Minneapolis in top ten best for transition into Information Age

Posted 4/25/01

Minneapolis in top ten best for transition into Information Age

By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

Minneapolis ranked tenth among the 50 largest American metropolitan areas in terms of transitioning to the Information Age according to a study conducted by Progressive Policy Institute and Case Western Reserve Universityís Regional Economic Issues.

The metropolitan area most deftly stepping into the Information Age was San Francisco, according to the study.

Sen. Steve Kelly, DFL, Hopkins, said that a metro area like Raleigh-Durham edged out Minneapolis in the rankings ñ a metro area a person might not expect to be ranked so high ñ illustrates the necessity of long-term planning and public commitment.

ìI think one of the messages of the report is that public investment works,î said Kelly, speaking at a Capitol press conference last week, April 19.
Kelly, active in telecommunications, energy and utility policy, said virtually all of the non-coastal metro areas making the top echelon of the scale got there through public investment in high tech.

If nothing else can be done locally, Kelly said the Univer-sity of Minnesota should be adequately funded as to remain a top notch research facility.
But there are other things that can be done, he explained.

For one thing, a culture of entrepreneurship needs to fostered in Minnesota, he said. This means having investment capital available for the so-called ìgazelleî or start-up companies that can grow rapidly, said Kelly. Right now, such a nurturing environment is lacking, said Kelly.
Perhaps it relates to Scandinaviansí and Northern Europeansí abhorrence of risk taking, he joked.
In its rankings, the study gave the Minneapolis area the lowest scores in the area of ìgazelleî jobs (35th) and job churning (45th), the latter category being the number of new start-ups and business failures, combined, as a share of all companies in the state.

But it gave the Minneapolis area top ten rankings in the area in the number managerial, professional, and technical jobs in the overall workforce, the amount of technology in use in the schools, the number of high tech jobs, and also the plentifulness of ventura capital.

But Kelly indicated that the latter category was misleading ñ ventura capital has been flowing to the coast and Minnesota is falling behind, he said.
Kelly said that the number of white, middle class men entering the technical fields has probably peaked. People of color and women should be encouraged to fill the technical ranks. But this will take intervention in the K-12 schools.
The top ten metro areas identified in the study in terms of entering the Information Age are: San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Raleigh-Durham, San Diego, Washington D.C., Denver, Boston, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis.

Other Midwestern metro areas ranked in the top 50 includes Chicago (19th), Detroit (28th), Indianapolis (29th), Cleveland (33rd), Cincinnati (34th), Columbus (36th), Milwaukee (40th), Dayton (42nd), and Grand Rapids (50th).