Boston slips in high-tech ranking

While Massachusetts maintains the top state ranking in science and technology prowess, Boston has slipped.

In the Milken Institute’s ranking of top high-tech center areas in North America, Seattle passed Boston and became America’s second-ranking high-tech metro area. The number one spot belongs to Silicon Valley, which “continues to lead all other metropolitan regions in North America in the breadth and scope of economic activity it creates through technological innovation,” according to the study.

According to Milken Institute, the Top Ten North America high-tech centers are:

2007 Ranking (2003 Ranking) Metro Area Total High Tech Score

1 (1) San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 100.0

2 (3) Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 46.4

3 (2) Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA 45.2

4 (5) Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 41.8

5 (4) Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA 40.2

6 (6) Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX 21.8
7
(7) San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 19.3

8 (11) Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA 17.7

9 (9) New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ 16.8

10 (8) San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA 16.1

The report, called “North America’s High-Tech Economy: The Geography of Knowledge-Based Industries,” was presented earlier this week at the 2009 IEDC Technology-Led Economic Development Conference.

Metro areas were ranked by “their ability to grow and sustain thriving high-tech industries.” The study compares wages and employment in the metropolitan areas, and adds a location quotient, which measures the concentration of high-tech employment or wages in the area.

Boston area still is number one among 381 metro areas in scientific research and development services, one of twenty high-tech industry segments. So, it has the potential to be number one overall if it improves its capacity to turn innovative ideas into plans, plans into operating businesses, and businesses into rapidly growing ventures. Moving research to ventures remains its major challenge. That is why programs like the Venture Development Center are important.