Washington Business Spring 2016 | Page 30

washington business 42% Both dimensions draw talent to the state: “People researchers, biologists, statisticians, want to work for great companies… regardless of chemists — make significant contribuwhat they do,” Mefford says, “but also, technology tions to the local economies in which talent moves here to be part of the tech economy they participate. even if the companies may not seem to be primarily “The industry is stable, experiencing tech.” When Wistar Kay, ICT business development moderate growth,” Sjoblom says. manager for the Department of Commerce, refers to He calls its strength in the region a is supported by Seattle’s deep “geek bench,” she’s referring to the natural alignment of existing resources, the tech sector abundance of top tech talent in the region. expertise and clusters. “It’s using the That talent pool continues to draw new entrants electronics and data on life sciences to the region. GeekWire’s Cook says, “One of the problems. It makes sense that we would big trend stories that we’re watching that is reshaping this region have a lot of activity on the boundary between traditional tech and … is the arrival of the Silicon Valley tech giants. In the last five traditional biotech.” to 10 years, we’ve watched this trend as nearly every major tech The “natural alignment” neatly captures the integration of company on the planet now has established a sometimes sizeable technology into the state’s economic life. Success has built upon major engineering center in Seattle in recognition of the great success, building upon and reinforcing the cluster. Even the talented work force that’s here.” He recites a long list, one that’s occasional disruption — the bursting dot-com bubble in the late available on GeekWire, of more than 50 of the biggest tech brands in 1990s being the most significant — has done little to alter the the world. “It’s having an interesting and dramatic impact on the tech overall trajectory. industry here,” including accelerating the competition for top talent. Kay calls the state’s ICT cluster “the plumbing, the utility to everyone’s industry, the toolkit we all use.” “You can go to a company like Nordstrom or Starbucks and you think clothing and coffee but they have big IT departments,” she says. “And in fact their success in being competitive both locally and globally has a lot to do with their ability to innovate and create products that are addressing the contemporary landscape.” They do that in ways large and small, from mobile apps to big data analyses of consumer behavior. That’s what gets you those Uggs, hoodies and perfect cups of coffee when and where you want them. of employment statewide life sciences The life sciences sector also drives the state’s tech economy. WRC economist Kriss Sjoblom has done several economic impact analyses for Life Science Washington (formerly the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association). “We have a medium-sized cluster here, which is quite successful,” Sjoblom says, anchored by the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and including a number of public and private research groups. The WRC found the sector directly employs more than 36,300 people, the state’s fifth-largest employment sector. Nearly 900 life science employers are located in 92 cities across the state. These high-wage positions — cancer 30 association of washington business metropolitan tech cluster The tech economy is generally seen as a metropolitan phenomenon. Cities provide competitive advantages important to the industry: access to a pool of highly specialized talent, tech-savvy professional service providers (law firms, banks, consultants), venture capitalists, research universities, international airports, arts and entertainment, good schools, and a high quality of life. Add to that the intangible feature economist Enrico Moretti considers most important: “knowledge spillovers” — the casual and free exchange of useful information that comes from interaction with others in your field.