New Knowledge Economy Ranking

Rochester has the fourth-best “knowledge-based economy” in the world. So says Robert Huggins Associates, a think tank based in the United Kingdom that ranked 125 regions for its 2003-04 World Knowledge Competitiveness Index.

The report defines a knowledge economy as “the capacity and capability to create and innovate new ideas, thoughts, processes and products, and to translate these into economic value and wealth.”

Rochester beat out better-known regions such as Seattle; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Tokyo; London; Hong Kong; and Ontario, Canada. In the 2002 rankings, Rochester finished 19th.

The Huggins index ranked Rochester first in the world for patents per capita, first in instrumentation and electrical engineering employment per 1,000 inhabitants, fourth in expenditures on primary and secondary education, 15th in labor productivity and 18th in gross domestic product per capita.

My take? Interesting, but probably not a very accurate portrayal of the knowledge economy strengths of many world cities. Rochester has lots of good tech-know resources, but certainly it does not out-rank Raleigh-Durham, Seattle and many other US tech-know centers. Indices can say pretty much what you want them to say. The key is employing the right measures and ensuring an apples-to-apples comparison of places or things.

Go here to read more, and go here to purchase the Huggins report.