Summary

The Brookings Institution recently selected Greater Washington, DC as one of twenty-nine cities participating in the Global Cities Initiative. As a result, partners throughout the Greater Washington region have been working together with the Brookings Institution to develop a regional export strategy to boost the local economy and create jobs. The region is seeing the emergence of a coordinated effort across the public sector (through the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments), private sector (through the Greater Washington Board of Trade), and institutional partners (through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area) to reach consensus on specific economic goals.

To support the development of an export strategy, the authors led research on Greater Washington’s export economy using three methods: a Market Scan, a Market Survey, and Local Intelligence Interviews. This research focused on uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of the Greater Washington export economy by combining macroeconomic research by Brookings with extensive input from local business leaders, representing both exporting and non-exporting organizations. The results of this effort were compiled into this document, the Market Assessment.  

The assessment helped inform the subsequent Greater Washington Metro Export Plan.