Report: Innovation industries key to Mass. success
Innovation continues to be a vital part of the Massachusetts economy, helping to add about 100,000 jobs to the technology sector since 2003, according to a report from the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) in Westborough.
According to this year’s Annual Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy, the Bay State economy grew by 29,000 jobs since 2003, yet without innovation, the state would have lost jobs over that 11-year span.
“This year’s Index highlights how the innovation economy can help drive the commonwealth’s economic success, in both good times and bad,” institute director Patrick Larkin said in a statement.
The institute has released the index every year since 1997.
The state’s innovation economy is led by biopharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, software, post-secondary education and health care, according to the report. The study found that Massachusetts continues to lead the nation with the highest concentration of innovation jobs (37.8 percent of the state’s total jobs) of any state. Connecticut and Pennsylvania trail with 34.8 and 32.8 percent, respectively.
The state also has the ability to draw in venture capital, ranking only behind California in total funds, but leading in “Venture Capital per $1,000 of GDP” where Massachusetts ($7.68) topped California ($6.72) and New York ($2.13). The state has also seen a 70 percent increase in patents issued per million residents, higher than any other state, according to MassTech.
But the study did raise concerns about the future. Innovation-related job growth in Massachusetts fell below that of the broader economy between the first quarters of 2013 and 2014, with just 0.9 percent growth. This is attributed to a larger gain in jobs in the construction industry, 4 percent in the same time period, which is outweighing gains in the innovation-linked industries that. Another possibility, according to the study, is that the growing “innovation economy” has translated to increased demand for new goods and services in the broader economy.
Although Massachusetts is still well positioned with a high number of colleges and universities producing qualified workers for the innovation economy, there is increasing pressure on this sector from other parts of the United States.
“Other states are catching up to and even exceeding Massachusetts on key measures,” according to the report.
MassTech concluded that the state will have to maintain a focus on K-12 education as other states move into innovation areas in which Massachusetts has historically been strong.
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