Innovation has clustered on the coasts.
When looking at innovation-sector jobs (i.e. roles in software, aerospace, data services and other tech-focused industries), just five cities — Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and San Diego —accounted for more than 90% of the country's innovation-sector growth from 2005 to 2017, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
This has resulted in a "crisis of regional imbalance," the report states, as a handful of coastal cities have prospered thanks to this tech job boom while the rest of the nation struggles to compete. In fact, one-third of the country's innovation jobs are located in just 16 counties, and more 50% are concentrated in 41 counties, according to the report.
To help spread tech innovation across the country, the Brookings Institution and ITIF are proposing a massive federal initiative to spend $100 billion over the next decade in eight to 10 cities that are "potential growth centers." And the report identifies Madison as the top city among 35 metro areas that could reap the potential reward.
The report named Madison as the No. 1 city in a list of cities that could be candidates for the federal investment, which the report's authors say could be worth up to $700 million a year in each city. Madison topped the list well ahead of the Twin Cities, the report's second potential "growth center," based on several factors such as patents per capita, university STEM research and development spending, innovation sector jobs and STEM doctoral degrees per capita. Milwaukee was also named among the potential growth centers in the report.
The report says the funding in each city could go towards workforce development, tax and regulatory benefits, business financing, economic inclusion and other areas that will help spur innovation job growth. The report proposes that congress set up a "rigorous competitive process" for cities to be chosen for the award.
While the plan is hypothetical and remains far from becoming a reality, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers urged Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to give careful consideration to the proposal.
“Based on the study’s proposed criteria, we believe Wisconsin is uniquely poised to lead the nation in this exciting next phase of entrepreneurship and innovation," Evers wrote in a letter to Wisconsin’s members of Congress. "Therefore, we urge you to give close attention to this proposal as it advances in the coming weeks and months and the potential it offers to build on our state’s strengths."