Washington ranked ‘most innovative’ state
Washington is the most innovative state in the country, just topping California and Massachusetts, according to new data compiled by Bloomberg.
The rankings looked at a range of criteria including percentage of professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the number of patents and public technology companies in each state.
“I am a big believer in the state of Washington,” said Sunny Gupta, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of software-maker Apptio Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., who said in an interview with Bloomberg he chose to live in the Seattle region over the San Francisco Bay area. “It really comes down to having an incredible network effect, primarily dominated by Microsoft and Amazon but also a lot of great entrepreneurial talent.”
One factor mentioned in Washington’s rise in the rankings is more affordable housing and lower taxes — Washington has no state income tax — that make the region slightly more appealing than Silicon Valley.
Connecticut, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota fill out the rest of the top 10.
