The area is home to Duke University and is one of the vertices of the Research Triangle. It's also a manufacturing hub which includes IBM's largest U.S. development and manufacturing site, among others.
In an otherwise gloomy economy, the manufacturing industry contributed 4.23 percentage points to the area's 6.6% GDP growth in 2010. That's more than any other industry in the area.
What's more, the uptick helped Durham rank among the highest metro areas for growth -- 19 out of 366 -- according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Emerging markets have been caught in the global contagion sparked by the European debt crisis. But these economies still have something most others don't: Growth in local demand for goods and services.
