The region had a rapidly emerging "innovation ecosystem", making it a destination for entrepreneurs, he said. There were now six co-working spaces in the Western Bay, providing entrepreneurs with a low-risk, cost effective environment to work from.
The Waikato University campus was also due to open in the city centre in 2018/19.
"We'll see a lot of businesses formed out of that campus," Mr Coker said.
February statistics showed the Bay of Plenty's unemployment rate had dropped to 5.7 per cent and, in the Western Bay, the challenge was finding skilled people for the jobs, Mr Coker said.
Tauranga was following a national trend away from low-skilled jobs and a university campus would help provide the access to education and vocational training needed to provide skilled workers.
Executive director of Enterprise Angels, which provides investment funding to start-up businesses, Bill Murphy, said the Tauranga group was now the largest of its kind in the country, with nearly 150 members.
Given Tauranga's size there had been a "dearth of innovation and start-ups", he said. "That's really starting to change."
More than $5 million had now been invested in Bay of Plenty companies, making up 45 per cent of all Enterprise Angels investments.
"There aren't enough investment opportunities (in the Western Bay), given the size of the investor group," he said.
The existence of Enterprise Angels created momentum in the region's innovation sector and members were helping new businesses become more attractive to investors through start-up weekends and training courses.
"Economies of the future are based more and more on innovation, technology start-ups and small businesses," he said.
"The businesses that we're investing in, we're giving them money in almost all instances to employ people. I would expect my door would be beaten down."
While retail and housing development were strong in the Western Bay, these were not the modern industries that would see the region into the future, Mr Murphy said.
"We need better paying jobs and we also need diversity in the economy. The world has changed so much just because of technology."
New Zealand, as a country, needed to invest in science, innovation and technology, he said. "That's where the first world is going."
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said an economic impact report from 2010 indicated the port's impact on the Bay of Plenty region was 51.3 per cent of gross regional product - a figure he believed was understated five years on.
The port, which employs about 180 full-time staff and has up to 2000 working inside its gates, had experienced a "cracking" 10 years and the completion of dredging, to allow bigger ships at the port next year, would continue its growth.
"It will facilitate better supply chain savings, growth in jobs and gross regional product in the region."
Mr Cairns also acknowledged how well the Bay's kiwifruit industry had recovered from Psa.
"The gold harvest will be double what it was last year," he said.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce interim chief executive Toni Palmer said the chamber worked "tirelessly" to support local businesses, ranging from start-ups to those with 200 or more staff and owner-operators.
"The Tauranga Chamber is one of the most active in New Zealand and works cohesively with other business support groups so we can collectively bring out the best each business has to offer and create a business environment that matches the beautiful natural environment we all live in."
