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.