Texas is an ‘Innovation Champion’
Fellow Texans, we now have yet another reason to swagger: our technological innovation.
As a former chairman of Radio Shack and executive at Tandy Corp., I must say it’s about time the rest of the country recognized Texas’ leadership in the tech sector.
The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group representing more than 2,000 technology companies, recently branded Texas as an “Innovation Champion,” the highest tier on the inaugural Innovation Scorecard.
Using a series of 10 metrics, ranging from right-to-work laws and tax-friendliness to entrepreneurial activity and attracting investment, CEA ranked the 50 states and District of Columbia on how well they encourage innovation.
CEA says Innovation Champions like Texas offer “ready-made environments” for innovators and entrepreneurs.
“[W]hen these states must choose between the status quo and innovation,” the Scorecard says, “they nearly always follow the path of innovation.”
To put our accomplishment in perspective, Texas scored better than those states the country usually thinks of as innovation hubs, such as California, New York and Washington.
Our state’s ranking was highlighted by an A-plus for being a right-to-work state and an A-minus for innovation-friendly sustainable policies.
The latter may seem a surprise to some, but CEA’s scoring recognizes environmentally friendly policies that are also pro-business. Texas’ high mark stems from its constructive collaboration with industry and other stakeholders in the implementation of its electronics recycling law.
We earned B-pluses for our tax-friendliness (ranking 10th out of 51) and for innovation momentum (11th), thanks in large part to the Woodlands-Houston-Sugar Land and Austin-Round Rock metro areas’ place among the best in the country for high-tech jobs.
We also drew high marks for our entrepreneurial activity, the size of our tech workforce and how well we attract per-capita investment. In fact, did you know Texas brings in $52.04 in venture capital investment and $608.82 in research-and-development investment for every single person in the state?
On only one of CEA’s Scorecard metrics did Texas score less than a B-minus: We earned a D for the per-capita number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees Texas confers each year.
“The number of college-educated students in [STEM fields] reflects the talent pipeline necessary for an innovative state,” the report explains.
While our high marks in the other areas offset this, STEM education remains a shortcoming the state must work to address.
Texas’ Top 10 finish on the scorecard reflects the state’s “Open for Business” attitude fostered over the past decade and a half under the four-term governorship of Rick Perry, now carried on by new Gov. Greg Abbott.
Perry claims that on his watch in Austin, “Almost a third of all the jobs created in America were created in the state of Texas.”
Using a different method of calculating the statistic than the one used by the former governor, “which includes both private- and public-sector jobs,” the Washington Post wrote, “about a quarter of jobs in America came from Texas in 2000-2014.”
The takeaway for states with lower innovation policy ratings? A twist on the motto we all know so well: “Don’t Mess with Texas — Emulate It.”
Bernard S. Appel is president of the Fort Worth-based Appel Associates consulting firm and a former chairman and president of Radio Shack.
This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Texas is an ‘Innovation Champion’."