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More than 50% of all American Capability Centers (ACCs) are now based in non-coastal cities.
If that number caught your eye, it should. For decades, America’s innovation story has been told through the same coastal cities like Silicon Valley, New York, etc. Yes, the coasts built the playbook. Everything else was labeled “emerging,” or “next.”
But that story is changing.
American Capability Centers, or ACCs, are onshore hubs set up by U.S. enterprises to do high-value work, things like Engineering, AI development, R&D, and Digital Transformation. They’re not sales offices or admin backrooms. Each one typically houses around 30 or more people, small, cross-functional teams working on high-impact problems that require being close to customers, regulators, or innovation partners.
In short, ACCs are where capability is built, not just where work gets done.
When we mapped this network, a clear pattern emerged: The geography of enterprise capability is moving inward.
Cities like Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City are seeing a surge in these centers. What is interesting here is to understand the fact that enterprises are setting up in places where they can build products next to their users, test AI systems close to regulators, and tap into local universities and talent clusters. In many ways, the American interior is becoming a new kind of Innovation Belt.
At Zinnov, we wanted to take a closer look. We analyzed how Fortune 500 enterprises are setting up and scaling over 4,000+ American Capability Centers across 150+ U.S. metros.
The goal was simple: to understand where this infrastructure is growing, what kinds of capabilities are being built, and why this matters for the next decade of enterprise innovation.
The report offers an in-depth look at:
Download the report to explore how Fortune 500 enterprises are redrawing America’s innovation map, one capability center at a time.
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