North Carolina scores poorly in national high-tech economy report

To use a sports analogy, North Carolina doesn’t “hit its weight” when ranking the state’s economic performance across a broad range of high-tech economy indicators.

The nation’s ninth largest state in terms of population based on a 2014 U.S. Census estimate, ranks in the top 10 of 50 states and the District of Columbia only twice across 20 statistical categories cited in a new think-tank report.

If nothing else, the statistics indicate the many challenges North Carolina continues to face in its continuing evolution away from traditions such as tobacco, furniture and textiles. While other reports have indicated the continuing strong performance of Research Triangle Park as a high-tech hub, a continuously growing life-science sector and top rankings as a state to do business, this compilation of state-wide statistics shows a lot of work remains to be done.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., compiled data that ranges from high-tech exports and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) workers to broadband connectivity. North Carolina’s best rankings came in:

Royalty and License Services Exports – No. 7 at $4.72 billion
Royalty and License Share of All Services Exports – No. 8, at 25.1 percent

Both reflect intellectual property developed at the state’s universities and such firms as IBM, which annually cites scores of patents earned by North Carolina employees (most of whom are based in RTP.)

The state does at least rank higher than the national average in a handful of categories:

Computer and math share of STEM workers: N.C. 51.8%; national average 51.0%
High-tech share of all manufacturing exports: N.C. 30.4%; national average 28.6%
Royalty and license share of all services exports: N.C. 25.1%; national average 19.1%
Broadband coverage (25 Mbps or more): N.C. 90.1%; national average 81.5%
Broadband coverage (25 Mbps or more): N.C. 90.1%; national average 81.5%
Broadband coverage (10 Mbps or more): N.C. 98.7%; national average 98.0%

The report doesn’t rank states overall. In fact, the emphasis is placed on economic measures for every Congressional District across the country. (As one would expect, N.C. districts 1, 2, 4 and 13 which have slices of the Research Triangle region, fair best in district rankings with Top 50 spots in some categories.)

“The purpose of this report is to shed light on just how widely diffused the country’s innovation-driven, high-tech economy really is, so members of Congress and other policymakers can find common cause in advancing an agenda that builds up the shared foundations of national strength in a globally integrated marketplace,” the authors of the report write.

Comparing data to previous ITIF reports is difficult because various categories differ. But it appears there has been improvement since North Carolina ranks 23rd or better in most categories in the 2016 report.

The ITIF in its 2014 State New Economy Index ranked North Carolina 23rd. The state had made progress in reports published in 1999 (30th), 2002 (24th), 2007 (26th), 2010 (24th) and 2012 (25th).

Report’s criteria

The report bases its rankings on 20 indicators of what it calls the “innovation economy.”

The four primary areas are:

Exports of high-tech goods and services, including manufacturing, IT services, and royalty and license services
Workforce education and skills, including the numbers of workers in high-tech sectors and STEM occupations, and the number of highly educated immigrants
Innovative ideas, including patent-related activity and public funding for R&D
Digital infrastructure, including the share of households with access to broadband Internet services and the number of broadband providers in each district.