Louisiana is one of five states with economies least positioned to take advantage of technological innovation, ranking No. 46 on the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s 2017 State New Economy Index.
The index, released today, assesses each state’s capacity to harness innovation for economic growth. ITIF, a Washington, D.C.-based tech think tank, considered 25 indicators—or “new economy” success factors—across five categories: knowledge-based jobs, globalization, entrepreneurial, IT-driven and innovation capacity.
Massachusetts tops the new ranking, and has consistently ranked No. 1 in every edition of the index since 1999. Louisiana has an overall score of 47.6, ranking No. 39 in the area of inventor patents, No. 34 in venture capital, No. 47 in workforce education and in IT jobs, No. 29 in foreign direct investment and No. 46 in Health IT, among other indicator rankings.
There is a wide gulf between states at the top and bottom of the ranking, ITIF notes.
States with strong higher education systems and high tech clusters, like Massachusetts, rank high. States that have historically invested less in education or have cost-based economies rank low.
Louisiana’s overall ranking did not improve from 2014, the last edition of the report. But there are some bright spots this year. For example, the state made a big leap in the movement toward a green economy category, jumping to No. 9 this year from No. 48 in 2014.
The states falling behind Louisiana in the ranking are Wyoming, West Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi. After Massachusetts, states rounding out the top five in the ranking are California, Washington, Virginia and Delaware.
