These are 2023’s most and least innovative states. How did Pa. do? | Monday Morning Coffee

In his first official act after taking office, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro waived the four-year degree requirement for most state jobs. He followed that up by announcing the creation of a new state office intended to speed the plow for businesses across the commonwealth.

“If you want to grow your business or invest in Pennsylvania, you’re not going to need to go to five different agencies anymore,” Shapiro said during a January press conference unveiling the Office of Transformation and Opportunity. “To get all your permits, your approvals, or your funding, the [office] and Ben Kirshner, who will lead it, will be your point-person in that endeavor”

And during his first budget address earlier this month, Shapiro pleased Republicans when he said he wanted to keep reducing Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax.

If a new report by the financial literacy site WalletHub is any indication, those moves couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Last week, analysts released their list of the most — and least — innovative states of 2023.

To reach their conclusions, WalletHub’s analysts weighed all 50 states and Washington D.C., looking at their “share of STEM professionals to R&D spending per capita to [their] tech-company density.”

Below, a look at the Top 5 most and least innovative states — and where Pennsylvania finished in the national firmament.

The Top 5 Most Innovative States:

1. Washington D.C

2. Massachusetts

3. Washington State

4. Maryland

5. California 

The Top 5 Least Innovative States:

1. Mississippi

2. Louisiana

3. North Dakota

4. West Virginia

5. Arkansas

Pennsylvania finished 26th among the 50 states and Washington D.C., smack dab in the middle of WalletHub’s ranking list, putting the state ahead of West Virginia, New York (No. 27) and Ohio (No. 28), but behind Delaware (No. 8), Maryland, and New Jersey (No. 10), according to WalletHub.

Speaking to WalletHub, Bruce Bachenheimer, a clinical professor of management at Pace University, offered his prescription on how states can foster innovation.

“First, policymakers must realize that encouraging and facilitating innovation is quite a long-term prospect, one that will extend well beyond regular election cycles,” Bachenheimer said. “It requires a deep understanding of what would actually make the state attractive, an honest assessment of the state’s shortcomings, and a real commitment to meaningful action.”

And when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg realized that the city would “need to significantly strengthen its resources in the applied sciences to encourage substantial development in its innovation economy, he undertook a major program to create a new tech campus on Roosevelt Island by attracting Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. A project that would take nearly a decade to reach fruition,” he said.