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New MA Tech Ecosystem Reports to be Released at TRANSFORM

Tech is front and center in the media these days with automated vehicles, cybersecurity, Amazon HQ2, and more. But what’s really going on in tech? What are the numbers showing? What insights can we draw? What do tech leaders think about the future? Where do policy makers and industry leaders need to do more? MassTLC answers these questions in a pair of reports being released on Friday, November 17, 2017, at TRANSFORM, a forward-looking gathering of tech, policy and academic leaders designed to explore these issues.

The first report, developed with research partner UMass Donahue Institute, is the Council’s annual State of the Tech Economy report. This year’s edition is titled Tech Industry Transformation: Platform Ecosystems, Economic Models, and The Future of Work and benchmarks the state’s tech economy and explores key trends.

“We have been working with MassTLC for several years to research and analyze key economic trends in what has become a foremost tech sector benchmarking report,” said UMass Donahue Institute Director of Economic & Public Policy Research Mark Melnik. “Our analysis and methodology add weight and credibility to the tech insights and narrative presented in the report.”

The State of the Tech Economy report provides technology executives and policymakers insights into macro trends including population demographics, labor markets, technology innovation/adoption, government policies, the rise of platform ecosystems and the future of work, as they relate to the changing tech sector landscape and the implications for corporate strategy, policy leadership, and our regional economy.

This 38-page report confirms the high-tech sector’s position as one of the strongest economic engines in the state. With close to 10,000 new tech jobs added in the past year, the sector today directly employs over 300,000 people and provides another 100,000 jobs in tech occupations in other sectors of the economy. Combined with the resulting support jobs, tech underpins 34% of all jobs and 44% of payroll in MA.

The second report, developed with research partner UMass Dartmouth Public Policy Center, is the inaugural edition of a new semi-annual opinion survey of senior technology decision-makers, the Massachusetts Tech Pulse Index, Insights from Industry Leaders. This survey of 156 senior tech decision-makers reveals confidence amongst sector leaders about future growth of tech in Massachusetts.

This report highlights key economic drivers, with a talented workforce being the number one reason companies choose to locate in Massachusetts and difficulty in hiring being the number one challenge they face once they are here. Our higher education system, innovation ecosystem, and quality of life also received high marks as advantages of doing business in Massachusetts. 

 “The Massachusetts technology sector is a key economic engine for the Commonwealth,” noted Professor Michael Goodman, Executive Director of the Public Policy Center at UMass Dartmouth. “Our research with MassTLC provides the Commonwealth’s business leaders and policymakers with valuable evidence and actionable information they can use to take the steps necessary to ensure that the technology sector and the broader Massachusetts innovation economy continues to be among the most competitive in the world.” 

Taken together, these reports highlight a dynamic and changing technology ecosystem responding to global megatrends including the accelerating pace of technological innovation, demographic and labor market trends, and the emergence of post-industrial platform ecosystems in place of siloed organizational structures. We again highlight the low participation of women, minorities and international talent in the tech economy and underscore the imperative for both public and private sector leaders to more aggressively address this shortcoming on both a company and systemic level to improve equity, performance and the availability of the skilled talent pool needed to support continued growth.

Join the conversation at TRANSFORM on Friday, November 17, 2017, for the release of both reports.

For more information on the report content, read our press release

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