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Massachusetts Tops State Innovation List
by Michael Martinez
Massachusetts is moving faster than any state to adapt to an information-based, entrepreneurial economy, according to a report released this week.
The study, compiled by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation, found that the Bay State is making the fastest transition to a "new economy." Massachusetts was followed by New Jersey, Maryland, Washington and California, respectively.
Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia were at the back of the pack.
The report used 26 economic indicators to compare the states, including the concentration of "knowledge jobs," entrepreneurial activity, Internet addresses and e-government.
In a statement, ITIF President Robert Atkinson, the principle author of the report, said transformation to the modern global economy is imperative to the survival of state economies.
"In order to succeed in the new global economy, states can no longer rely on a strategy of relentlessly driving down costs and providing large incentives to attract locationally mobile branch plants or offices," Atkinson said. "Rather, these states must create an environment that fosters innovation and high skills in order to help fast-growing entrepreneurial firms and innovative existing firms expand."
He added in a teleconference that the purpose of the report was not to praise states but rather to provide a toolkit to better understand the performance of their economies.
Massachusetts also was the top-ranked state in 1999 and 2002. In this year's report, it scored best in several categories, including the number of managerial, professional and technical jobs, workforce education, online agriculture, and high-tech jobs.
Some states that depend heavily on the technology sector didn't rank highly. North Carolina and New Mexico, which boast highly educated workforces and robust research communities, checked in at 26th and 33rd respectively.
Others that were in the middle of the pack in the overall standings topped noteworthy categories. Idaho, which ranked 24th overall, had the most patents per worker in the country. South Dakota, which ranked in the bottom five overall, topped the list for technology used in schools.
According to the report, states need to implement progressive policies to transform their economies so they are better positioned to compete globally. Enlisting federal help, investing in innovative infrastructure, supporting industry clusters and cultivating entrepreneurship all will help to meet that goal, the report said.
"Developing a vibrant new economy is not an end in itself; it is the means to advance larger, progressive goals: higher incomes, new economic opportunities, more individual choice and freedom, greater dignity and autonomy for working Americans, and stronger communities," the report said.
Va., N.Y. Lead In E-Government Purchases
In a separate report released this week by CDW-G, which sells technology products and services to the government, Virginia and New York were listed as the lead investors in the purchase of government storage technology.
The company's "State and Local Government Technology Investment Curve" found that Virginia's investment profile in storage technologies is 625 percent higher than the national average. New York, which came in second, had an investment profile 610 percent higher than the national average. Wisconsin, which was listed as the sole "early investor," ranked third.
The study tracked the core purchasing behavior of state and local governments dating back to 2003. It assessed six categories of technologies that included backup software, storage software, storage-area networks, network attached storage, tape backup and drive arrays.
"States have realized the significant benefits of comprehensive storage investment," Jim Grass, CDW-G's senior director of state and local sales, said in a statement. "Storage technologies are an essential building block for state and local government agencies delivering government information and services to citizens over the Web and in the field. Storage also allows governments to maintain critical operations in the event of a disaster or other major disruption."
Virginia Assembly Clears Broadband Initiative
Lawmakers in Virginia this week approved a $1.6 million proposal to build high-speed Internet infrastructure along the state's eastern shore.
The General Assembly cleared the package Friday as part of a budget that is now headed to Gov. Tim Kaine for final authorization, The Daily Times reported. The measure would direct funds to connect the region to the southwestern part of the state. Delegate Lynwood Lewis said the infrastructure upgrade is sorely needed.
"This technology is analogous to rural electrification in the 1940s," Lewis told The Daily Times. "It is simply something me must have to remain economically viable, compete for jobs, and provide educational opportunities, enhanced medical care and the like."
Meanwhile, South Carolina lawmakers floated a proposal this week to put the Palmetto State on track to be the first in the country to have a statewide broadband network. State House Speaker Bobby Harrell and state Rep. Dwight Loftis introduced a resolution to create a wireless technology and communications commission tasked with studying the feasibility of a network.
"Creating a wireless cloud over our state would be a step in the right direction in continuing to move South Carolina toward a knowledge-based economy." Harrell said in a statement. "Being the first state in the nation to have a statewide wireless network would put our state on the leading edge of this new technology."
Tennessee Governor Urges Simplified E-Health
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on Tuesday said the federal government and the healthcare industry need to simplify their strategies for nationally deploying electronic health records.
In a speech at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in New Orleans, Bredesen, a Democrat, said policymakers need to focus less on developing complicated sets of standards and more on crafting simple solutions that would encourage the adoption of e-health applications.
"This is important stuff," said Bredesen, co-chairman of the National Governors Association's State Alliance for e-Health. "Information technology has the capacity to vastly improve the quality and control the cost of care in our nation. And yet we underused it terribly ... and unless we bring that cottage industry into the modern era -- not in its medical technology but in its organization -- it is going to bite us."
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