Northwest's Tri-Cities Has Strong Tech Presence in U.S.

The Tri-Cities (Richland-Kennewick-Pasco) ranks near the top 10 percent nationwide in technology industry growth and offers significant quality-of-life advantages over comparable communities, according to a recent report on local technology business.

Released in November 2001, Tri-Cities Innovation & Technology Index provides the first analysis of the Tri-Cities' ability to meet the needs of technology companies and how the community's business and quality-of-life attributes compare with other Northwest cities and national averages.

The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory prepared the report in support of DOE's regional economic diversification efforts.

According to the report, the Tri-Cities fares well against its competition in five key areas — innovation, competitiveness, growth, financial capacity and quality of life. In the area of innovation, the Tri-Cities boasts a high percentage of high-tech output and employment and an even higher percentage of technology occupations than the Seattle area.

Statewide, the Tri-Cities is slightly ahead in terms of post-secondary educational attainment and, per capita, has more scientists and engineers. The community attracts approximately $1.7 billion in government funding, the majority of which is directed toward science and technology-based research and development.

Growth of high-tech employment and income in the Tri-Cities also has been solid, the report says, and the growth of small, start-up firms is well ahead of the national average, as evidenced by the more than 60 new technology-oriented companies launched in the Tri-Cities area in the last five years.

Lack of local sources for venture capital dollars, limits in infrastructure supporting Internet data flow, and the inability to locally bankroll new and innovative businesses are identified as significant weaknesses within the financial capacity area.

Entrepreneurs must show considerable ingenuity and persistence to attract capital investment, say the report's authors. However, statewide data from Northwest Venture Associates indicate that 80 percent of statewide venture capital already is targeted toward computer, communications and health/medical industries, while local technical strengths are mostly in other areas, such as materials science and

chemical engineering.

The report, which was modeled after a similar report for the state produced by the Washington Technology Center <http://www.watechcenter.org/techindex/index.html>, is available at: http://www.pnl.gov/edo/innovationtechindex.pdf.