Frontline: New Tech Havens Bloom as Digitization Transforms U.S. Economy
The fluidity of digital innovation - and its lack of dependence on a traditional industrial infrastructure - means that tech havens are blooming in newer magnets where tech-savvy workers are prevalent, ranging from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Richmond, Virginia.
Q2 2016

Southeastern Michigan is gaining as a result of how traditional automakers are wrestling with Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Google and Apple to control the crucial “self-driving” dimension of the industry’s future
This is certainly fuel for the economies of long-time digital outposts such as Silicon Valley, Boston, and Austin, Texas. But the fluidity of digital innovation and its lack of dependence on a traditional industrial infrastructure mean that tech havens also are blooming in newer magnets ranging from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Richmond, Va.
Case in Point
So, for instance, Greater Boston is luring companies these days almost solely on the strength of its human capital, because high-tax Massachusetts generally has been anathema to many CEOs. The state ranked only No. 25 in the Tax Foundation’s 2016 State Business Tax Climate Index and an abysmal No. 45 in the Chief Executive 2016 Best & Worst States for Business. But it finished No. 1 in the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Index released in 2015.
Now, that index happens to be compiled locally. But General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt is one who will testify to the appeal of Boston because of the millennial digital talents who live there. GE is attempting to recast itself as a modern amalgam of tech and fabrication and move away from old perceptions that it’s a traditional industrial company — even though it’s making the same stuff it did before.
In fact, Immelt made the stunning decision to move GE’s headquarters from high-tax Connecticut to high-tax Massachusetts almost solely because of this factor. And in that way, “Everybody is becoming a ‘software company’,” said Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate, an e-commerce software outfit based in Philadelphia. “Everyone will be fighting over talent.”
Off the Beaten Path
This is one reason for startups to look for pools of digital expertise in cities that are off the beaten path. For example, Andrew Rose chose Richmond, Va., to base his online insurance-shopping startup, Compare.com, over a handful of major cities including Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. “In Richmond,” Rose said, “we can get great talent at a cheaper cost and give them an exceptionally good work-life balance.”
Greater Boston is luring companies these days almost solely on the strength of its human capital, because high-tax Massachusetts generally has been anathema to many CEOs.
Southeastern Michigan is emerging as a digital-worker magnet as well. Being home to the Detroit Three automakers — with their thousands of engineers and scientists — helps. The region also is gaining as a result of how traditional automakers are wrestling with Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Google and Apple to control the crucial “self-driving” dimension of the industry’s future.
Thus, for instance, Toyota recently named Ann Arbor, Mich., home of the University of Michigan, as one of its three global test sites for connected-car research; Cambridge, Mass., and Silicon Valley are the other. Ford just announced an initiative that could cost it $1 billion to revamp all its headquarters operations in Dearborn, Mich., to become tech- and millennial-friendly. And a number of carmakers are working with the state of Michigan and other interests to turn an old airport into the world’s biggest and most advanced real-world test site for autonomous-driving technology.
Project Announcements
Maid-Rite Specialty Foods Expands Dunmore, Pennsylvania, Operations
11/24/2023
Pipe & Steel Industrial Fabricators Expands Livingston Parish, Louisiana, Operations
11/24/2023
Sage Automotive Interiors Expands Abbeville County, South Carolina, Operations
11/23/2023
Katoen Natie Expands Norfolk, Virginia, Operations
11/23/2023
Rocket Lab USA Plans Middle River, Maryland, Space Structures Operations
11/23/2023
Ireland-Based Burnside America Expands Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Operations
11/23/2023
Most Read
-
2023 Top States for Doing Business Meet the Needs of Site Selectors
Q3 2023
-
The Rise of Mid-Size U.S. Cities: The Industrial Development Boom
Q3 2023
-
Front Line: Brownfields Offer Redevelopment Opportunities
Q4 2023
-
2023 Top States Commentary: Top-Ranked States Have What It Takes to Win Mega Projects
Q3 2023
-
2023 Top States Workforce Development Programs
Q3 2023
-
37th Annual Corporate Survey: Economic Pressures Exerting Greatest Effect on Decision-Makers
Q1 2023
-
Immigration: A Potential Fix for Labor Shortages?
Workforce Q4 2023