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  • From: Brandon Perkins <bdperkin AT gmail.com>
  • To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee <chtechcomm AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] Triangle tops for tech business
  • Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:13:08 -0400

From:
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/story/2801784p-9244462c.html

An editorial on the article from yesterday...

The News & Observer

Published: Sep 23, 2005
Modified: Sep 23, 2005 8:38 AM
High-tech haven

The folks in Silicon Valley admit up front that the reason they named
the Triangle as the best place to run a high-tech business was to get
the attention of their over-confident home towners. Still, it is yet
another feather in the local cap to have the Silicon Valley Leadership
Group put the Triangle at the head of a rather prestigious list of
major players in the high-tech game.

Areas included in the rankings include Fairfax County, Va., Boston,
Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, San Diego and San Jose, Calif., the
home of Silicon Valley.

The Triangle was praised for its housing affordability, which may come
as a surprise to local folks who have seen home prices skyrocket in
recent years. Another rather curious ranking was our high mark for
traffic congestion costs, meaning traffic here was judged to be not
that bad. But compared with, say, the mega-mess on the highways in the
Fairfax County region of northern Virginia, the jam-ups on I-40 and
the U.S. 1-64 corridor may seem piddling.

Everything is a matter of perspective. The Triangle ranked second on
the list for its unemployment rate, which sounds good until you
realize that means there is a large out-of-work labor pool looking for
jobs around here.

Those who constantly complain that high taxes are hurting business
development in this area might be surprised to learn that high-tech
business leaders think our tax rates are low and that's just peachy
with them. The California crowd says we are second from the best on
their list when it comes to low taxes.

But some of the results were not good, regardless of perspective. The
Triangle placed fifth for the percentage of its population with health
insurance. It also placed fifth for the cost of electricity, meaning
those costs were lower in four other regions.

Bottom line: North Carolina remains what it has long been, a low-tax
state with a lot of out-of-work people who are anxious for decent jobs
so they can better take care of their families. That may sound like
paradise for employers but it is cold comfort for many Tar Heels.

(c) Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy CompanyMcClatchy Company

On 9/22/05, Brandon Perkins <bdperkin AT gmail.com> wrote:
> This is something that Steve showed me on Tuesday, and showed up in
> the N&O today. From:
>
> http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/2800957p-9243923c.html
>
> The News & Observer
>
> Published: Sep 22, 2005
> Modified: Sep 22, 2005 8:06 AM
> Triangle tops for tech business
> Silicon Valley takes last place
>
> By DAVID RANII, Staff Writer
>
> California's Silicon Valley has always been technology's hot spot, but
> the Triangle is heating up.
>
> Who says? None other than a business group in San Jose, the heart of
> the Valley. Its research finds the Triangle the most hospitable place
> to run a business among eight high-tech meccas -- ahead of Boston;
> Seattle; San Diego; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and Fairfax County,
> Va.
>
> Silicon Valley? Dead last.
>
> "We're obviously pleased with any accusations of excellence," said
> Rick Weddle, president of the Research Triangle Foundation of North
> Carolina. The foundation is the owner and developer of Research
> Triangle Park.
>
> The report, released Wednesday, was done by the Silicon Valley
> Leadership Group, which represents 195 companies that account for
> nearly one of five jobs in the Valley. It's meant to be a wake-up call
> there.
>
> "Just because Silicon Valley is the birthplace of high technology, it
> is not a birthright," said Carl Guardino, chief executive of the
> group. "It's something we have to earn every day."
>
> Raleigh-Durham ranked first or second in six of the study's eight
> critical performance measures. The categories were designed to measure
> the cost of doing business, the cost of living and the quality of
> life.
>
> The Triangle was best in housing affordability and had the least
> traffic congestion. It ranked second in unemployment rates, state tax
> rates (both corporate and individual) and the performance by its
> eighth-graders on math tests.
>
> In the other two categories -- electricity costs and the percentage of
> people with health insurance -- Raleigh-Durham was fifth.
>
> The study can be a weapon for Triangle economic development leaders in
> the corporate recruitment wars.
>
> "We'll use this study to sell, to promote, to further gain recognition
> as a tech region," Weddle said.
>
> The Triangle has had some success recently in high-tech recruiting.
> This year, Tekelec, a telecommunications gear maker, announced it was
> moving its headquarters from Calabasas, Calif., to Morrisville, where
> it already employed about 600 people. Last year, New York-based Credit
> Suisse chose RTP for its $100 million technology development and
> processing center.
>
> Venture capital
>
> The study shows that the Triangle also is a good place to start a tech
> business, said Monica Doss, president of the Council for
> Entrepreneurial Development, a nonprofit group that works with young
> companies.
>
> Still, Doss said, the Triangle lags in some areas that aren't in the
> report. One is accessibility to venture capital, the financing that
> new companies need to develop their technology and expand.
>
> Indeed, the report makes a passing reference to Silicon Valley
> remaining top dog with "the nation's largest concentration of
> information and biotechnology companies" and "the largest pool of
> venture capital."
>
> "We still believe the Silicon Valley is the top technology region in
> the world," Guardino said. "This report underscores that we aren't the
> only technology region in the world."
>
> Weddle said the Research Triangle Foundation has hired IBM's business
> consulting division to do a similar study of the "best practices" of
> research parks and research centers around the globe.
>
> "Just because we're good today," he said, "doesn't mean we can enjoy
> that position tomorrow."
>
>
> Staff writer David Ranii can be reached at 829-4877 or
> davidr AT newsobserver.com.
>
> (c) Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
> a subsidiary of The McClatchy CompanyMcClatchy Company
>




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