The Diverse Geography of High-Tech Industries
Most mayors, economic developers, and researchers tend to lump high-tech industries together into a single large entity. But the truth is that different high-tech industries like software, information technology, and media are clustered in different areas of the country.
That’s the big takeaway from a new study I conducted with my colleague Karen King and the Martin Prosperity Institute, which is part of our ongoing research on the new geography of high-tech startup activity and venture capital investment worldwide and in the U.S. To get at this, we use detailed data from Thomson Reuters to identify the leading metros and ZIP codes with the largest clusters of venture capital investment and startup activity across five leading industries—software, IT services, biotechnology, medical devices and equipment, and media and entertainment. These five industries account for $25 billion, or more than three-quarters, of all venture capital investment.