Economy report puts state at No. 47

BYLINE: BY LAURIE WHALEN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Arkansas ranked 47th among the 50 states in the 2007 State of the New Economy Index report released Tuesday by the Kauffman and Information Technology and Innovation foundations.

The index ranked state economies' adaptation to a "new economy" described as global, entrepreneurial and knowledge-based.

Top-ranking states included Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington and California.

"Arkansas perennially ranks poorly in these reports, but there are a large number of efforts to fix that,'' said Kathy Deck, interim director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Deck said the state is competing in a "new economy" through university-related efforts such as the Innovation and Technology Center and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Bioventures program.

She also noted an effort to create a community of venture capitalists to fund emerging technologies.

The report based its findings on 26 indicators in categories such as knowledge jobs, globalization, economic dynamism, transformation to a digital economy and technological innovation capacity.

Robert Atkinson, one of the report's co-authors, said the report is intended to give governors and legislators a tool kit to better understand their economies.

He added that many low-ranking states such as Arkansas had some impressive indicators.

The lowest-ranking states included Alabama, South Dakota, Mississippi and West Virginia.

"Arkansas is the seventh highest-ranked entrepreneurial state in the country," Atkinson said. "There's something going on there.'' The state placed 22nd in the economic dynamism indicator, which included entrepreneurship.

The report gave suggestions such as reorganizing economic development efforts and cultivating entrepreneurs as means to improve competitiveness in the "new economy." It concluded that supporting knowledge infrastructure through education and training - directly and indirectly through universities and companies - and encouraging entrepreneurs were keys to success in the "new economy." To contact this reporter: lwhalen@arkansasonline. com This article was published 02/28/2007