Hoping to drive more attention to North Carolina, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development has launched an “Innovator’s Report.”

The infographic chronicles trends in North Carolina’s innovation economy in the first two quarters of 2013.

It breaks down how North Carolina companies have attracted $203 million in investment during the first six months of the year.

According to Ann Revell-Pechar, spokesperson for CED, the data tells a compelling story about North Carolina, despite the source material being widely available through news reports, publications, and other sources.

“The data has been rolling in pretty regularly,” said Revell-Pechar, “and it was getting interesting. 

“The story needs to be told, and we want to play a role in telling that story.”

This first report will serve as a benchmark for the state’s innovation economy, said Revell-Pechar, clarifying that the organization has not previously compiled this data for public release.

“We hope to do this going forward,” she added.

According to CED, the data for the report came from SEC filings, media coverage of the funding and partnership events, the National Venture Capital Association, and CED partners and entrepreneurs.

The report focuses on three primary indicators: funding, partnerships and exits. The report visually depicts the current state of entrepreneurship in three categories: manufacturing, life science, and technology.

It does not include information on bankruptcies, buyouts, job creation data, division sell-offs, layoffs or shutdowns.

“We did not and haven’t, historically, monitored bankruptcies and company closures,” said Revell-Pechar, “and don’t intend to.”

The report does not indicate how funding has changed over time, though the report does highlight the five initial public offerings recorded by North Carolina companies in the first six months of the year, and the large number of firms and individuals who have invested in North Carolina’s entrepreneurs.

“The trends after analysis are striking and encouraging,” said Dhruv Patel, program director at CED. Only one company based in North Carolina completed an initial public offering in 2012.

“The purpose of the report is to use this as educational tool for the community,” said Patel, “so, we’re educating our internal audience.”

“More importantly,” said Patel, people outside of the region want to be able to see something “simple, a one-page document, that could demonstrate activity in the region.”

The report is “not about economic development,” said Revell-Pechar “this is a way to pull in a whole lot of information and give people an idea of how their region compares.”

CED wanted to demonstrate that there is funding, partnership and acquisition activity in the state, said Revell-Pechar.

“People need to understand their own region,” said Revell-Pechar, “they need to understand what is happening in their locality.”

The infographic and the data within it may soon help fuel TriangulateNC, CED’s other notable project released earlier this summer.

“We hope that it [the Innovator’s Report] will be tied into Triangulate,” said Revell-Pechar, “but it’s not quite there.”

While the data sources utilized for research aren’t tied into Triangulate, said Patel, “the goal is to integrate the two.”

CED’s Innovator’s Report can be viewed online or downloaded for print at the CED website.

Local startup SmashingBoxes designed the infographic for CED.