Team NEO, an economic development organization focusing on Northeast Ohio, this week marked 20 years of advocating for the region’s business community.
The group featured Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn at its annual celebration.
Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler singled out semiconductors and electric vehicles as key industries for the region.
Koehler hopes to attract a chip plant here, similar to Intel’s $20 billion investment in Central Ohio.
He also wants Northeast Ohio’s history of auto making to survive the rapid growth of electric cars.
“We need to protect what we have by making sure that we are embracing the technological change,” Koehler said.
Foxconn deputy chief product officer Robert Schlaeger said that legacy was one reason the company chose to build its first cars here.
“It was the people who are now Foxconn employees with their years of collective automotive industry experience that sealed the deal,” said Schlaeger.
Foxconn is building an electric tractor for California-based Monarch, and two separate SUV models, one for Fisker and another for IndiEV, at the former GM plant in Lordstown.
Schlaeger, however, would not say whether Foxconn will continue to bail out Lordstown Motor Company’s troubled Endurance electric pickup model. Schlaeger said Foxconn will announce details of that relationship at this week’s earnings call.
