- New EY research updates Northern Kentucky’s four key industry clusters and refines subsectors to reflect emerging technologies and regional strengths.
- Initial findings highlight strong growth in advanced manufacturing, IT, life sciences and supply chain management across Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
- BE NKY leaders say the study will guide future business attraction, retention and investment strategies heading into 2026.
With the end of 2025 on the horizon, BE NKY Growth Partnership – Northern Kentucky’s primary economic development organization – is doubling down on its four key industry sectors.
In 2022, global consulting firm Ernst & Young published a study commissioned by BE NKY that identified the four most prominent industry sectors of the Northern Kentucky economy: advanced manufacturing, supply chain management, life sciences and information technology.
Read our latest deep dive into the future of workforce in NKY here.
These sectors shape the region’s economy and drive high economic growth. As such, regional leaders want to up the investment in these sectors to promote further growth.
Years later, EY and BE NKY are collaborating on a new study that will assess which industry sectors will best support high-quality job growth in Northern Kentucky. Once published, the study will serve as a blueprint for analyzing business retention and attraction efforts in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
On Nov. 12, during its final economic development meeting of the year, BE NKY invited Jung Kim, research director for EY’s Economic Development Advisory Services Practice, to present the initial findings of the new study. To kick off his presentation, Kim explained why EY uses targeting as a practice to categorize the regional economy.
“Simply put, targeting helps focus limited resources where they’ll have the greatest impact by leveraging the region’s existing strengths and supply chains, you can enhance global competitiveness and drive economic growth,” Kim said.
One of the significant changes in the new study was the reorientation of subsectors. Underneath the four primary clusters, there are several subsectors. As part of the new study, EY adjusted the subsector categories within the four primary clusters to better clarify each industry’s direction and demonstrate how each cluster cross-pollinates across industry sectors.
These updates include adding chemicals to the materials and packaging subsector, combining electronics manufacturing with electrical equipment manufacturing into a single subsector, and incorporating industrial machinery and equipment, a traditional industry with steady growth potential in the region.
“Targeting also helps recognize and capitalize on macro-trends and emerging opportunities, rather than spreading those efforts too thin. This approach builds on the region’s assets such as talent, infrastructure and innovation networks to compete more effectively on the global stage for trade and investment, and ultimately, by focusing on the traded sectors that bring new wealth into Northern Kentucky,” said Kim.
From Kim’s perspective, adopting advanced technologies like artificial intelligence in the local economy has boosted economic expectations.
“Things like AI, robotics, we mentioned, automation, Internet of Things, real-time data – they’re all increasingly becoming a central business tool,” Kim said. “As part of that, customer expectations are rising. Business clients are demanding more in the way of customization and digitalization.”
Kim shared data from 2019 to 2024 on Northern Kentucky’s key industries, emphasizing their importance to the local economy. He noted that advanced manufacturing employs 18,000 people, and that Northern Kentucky has an advanced manufacturing job concentration nearly double the U.S. average. In the same time frame, information technology, with 3,000 jobs, has seen a 62% growth.
Furthermore, Kim shared that the local life sciences sector is rapidly expanding, supported by strong university and laboratory resources. Additionally, supply chain management and support services remain among Northern Kentucky’s strongest sectors, with top national concentrations driven by CVG.
BE NKY CEO Lee Crume shared his thoughts on the study, emphasizing that a key takeaway is the importance of local industries being agile enough to withstand economic turbulence.
“One of the things that I think we can take away from this is coming back to this idea of efficiency and being agile as a community, being agile and understanding these global trends that are coming at us,” he said. “I like to think that our organization is well-positioned to help with that.”