Is Oregon leading or falling behind the new innovation economy? From biotechnology to green energy, Oregon looks to lead on the new technologies that will be central to economic growth during the next century.
On Wednesday, a new national report will examine how Oregon and states across the nation are doing in creating an environment to be competitive in these important economic areas.
The New Economy, marked by globalization, technological innovation and entrepreneurial development, is dovetailing with the capital-intensive, traditional manufacturing environment that dominated state economies in the second half of the 20th century. As such, old methods of measuring economic success need to be replaced with new metrics that can better analyze how states are adjusting to and thriving in the New Economy.
The State New Economy Index seeks to measure how states and regions are performing in this environment, while offering policy reforms which can spur innovation-based economic growth. The index, produced by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), ranks states on a series of indicators that analyze the environment for innovation and high-tech job growth.
Today, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation is releasing the 2014 State New Economy Index (http://www2.itif.org/2014-state-new-economy-index.pdf), showing Oregon ranks* as follows:
- 15th overall
- 26th in IT jobs
- 15th in Professional, managerial and Technical jobs
- 17th in Workforce education
- 9th in Immigration of knowledge workers
- 11th in Migration of U.S. knowledge workers
- 3rd in Manufacturing value added
- 20th in High wage traded services
- 21st of Expert focus of manufacturing and services
- 42nd in Foreign direct investment
- 21st in Job churning
- 22nd in Fast growing firms
- 35th in IPOs
To highlight Oregon’s position in the index and assess what the state needs to do to continue to succeed in the New Economy in the future, the Oregon Bioscience Association, the Oregon Business Association, the Oregon Business Council, and the Portland Business Alliance will host a presentation today by SNEI co-author Robert Atkinson.
Atkinson, president of ITIF, will report on how Oregon ranks compared to other states and what are the global best-practices in technology-based economic development that Oregon might consider to improve its economic performance.
The June 11 event will be live streamed and is free and open to the public. Stream available at:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/itif-portland.
*These rankings and categories around found summarized on page 12 and are detailed in the following pages: 11, 12, 14, 18, 20. 22, 23, 24, 26, 30, 36, 37, 38, 42, and 48.
