North Carolina's Research Triangle is one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S., with a population that's boomed by 5.6% since 2020 to 2.4 million people, according to Census data. The area, also known simply as "The Triangle," is anchored by Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and their major universities: North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And in that 50 years, North Carolina has totally restructured its economy," said Michael Walden Reynolds, an economics professor at North Carolina State University. The Triangle region has about 4,000 tech and 600 life science companies, and more than 300 companies are headquartered in RTP alone, according to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership and Work In The Triangle. "Companies are seeing the advantages of doing business here," said Ryan Combs, executive director of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership.

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Persons: I've, Michael Walden Reynolds, Apple, it's, Ryan Combs Organizations: Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Duke University, University of North, RTP, North, Research Triangle Regional, Meta, Novo Nordisk, Google, Apple, Nordisk, CNBC, Business . Locations: U.S, Raleigh, Durham, University of North Carolina, North Carolina, RTP, States