Commerce Report Affirms Major Role of S&T

In response to state and regional requests for assistance in identifying factors that influence regional innovation and competitiveness, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP) released this week an annual report measuring science and technology indicators in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The third annual edition of The Dynamics of Technology-Based Economic Development contains data to help policy makers and regional leaders better understand the factors that influence economic outcomes at the state and local level. Areas such as R&D investment, number of patents issued and education levels are among the categories measured.

"Technological innovation and commercialization are the new drivers of economic growth, both in the U.S. and around the world," said Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy Bruce Mehlman. "As state business and government leaders attempt to fashion appropriate economic development strategies, many first try to measure and understand their existing science and technology assets and strengths. This report goes a long way in helping localities obtain the information they need."

A new feature of Commerce's state indicators report is use of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. The NAICS data system contains a definition of high technology that reflects the importance of high tech services, such as those related to systems design, data processing, software development and telecommunications.

State profiles showing states' overall economic conditions, their science and technology organizations, and their ranking among each of 37 measures are provided in Dynamics. Five major groups encapsulate the measures: funding in-flows (9); human resources (9); capital investment and business assistance (4); technology intensity of the business base (5); and, other outcome measures (10). Indicators are given for each state's high tech establishments, high tech employment, high tech payroll and high tech establishment births, to name a few.

OTP, part of Commerce's Technology Administration, cautions throughout Dynamics that no attempt is made or intended to analyze, benchmark or assess any state's performance among any of the 37 metrics included. However, the report provides numerous statistical tables for easy state-by-state comparison. It is available at http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports.