High Technology and Local Economic Development

Abstract

Recent structural changes in the American economy have prompted a shift in state and local economic growth policies toward attracting and generating high-technology industry. “High technology” is best defined as nonroutine economic activities directed toward developing new products and processes and toward small-volume production of innovative products and services. High technology relies most heavily on the availability of professional personnel and the diverse cultural, educational, and labor market attributes that attract those personnel. Two patterns are evident in the location of nonroutine high-technology activity: continued agglomeration in established urban centers of high technology, and dispersal to some new, smaller cities that have a set of attractive amenities. Public investment in education, research, and infrastructure will improve regions' capability to accommodate and benefit from future economic and technological change.