Two new reports on the U.S. bioscience and technology industries bring great news about the innovation economy in Kansas.

The Milken Institute’s 2008 State Technology and Science Index ranked Kansas 24th in the nation overall, up from 26th in 2004, on its inventory of technology and science assets.

This broad-based index placed Kansas ahead of states such as Ohio, Georgia, and Florida, factoring in 77 indicators, which included research and development capabilities that can be commercialized; entrepreneurial capacity and risk capital infrastructure; human capital; intensity of states’ technology and science work force; technology concentration and dynamism.

Other notable highlights included the following:

1. Milken ranked Kansas 18th in the nation in technology concentration and dynamism, largely due to the cluster of tech companies in northeast Kansas and the Wichita region.
2. Kansas ranked 19th in the nation in the subcategory of human capital investment. Statewide programs that identify talented and entrepreneurial Kansans, such as the KTEC PIPELINE, focus on human capital and its competitive advantage in economic development.
3. In the subcategory of technology and science work force, Kansas ranked 23rd.
   Kansas’ software and information technology workforce accounts for 54,000 high-wage technology jobs, with KTEC recently creating the Software and Information Technology Association of Kansas (SITAKS), which will provide support to this burgeoning industry.

In addition to the Milken rankings, Kansas recently received a 3rd-in-the-nation ranking
in high-tech wage growth from 2001 to 2006 by AeA, the largest U.S. high-tech trade association. Kansas’ tech wages have grown 15.5 percent in the past five years.

According to KTEC president and CEO Tracy Taylor, Kansas is performing better in the technology arena than some states of much larger size, in part due to its strong infrastructure for technology-based economic development; strategic investments in the industry; and an aggressive approach to innovation over the last two decades.

“In the past 20 years, KTEC has made great strides and has created many successful initiatives that have accelerated Kansas’ technology-based economy; however, we still have much work to do,” Taylor said. “To move into the top tier of states, it will require a continuous, growing and sustained effort by the state."

The State Bioscience Initiatives 2008 report, issued by Battelle, SSTI, and Bio, noted Kansas bioscience success stories and innovative state initiatives such as the Kansas Bioscience Centers of Innovation and the Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative. Some highlights of the report included the following:

1. Kansas has an industry specialization significantly above the national average in the agricultural feedstock and chemicals subsector, with total employment impact of more than 9,400 jobs and 13 percent growth in business establishments from 2001 to 2006.
2. Kansas has an industry concentration above the national average in the research, testing, and medical laboratories subsector, with 241 companies established in 2006, an increase of 46.2 percent over 2001, the greatest growth rate of all states.
3. Jobs in the drugs and pharmaceuticals subsector have an average annual wage of more than $63,000, the highest of any bio industry subsector in Kansas.
4. Academic R&D expenditures and NIH funding in the state are up 15.5 percent and
   12.7 percent respectively since 2002.
5. Over the past six years, Kansas attracted $117 million in bioscience venture capital, reaching nearly $62 million in 2007 alone.

Kansas Bioscience Authority president and CEO Tom Thornton said while the reports identified areas in which Kansas still has plenty of room to grow, they provided strong data and information illuminating the upward trajectory of bioscience in the state.

“This report represents the truly positive momentum bioscience researchers and businesses in the state have been working to achieve,” Thornton said. “Kansas is on the move, building on success, and we’re keeping our unwavering focus on one thing: advancing our national bioscience leadership in core areas of strength to address global challenges.”