Report: More to be done to embrace, drive innovation economy

(The Center Square) – Although North Carolina’s economy is doing well and keeping pace with the rest of America, the state still needs to do more to “embrace and drive” innovation, according to a new report by the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology & Innovation.

“Technology and innovation are key ingredients of a high-productivity, high-employment, high-income, growing economy,” Janet Cowell, chairwoman of the board, said in a statement.

North Carolina plays a leading role in the “basic” and early-stage “applied" research for breakthrough innovations, the report said.

“But it also shows that we have room for improvement in scaling and converting those innovations to commercial uses and in ensuring that more sectors and regions of our state participate in and benefit from that activity,” said Cowell.

North Carolina ranks sixth nationally in the amount of money spent on academic research and development, according to the report. The state ranks 10th in business research and development. The education levels of adults in North Carolina has grown faster than the U.S. as a whole, “driven in part by a higher-than-average influx of college-educated adults,” the report states.

Although academic-related startup activity in North Carolina is higher than the national average, nonacademic venture capital and patents is still below average.

Spending on elementary and secondary public-school education also lags the national average as does broadband access.

“Faced with a dynamic and competitive economy, the best approach is to shape it rather than be shaped by it,” North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders said in a statement. “We must continue to innovate – to create and adopt new products, services, and business models that add value and improve economic well-being.”

The report confirms that North Carolina’s capacity for innovation is stronger than ever, Sanders said.

“But it also shows where we must continue to improve to increase the level of prosperity throughout the state,” she said.

North Carolina needs better distribution of its growth throughout the state, the reported concluded. Nine of the state's 100 counties – Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford, Forsyth, Durham, Buncombe, New Hanover, Iredell and Orange – account for only 9% of the state’s land area but 42% of the state’s current population and 59% of the state’s population growth over the last 22 years, the report said.

“They hold 39% of the state’s manufacturing companies, 53% of the state’s companies, 49% of the state’s total income, 55% of its jobs, and 62% of its gross domestic product,” the reported states. “And in terms of the innovation economy, those nine counties represent even larger shares.”