the growing role of technology and data in investment attraction.
Whether your community is beginning its investment attraction journey or looking to strengthen an existing program, BI&A provides practical tools, strategies, and resources to help communities move from promotion to preparation and from opportunity to investment success.
This is a core course within our Community Economic Development Certificate Program.
COURSE OUTCOMES
- Explain the role of Business Investment & Attraction within a comprehensive economic development strategy.
- Assess a community’s investment readiness using EDA’s Community Investment Readiness (CIR) frameworks and tools.
- Identify community strengths, gaps, and competitive advantages that influence investment decisions.
- Understand current investment trends, including workforce availability, trade diversification, reshoring, ESG, Indigenous economic participation, and resilience.
- Identify and prioritize target industries, sectors, and investors that align with community assets and long-term goals.
- Develop evidence-based value propositions that clearly communicate a community’s competitive advantages.
- Prepare investment-ready materials, including community profiles, site information, and investor resources.
- Understand how site selectors evaluate locations and how communities can improve their competitiveness throughout the site selection process.
- Develop targeted marketing and outreach strategies to attract investment opportunities.
- Manage investment leads and investor relationships using a structured pipeline approach.
- Evaluate incentives, partnerships, and investment development opportunities responsibly and strategically.
- Measure BI&A performance using practical metrics and reporting frameworks to support continuous improvement.
- Understand how investment readiness contributes to community resilience, competitiveness, and long-term economic prosperity.
Delivery Option & Cost
Individual
Online, self-directed learning. Available 24-7.
$195 Members $295 Non-Members
Group
Hybrid- Online:
Self-directed, augmented with live instructor sessions
$325 Members $435 Non-Members
In person:
Group session in your community. One day instructor-led online workshop.
$2950 Members $3450 Non-Members