For businesses, Arizona means economic opportunity and high-tech innovation. Major sectors include aerospace, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. Add to those tourism, business services and back-office operations. The US Bureau of Labor ranks Arizona the fastest-growing state in the US and places it first for job growth. The workforce, described as knowledge-based, is younger than the national average and numbers nearly 2.85 million. The University of Arizona (UA), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Arizona State University (ASU) are well known for their cutting-edge research in emerging technologies. In addition, breakthroughs in advanced biomedicine are under way at Arizona institutions, such as the Biodesign Institute at ASU, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Mayo Clinic in Greater Phoenix. More than 100 foreign-owned companies have operations in Arizona. Many benefit from gateway access to Mexico and South America. Businesses of all sorts are expanding their footprint in the state. Among the most recent are Johnson Controls to Yuma, Google to Tempe, Sanofi-Aventis to Oro Valley north of Tucson, PayPal to Scottsdate, and Pella to Tucson. Arizona’s competitive business climate and favourable tax structure are key reasons. Consequently, the state is home to both Fortune 500 and start-up companies.