Rhode Island Ranks Fifth in Technology in Annual State Competitiveness Report
December 4, 2008 | Print this page | Share This |
State moves up two spots from 2007 report
Rhode Island now ranks fifth overall in technology according to the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) at Suffolk University's "State Competitiveness Report 2008." The technology sub index category measures a state's R&D capacity, inhabitants with science and engineering degrees, the number of patents per 100,000 residents and National Institutes of Health support to institutions per capita.
The annual report highlights individual state’s strengths and weaknesses in economic performance. According to the index, Rhode Island placed third in both NIH support and the number of science and engineering degrees awarded.
“Rhode Island's improvement in the Beacon Hill Institute technology ranking reinforces our position to aggressively transition into a new knowledge-driven innovation economy and to continually promote science, technology and new company creation,” says Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Saul Kaplan.
As part of the state’s focus on its technology resources, the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council's (STAC) Research Alliance program announced in September 2008 an additional $1.4 million investment in order to promote collaboration across the state's academic and commercial institutions. The funding has provided support for projects such as the development of high-tech toys to aid children with cerebral palsy and new marine-based drugs to fight infection.
STAC has also supported the University of Rhode Island (URI) Commission for Innovation and Research which presented state leadership with a detailed report recommending steps URI must take to become a nationally competitive research institution. The report included recommendations to grow the size and competitiveness of URI's R&D programs; produce a larger, better trained workforce in science and technology; and increase industry engagement and commercialization activities at the university.
Rhode Island also ranked well for the percent of the population enrolled in degree-granting institutions (fifth) and the rate of nonfederal physicians per 100,000 inhabitants (sixth).
Read the 2008 BHI Report: http://www.beaconhill.org/Compete08/BHIState08-FINAL.pdf, www.beaconhill.org
