Fostering a culture of technology & innovation: Louisiana’s 2025 strategic economic development plan

Recognizing Louisiana’s lag in some prosperity metrics, loss of talent over the past decade, and need to build a more competitive economy among its southern state peers, the Louisiana Economic Development (LED) has created a strategic plan that emphasizes innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship as the means to address the challenges and opportunities it faces in creating a more robust and talent-attracting economy.

The Positioning Louisiana to Win: 2025 Comprehensive Statewide Strategic Plan, released in March 2025, details several recommendations and initiatives that seek to nurture homegrown entrepreneurs, startups and technology-driven businesses; attract and retain talent; and modernize the state’s traditional industries, educational, and training programs to ensure that key sectors and Louisianans are positioned to prosper from a more competitive technology-based economy.

Emphasizing technology and innovation as drivers of economic growth and recognizing that talent and entrepreneurship are critical for creating a prosperous economy, the plan underscores the need for Louisiana to attract /expand technology sectors as cultivators of high-wage skilled employment, while also modernizing its traditional agribusiness and energy industries for a more competitive economic future. 

The plan outlines actions to achieve this by:

• enhancing access to capital and the creation of a dedicated fund for site development;
• deepening collaborations between public institutions and private enterprises;
• fostering tech hubs and nurturing startups to create new clusters of expertise that attract venture capital and high-skilled talent;
• identifying sectors, such as agribusiness, aerospace, and defense, as key areas for its diversification efforts; and
• envisioning a balanced ecosystem where traditional and emerging industries or sectors create complementary streams of economic activity.

Additionally, the plan highlights initiatives the state has already implemented, such as:

• The High Impacts Jobs Incentive, a new incentive program developed by the state to attract high-tech businesses as part of the state’s Fit-For-Purpose incentives toolkit. It is available for businesses that offer jobs with wages above the regional benchmarks.
• LA.IO (Louisiana Innovation), a new division under the LED. The division  tasked with developing more high-growth, technology-enabled startup companies and overseeing a $50 million venture capital fund (the Louisiana Growth Fund). This fund is designed to support homegrown innovators and tech companies by providing critical capital, mentorship, and access to advanced digital tools. The division is also developing the Louisiana Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
• The Louisiana Institute for Artificial Intelligence, an LA.IO project. This program will serve as the state’s lead anchor for a statewide AI strategy focusing on applied research and development, commercialization, workforce development and state policy. It aims to integrate AI into small and medium enterprise operations statewide tailor solutions that can boost productivity and competitiveness and equip 5,000 small businesses across the state with AI tools.

Additionally, the plan seeks to create programs that will promote R&D partnerships between academic researchers and large employers, connect Louisiana businesses to new markets to spur growth and catalyze investment in early-stage ventures. These programs would support the growth of high-potential ideas in the state, which include:

• facilitating corporate-academic partnerships and improving R&D commercialization to drive research and expedite product and service commercialization; and
• building collaborative innovation hubs to encourage partnerships between LED, local universities, and research centers and create cross-sectoral innovation hubs that facilitate the transfer of technology and ideas.

This article was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. (The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.