Miss., Fla. low in biz innovation

A pair of Gulf Coast states has a great deal of work to do to reach the realms of business innovation, according to the Bloomberg U.S. Innovation Index for 2016. Florida ranked 34th of the 50 U.S. states in the index that scored each state on a 0-100 scale across six metrics: Research &Development intensity; productivity; high-tech density; concentration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employment; science and engineering degree holders; and patent activity. No. 1 was Massachusetts. Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi are the least innovative, the data showed. Keeping Florida from the bottom third was its No. 11 ranking in technical firm density, defined as the number of highly technical publicly traded companies, such as in aerospace and defense. All the other indicators were low: Florida ranked 35th for R&D intensity, 44th for productivity, 40th for STEM concentration, 33rd for science and engineering degree holders; and 32nd for patent activity. Florida ranked 35th overall in 2015. (Source: Miami Herald 12/27/16)