RE: tkt8763-01: Massachusetts Leads High Tech States; Mississippi Trails (fwd)

[Christopher & Raydene Wolney <wolney@ebicom.net>]

I find the study interesting. Being ranked 50 is not necessarily a bad 
thing. For somebody who grew up in a state ranked #1 alot (California) 
there are alot of advantages to being ranked as far from California as 
possible. Interesting lack of religion in all of what California does. I 
quite frankly would rather be in Mississippi with a emphasis on religion 
than the first without.

Now that being said, Mississippi ranks 50th based on the criteria 
evaluated. All of the criteria is based on a percentage of people and does 
not evaluate based on what is best for say a very few.  It may be no secret 
that many in Mississippi do not have internet access, but those that do are 
extremely technologically advanced. The study does not evaluate this 
criteria at all.

Go to the following page for some interesting data:

http://www.neweconomyindex.org/states/mississippi.html

Mississippi ranks for the most part ranks anywhere from 45 to 50 in all 
catagories. What is interesting is where it does not rank in the 45 to 50 
range.

In "Gazelle Jobs" it ranks 22nd. Wow, Mississippi ranks 22nd in companies 
which are expected to grow at 20% or more. That is impressive

Mississippi ranks 33rd in IPOs. Alot of industry and technology is being 
created in Mississippi. I do not believe Redmond, Washington was the 
technical center of the world before Windows either.

Finally, government digitalization ranks 29th. I find this bit of data 
interesting because I thought with SB 3350 that "Technology in Schools" 
would be ranked higher than 46th. However, I wonder if "Schools" were 
traditional middle and high schools and did the authors look at 
Mississsippi's extensive use of technology in Vocational/Technical Schools. 
This would be interesting to find out. From looking at Amory and talking to 
others, Mississippi traditional education schools are falling far short of 
their Vo/Tech counterparts.

It truly appears from the study that Mississippi is starting to become a 
technologically advanced state. While on a per capita evaluation it is 
ranked 50th it shows that Mississippi is beginning to thrive (or has the 
potential to).

Chris Wolney

Shoot, Move, and Communicate
Armor, The Combat Arm of Decision!

-----Original Message-----
From:	Larry S. Anderson -- NCTP [SMTP:lsa1@ra.msstate.edu]
Sent:	Saturday, 11 September, 1999 12:36 AM
To:	Seminar in Planning Class
Subject:	tkt8763-01: Massachusetts Leads High Tech States; Mississippi 
Trails (fwd)

Well?   What do you say about this?  Is it true?  Is it accurate?  What
can we learn from it?

Does it upset you to read things like this?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

What *specific* things can we do about this?

Now, give serious thought to your responses; don't just fire off an
answer.  You might even want to write some ideas in your journal before
you email them to the class.

Larry S. Anderson, Ed.D.                              LSA1@Ra.MsState.Edu
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Technology & Education       Voice: (662) 325-2281
Founder, National Center for Technology Planning      Fax: (662) 325-7599
                    Mississippi State University
Chair, Council for Education Technology              State of Mississippi
         My personal home page URL-- http://www2.msstate.edu/~lsa1
                    NCTP web page -- http://www.nctp.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 14:43:53 -0500
From: Allen Lind <Al@ihl.state.ms.us>
Subject: Massachusetts Leads High Tech States; Mississippi Trails

All,

The following article can be found at
http://www.stateline.org/story.cfm?StoryID=43016   and _The _New
_Economy _Index study it references can be found at
http://www.neweconomyindex.org/states.

Al


`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Massachusetts Leads High Tech States;
Mississippi Trails

 By Joseph Giordono, Staff Writer
 stateline.org
 Tuesday, August 03, 1999

WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts, not California or Washington, leads the
nation in adapting to and taking advantage of the national transition to a
high-tech "new economy," according to a study by the Progressive Policy
Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank associated with the centrist
Democratic Leadership Council.

 "The State New Economy Index" takes into account 17
 economic indicators ranging from the number of high-tech
 jobs as a percentage of the workforce to the number of
 .com addresses registered per state.

 The study ranked Mississippi last overall.

 It says the combination of a bounty of high-tech jobs,
 excellent universities and a prominent role in the global
 economy propelled Massachusetts to the top spot.

 The top ten states: Massachusetts, California, Colorado,
 Washington, Connecticut, Utah, New Hampshire, New
 Jersey, Delaware and Arizona.

 The bottom ten states: Wyoming, Iowa, South Dakota,
 Alabama, North Dakota, Montana, Louisiana, West
 Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi.

 "The New Economy is a knowledge and idea-based
 economy where the keys to wealth and job creation are the
 extent to which ideas, innovation, and technology are
 embedded in the state's economy," the study said.

 The study is the first attempt to look at how globalization,
 the Net and information technology are affecting economic
 activity on a state by state basis, report co-author Robert
 Atkinson said.

 In addition to ranking the states, the study offered
 suggestions on improving states' standing in the high-tech
 economy.

 "In the New Economy, states need to shift their focus from
 job creation to income growth and expanded economic
 opportunity," said report co-author Randolph H. Court.

 To do this, he said, states should focus on technology in
 public education, support for R&D, availability of
 job-specific skills training, good quality of life, and quality
 government, rather than simply providing corporate tax
 subsidies and incentives.

 The states best prepared for the high-tech economy have
 more in common than a large number of high profile,
 high-tech firms, according to the study.

 These states also tend to have highly educated workforces,
 internationally-oriented manufacturers, solid "infrastructures
 for innovation," and dynamic business environments creating
 large numbers of jobs in fast-growing companies.

 Among the study's findings:

      Colorado ranked first in workforce education, a
      weighted measure based on the number and
      proportion of state workers with advanced degrees,
      bachelor's degrees, associate's degrees, or any
      college course work.

      Nevada ranked first in "gazelle" jobs, which the study
      defines as jobs in companies with annual sales
      revenue that has grown 20 percent or more for four
      straight years.

      Surprisingly, New Mexico ranked first in the value of
      initial public stock offerings of companies as a share
      of gross state product.

      Alaska ranked first in both education technology and
      percentage of adults with Internet access at 52
      percent. Oklahoma ranked last in education
      technology; Mississippi, with only 17 percent of
      adults having Internet access, brought up the rear in
      that category.

      Washington was tops in digital government, while Illinois ranked 
last.
      The measure took into account utilization of digital technologies in
      offering public services and the ability of information technology to
      spur economic growth.

The study breaks down the 17 ranking economic factors into 5 categories:
knowledge jobs, globalization, economic dynamism, the digital economy,
and innovation capacity.

Regionally, it found the strongest states in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, 
and
Pacific states: 17 of the top 20 states in the Index are in these four
regions. In contrast, 17 of the bottom 20 states are in the Midwest, Great
Plains, and the South.

The study's authors find this result unsurprising, as the Midwest, Plains
and the South have economies more firmly entrenched in agriculture and
non-technical enterprises.

 The study can be found online at: www.neweconomyindex.org/states

 ? stateline.org 1999

 you are free to reprint this story in full or in part
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




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