Maine is No. 8 worst state for science, tech business capabilities
Courtesy / Milken Institute
A map color-codes the states according to their ranking in the State Technology and Science Index. Maine's scores and rankings in several subcategories are shown.
Maine has sunk to its lowest ranking for at least the past 10 years in a study of how each state’s science and technology capabilities spur job growth and the creation of wealth.
The state placed No. 43 — eighth-worst in the U.S. — in the 2020 Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index, according to a news release Thursday.
The index evaluates the knowledge economies in each state based on 105 metrics, including levels of government research and development funding, entrepreneurial activity such as patents and venture capital investment, and the proportion of each state’s workforce in high-tech industries.
The Milken Institute, a nonpartisan economic think tank based in California, has conducted the study biannually since 2002. Maine ranked No. 40 in the 2018 analysis, and previous rankings hovered around that number.
Maine’s new ranking was the lowest of any state in the Northeast; the next-lowest was Vermont, at No. 28.
This year’s No. 1 ranking went to another New England state, Massachusetts, which has topped the list since it began. New Hampshire, which was No. 9 in 2018, rose to No. 7 in the 2020 ranking.
Connecticut was No. 12 and Rhode Island came in at No. 23.
Ranking below Maine this year were, respectively: Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nevada, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi. South Dakota edged Maine to place No. 42.
Despite the state’s poor showing, there was a bright spot. In a subindex that evaluated each state’s access to risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, Maine scored relatively high, at No. 33. Still, that was a fall from the 2018 ranking of No. 29.
The study’s author and executive director of the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics, Kevin Klowden, commented on the rankings' relevance during the pandemic. “The states positioned to grow in the post-COVID reality are those that have strong STEM workforces, that maintain and support universities that produce graduates to fill the jobs of the future, and that have the entrepreneurial environment to create those jobs," he said in the release.
For more information and the complete rankings, click here.
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