Seattle, the Washington D.C. area, and Orange County have moved up in Milken Institute’s ranking of top high-tech center areas in North America. From 2003 to 2007, Seattle passed Boston and became America’s second-ranking high-tech metro area. San Diego is at seventh place. (These are Xconomy’s network cities.) The number one spot belongs to Silicon Valley, which “continues to lead all other metropolitan regions in North America in the breadth and scope of economic activity it creates through technological innovation,” according to the study.
According to Milken Institute, the Top Ten North America high-tech centers are:
2007 Ranking (2003 Ranking) Metro Area Total High Tech Score
1 (1) San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 100.0
2 (3) Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 46.4
3 (2) Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA 45.2
4 (5) Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 41.8
5 (4) Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA 40.2
6 (6) Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX 21.8
7 (7) San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 19.3
8 (11) Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA 17.7
9 (9) New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ 16.8
10 (8) San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA 16.1
The study was done with 2007 benchmarking data. The report, called “North America’s High-Tech Economy: The Geography of Knowledge-Based Industries,” was presented by Milken Institute director Ross DeVol at the 2009 IEDC Technology-Led Economic Development Conference on Tuesday.
Metro areas were ranked by “their ability to grow and sustain thriving high-tech industries.” The study compares wages and employment in the metropolitan areas, and adds a location quotient, which measures the concentration of high-tech employment or wages in the area.
In the separate Life Sciences Small Business Vitality Index, the Top Five ranking was 1. Greater Los Angeles 2. Greater San Francisco 3. San Diego (tie) 3. Boston (tie) 5. Greater Raleigh-Durham, according to DeVol’s presentation.