Top innovative cities will be most resilient to crash

Interactive map of patent data

Wendy Natt, Feb 16, 09.

Austin far exceeds Houston, Dallas-Ft Worth, San Antonio, and College Station in the number of patents issued for every 100,000 people between the years 1975 and 2002, according to an interactive map published in the Atlantic magazine (online). Even during peak years of patent activity in Houston and Dallas, Austin’s per capita patents were 3-4 times higher. Number of patents issued is one indicator of a city’s creativity and innovative capacity. The map also displays changes in income nationwide from 2001 to 2006, and population shifts from pre-industrial 1860 to 2007.

As a whole, the Texas Triangle megaregion is an important economic force in the American economy that may weather the current economic crisis if it follows a course that author and urban economics & demographics expert Richard Florida says greatly increases a region’s resiliency in the current economy. City-regions need to maintain a competitive level of constant innovation, they must attract people - in particular, highly educated and talented people - and they should be focused on development of their “idea-driven creative industries,” says Florida in the Atlantic article linked to the patent/incom/pop. map.

Florida says the current economic recession will fundamentally reshape America’s economic landscape in the long term. He says that, historically in the US, crashes have accelerated longer-term, essentially nationwide trends of growth and decline. This time around, effects again will be accelerated, but upward to downward trends will vary greatly depending on regional economies. Jobs in manufacturing and construction, especially in the Rust Belt and Sun Belt regions, have already been hit hard and will probably suffer the longest in this crash, says Florida, while he expects those areas highly invested in creative economies that can recover and reinvent themselves more quickly to fare the best.

Dr. Richard Florida is founder of the global think tank the Creative Class Group and is director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He is the author of several books, including The Rise of the Creative Class (Basic Books, 2002) and Who’s Your City? (Basic Books, 2008).