D.C. Region is top tech turf

By | Thursday, April 3, 2008

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The D.C. region, including the District, Virginia and Maryland, has one of the highest concentrations of technology workers in the United States, according to a new report from the American Electronics Association.

Virginia was ranked first on the list for the second year running, with the highest concentration in the country, with 9.1 percent of all workers in the private sector employed by technology firms. The District was fourth with 8.1 percent followed by Maryland with 8 percent.

"It's just continued to grow in the last 10 years in a spectacular fashion," said Bobbie Kilberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Mrs. Kilberg said that the state's biotechnology industry and a vibrant community built around Internet communications had driven Virginia to top the list. She said that Virginia holds the highest concentration of Ph.D. holders in the United States.

Venture capital investments in the D.C. capital region totaled $1.2 billion in 2007, up $91.1 million from 2006.

"The D.C. capital region may not immediately come to mind when people think of high tech, but it should," said Matthew Kazmierczak, Vice President of Research and Industry Analysis.

"Proximity to the federal government, including its major research centers, combined with a highly educated work force, has made the area a key location for innovation. If you were to combine the District, Maryland, and Virginia, you would have the second-largest 'cyberstate' by tech employment, slightly ahead of Texas," he said.

Virginia's average annual high-tech wage is $86,400, the District's is $85,700, and Maryland's is $80,800.

Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University, said that the D.C. area had a higher percentage of technology workers in the work force than Silicon Valley in California.

Mr. Kazmierczak said that one out of four employees in Silicon Valley worked in technology, but Mr. Fuller said he didn't believe that.

"We have always ranked very high in the proportion of our work force who are technology workers," Mr. Fuller said.

He explained that federal procurement spending was the root cause of the growth, noting that technology spending grew to $55 billion in 2007.

Technology firms come to the D.C. area because they have to be here, Mr. Fuller said.

"Because we have such a high-quality work force, companies are moving here to steal employees from other companies," he said, adding that companies are moving here from areas like the West Coast and Boston.

He said the main reason for the technology work force was that the federal government has been increasingly dependent on private companies to complete high-technology work.

Mrs. Kilberg said that people often judge the high concentration of technology in the D.C. area as government oriented, but that such a notion was not correct. She said that a strong interest in the next generation of the Internet being developed in Virginia had brought a strong creative class to the region.

"When you combine a highly trained work force with job and funding opportunities, it's not a surprise," Mrs. Kilberg said.

The state's technology industry has provided for strong economic growth, she said, calling it a "self-fulfilling prophecy."

Employees at larger companies are beginning to leave and start their own companies, Mrs. Kilberg said.

"Culturally, this is an area of very high expectations. This is the place to be."

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