Good Marks for Washington on new Milken Institute Index

The Milken Institute ranks Washington 5th on its 2008 State Technology and Science Index (h/t Bruce Ramsey).

Massachusetts ranks first in the Milken Institute?s 2008 State Technology and Science Index, followed by Maryland, Colorado and California.

According to the report, regional competition for technology industries has increased since the last release of the Index in 2004. Not only are states vying with each other for human capital and resources, but countries like China and India are increasing the competition on a global level.

Ramsey summarizes.

The index had five components. Washington scored 4th on two of them: Technical Workforce and Risk Capital and Entrepreneurial Infrastructure. We scored 8th in two measures, Research & Development Inputs and Technological Concentration & Dynamism, and 16th in one: Human Capital Investment. Tech companies have been saying for a long time that Washington doesn?t graduate enough scientists. We import them from elsewhere.

He says having other people pay for their education while we get the benefit of their brains may not be a bad deal, if we can sustain it.

Strikes me as a risky strategy. We'll have more on this later.