Awhile back KPMG, the big consulting firm, release its 2008 Competitiveness study meant to compare business locations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Wondering how our region (and city) fared against others in the Pac NW we drilled down in the data a bit.
The table above is the result. We looked at Portland and Boise to simplify. Seattle was left out of our comparison because for some of the data above (GDP and R&D expenditures) they were included with Spokane in the analysis.
The data that most stands out for our region/state is the GDP per capita. Between 2004 and 2006 it grew by a pretty significant factor pushing up our index (and Seattle's) beyond the national index (100) to 105. Also significant is the Gross Expenditure on R&D. Again it outstripped Boise (1.07%) and Portland (2.72%) to 4.32% overall. While a good portion of this figure represents Seattle's prowess in the R&D realm, some of that figure is based on Spokane's input. With the energy and infrastructure being put in place in our University District this can only mean an even brighter future for our region.
Where exactly did you find your table?
I took a looks at the "city profiles" and it shows Spokane lower than the national average and lower than our neighboring cities for R&D at 95.7, with Portland above 99 and with Boise at 97.5
Am I reading something wrong?
Posted by: Max | July 08, 2008 at 08:49 AM
Those figures you're looking at refer to 'costs' of performing R&D. We didn't reference that portion of the study. Instead we went to the Report appendices (Volume II) to assemble the table you see above. At that point it's a region/state view. The numbers you reference show that Spokane is ranked #1 as far as the lowest cost of doing business in the US Pacific Region (99.8), just below the US avg. Not bad. Boise was at 100.5; Portland at 102.2.
Posted by: METROSPOKANE | July 08, 2008 at 11:10 PM