We trumpet the studies whose results we like, and bury the others. This one we like! The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, led by Rob Atkinson, has released the 2012 edition of their State New Economy Index.
The 2012 State New Economy Index builds on prior State New Economy Indexes published in 1999, 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2010. The report uses 26 indicators, divided into five areas that capture what is new about the New Economy: knowledge jobs, globalization, economic dynamism, the digital economy, and innovation capacity.
Washington was ranked third, behind Massachusetts and (somewhat inexplicably) Delaware, and followed by, in order, California, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York:
“Washington state, in third place, scores high due not only to its strength in software and aviation, but also because of the entrepreneurial hotbed of activity that has developed in the Puget Sound region, and heavy use of digital technologies in all its sectors.”
(Last week, in a study that we liked even more, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute ranked Washington first among the states in technology job concentration.)
Read more here.