INC Research To Add 550 Jobs At New Morrisville HQ

North Carolina’s world-leading contract research industry got another boost today when INC Research announced plans to move its global headquarters from Raleigh to nearby Morrisville and add 550 jobs over five years.

INC employs 6,700 worldwide, 1,376 in North Carolina, including 1,000 at its two Raleigh locations. The company said its move to the Perimeter Park location in mid-2018 will put all its regional workers under one roof.

INC said it will invest $37.9 million in the expansion, and will receive $8.4 million in Job Development Investment Grant funding from the state if it meets its hiring goals over eight years. Another $1 million in incentives will be voted on by Morrisville and Wake County elected officials in January.

“We’re pleased to announce our continued commitment to North Carolina,” said INC Research CEO Alistair Macdonald. “The talent base we've been able to attract in our Raleigh and Wilmington offices and across the state in recent years has been phenomenal. We look forward to continued strong growth here and across the globe and couldn’t think of a more suitable location to accommodate our growing employee base.”

The company said the average annual compensation of its new employees will be $74,923. Wake County’s overall average wage is $52,315 per year.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center partnered with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the state's Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina on the INC project. Other entities playing major roles in convincing INC to expand here were the North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina Community College System, Wake Technical Community College, Wake County, the Town of Morrisville, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and Capital Area Workforce Development.

North Carolina is home to about 130 clinical, or contract, research organizations including some of the largest – INC, PPD, PRA Health Sciences and Quintiles. The CRO industry employs more than 21,000 people within the state and tens of thousands of others globally.

A 2014 study of the state’s life science landscape by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice (now renamed TEConomy) said this specialized field of outsourced drug development is one of six emerging life science technology sectors likely to flourish into the future.

INC, a publicly traded company, was founded in 1998.

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