Masschusetts' Big Secret
     "We're a well-kept secret," explains Joyce Plotkin, director of the Massachusetts Software Council and member of the team that organized the campaign. "People don't realize what we have here, so that is a big piece of what we're trying to do: to accurately reflect what goes on here."
     What goes on, she says, is more innovation, education, influence and technology development than any other state in the nation. Massachusetts tops the list of patents per capita and students per capita, alleviating the workforce shortage that many high-tech areas face. With the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and dozens of other idea incubators, the state churns out R&D and spawns high-tech start-ups. The dot-commonwealth campaign is hoping to make those statistics run as easily off of tongues around the country as it does in its own five-person office.
     Massachusetts has positioned itself well to deal with the new economy, analysts say, and has boasted business-friendly policies (like low taxes and a research and development tax credit) long before states further south had hooked their thumbs in their suspenders to crow about their Net know-how.
     Knowledge management industries like consulting firms have fueled the change between old and new economies, according to Les Ball, of the University of Massachusetts' Center for Electronic Enterprise. The old traditional consulting companies have restructured themselves to handle e-commerce, and the state has seen a boom in small software companies, he said.
     The state's early high-tech prominence was brought to the forefront in manufacturing areas, said Michaela Platzer, researcher and author of the American Electronics Association's Cyberstates report. But with its knowledge workforce, Massachusetts is seeing a resurgence in the software and Internet content areas. "They're trying to get back to where they were," she said. The state is well positioned to lead the way to convergence, she said, emphasizing the diversity of technologies and variety of computer, software and communications services that have a strong presence.
     The state also has won the praises of the Progressive Policy Institute, receiving the top slot in the Democratic research group's State New Economy Index. The think-tank ranked Massachusetts No. 1 when analyzing 17 economic indicators. The state also led in the areas of innovation capacity, knowledge jobs, venture capital invested per capita, and managerial, professional and technical jobs.
     "The reason is in part historical legacy," said Robert Atkinson, director of technology and the New Economy project, of Massachusetts' ranking. With high defense spending in the 1970s and 1980s, the state created a base of knowledge workers and has attracted, and retained, many young college graduates. "Having the best engineering (school) in your state (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) combined with the best venture capital pool per capita — that's a lot to build on," he said.

Pressure From The South
     Massachusetts may have escaped some media attention, but New Englanders have long known about the state's high-tech prowess. And some have been so struck with envy that they've gone on a mission to take some of Massachusetts' wealth and bring it south of the border — to Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation recently launched a campaign, titled Mass-Exodus, hoping to attract bright, young entrepreneurs looking for a friendly (read: cheaper) place to launch start-ups. Through a stealth campaign in the streets of Boston, handing out fliers and bar coasters, and with only one billboard on the infamous Route 128 technology belt, www.mass-exodus.com has received attention of those looking to relocate close to the beach and far from high-priced city streets.
     John Martin, who directed the program, characterizes the type of entrepreneur the site hopes to attract: "Four guys, rammed into two rooms in Cambridge (MA), writing code for 20 hours a day for three months, and they've got something. They have the financing, they're ready to go, but the costs are too high. We hope to get them, and let them spend less for more space."
     Martin emphasizes that the campaign was not directed at "stealing" workers from Massachusetts, and Bay State officials say they don't see it as antagonistic. Most admit that Massachusetts has a lot going for it, and the Rhode Island blitz probably will not affect much of the industry the .commonwealth movement is boasting.

The More Things Change…
     The touting is loud from both the industry and the government. Gov. A. Paul Cellucci, R, has fashioned himself after his predecessor William Weld, R, in streamlining the state's tax policies. Now, Cellucci is trying to put himself in the national spotlight as an advocate against Internet taxation, as well as any other tax hikes.
     "Please be assured that I will veto the capital gains tax hike that we expect to be included in the final version of the legislative budget," he said at a speech unveiling the .commonwealth project. "Phasing out the state capital gains is crucial to getting new IT ventures off the ground and also acts as a catalyst for our economy…I will continue to support tax-free Internet commerce until a national policy is implemented on a federal level."
     Anne Gavin, the director of the governor's Washington, DC, office and until last week, a spokeswoman for Business Software Alliance, said that Cellucci is "focused like a laser on cutting taxes" and supports the moves of Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, R, who is heading the opposition to Internet taxes. Gilmore won big this week with the first-ever Republican majority in both houses of the Virginia state legislature. Cellucci "will continue to pound that drum," Gavin said.
     The .commonwealth campaign is also looking at promoting technology in K-12 education, and Plotkin said that it will push for the state's universities to be in sync with the type of jobs that are expected to be available in the new economy. "The two critical things you need to start a .com company are an idea, or brainpower, and you need capital," she said. "So the government's role in the brainpower is K-12 education."
     So far, the group has enlisted a host of sponsors and a government thumbs-up, and Plotkin said that the state's tax structure is an added attraction for businesses seeking to set up shop there. The campaign so far has only concentrated its efforts in the Boston area and has yet to venture into western Massachusetts. That is the next priority, according to Plotkin.
     But for now, .commonwealth enthusiasts continue to promote their catchy name, Web site and stack of statistics to force the state into the national consciousness. It's not out of a competitive nature, they insist, but rather a drive to educate the public about what the Bay State has to offer. "We're saying we're better than Silicon Valley," said Lars Carlson of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development. "We're different, and we want to emphasize those differences."
—by Stephanie Lash