Bloomberg Ranks Connecticut Fourth for Innovation
Connecticut maintained its ranking as the fourth-most innovative state in Bloomberg’s latest annual State Innovation Index.
Top 10 scores for patent activity, productivity, and research and development intensity drove the state’s overall 2020 ranking.
Connecticut was second in the nation in patents awarded per 1,000 occupations in science and engineering, trailing only California, which remains atop the Bloomberg list.
Connecticut’s overall score of 82.18 is up from its 79.7 total last year.
Bloomberg’s rankings are based on analysis of data from several sources, including the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and equally weighted metrics of R&D intensity, productivity, technical company density, STEM concentration, science and engineering degree holders, and patent activity.
Strengths
Connecticut ranked eighth for R&D activity and productivity, 11th for technical company density, and 12th for STEM concentration and science and engineering degree holders.
“Now more than ever Connecticut’s strengths in innovation can be the pathway forward as we rebuild an economy hit terribly hard by the pandemic,” CBIA president and CEO Joe Brennan said.
“The old ways of thinking, working, educating, and governing are no longer sufficient.
“By harnessing the tremendous brainpower in Connecticut across all sectors, we can create a new, inclusive economy that can restore our state as a national economic leader.”
Education
Several leading academic and research institutions are based in Connecticut, which is also home to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies, including Cigna, Charter Communications, Stanley Black & Decker, and Xerox.
California, with a 95.32 score, and Massachusetts, at 94.0, took the first and second spots for the second year in a row in the Bloomberg ranking.
Washington state again finished third with a score of 92.89.
The Bloomberg report said one thing many innovative states have in common is the creation decades ago of land grant institutions like the University of California and Washington State University.
“The success of California and Massachusetts is a sign of the high level of investment that those states have made in their university and research systems,” Paul Romer, an economist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, told Bloomberg.
The University of Connecticut, founded in 1881, became a land grant institution in 1893.
Today, UConn is among several Connecticut colleges and universities whose graduates fill the state’s workforce.
State Rankings
California ranked first in patent activity and second in technology company density and concentration of science and engineering degree holders.
Massachusetts finished in the top five in all categories, including first in technical company density and second in R&D density.
Oregon, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Colorado round out the top 10 most innovative states.
Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Alabama ranked in the bottom 10.
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