It’s no surprise to me that after tweaking its index rankings to include more technology and science — specifically, more engineers and basic research science/high-tech jobs — that the Milken Institute ranked Minnesota seventh in its State Technology and Science Index for 2016.

Authors of the index report consider Minnesota to be one of the "movers and shakers" in the U.S. They write: “Minnesota entered the top 10 for the first time in more than a decade, soaring five notches to seventh place. The jump is evidence of how the state is fast becoming a Midwestern leader in the tech world.”

TECH LEADER: Minnesota's workforce features a high concentration of occupations in computers, mathematical operations, engineering, and life and physical sciences. (Photo: filmfoto/iStock/Thinkstock)

The institute’s index serves to benchmark states on their science and technology capabilities that contribute to business growth, value-added job creation and overall economic growth. The report authors view the index as a measure of a state’s innovation pipeline.

“The index isn’t intended to be a measure of immediate economic impact,” they write, “but rather to demonstrate that the return on science and technology assets will accrue in future years.”

The institute’s index is composed of five equally weighted areas: human capital investment, technology and science workforce, research and development inputs, technology concentration, and risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure.

Under the technology and science workforce category is where Minnesota shines. The institute tweaked this index to include more occupations in computer and information science, life and physical science, and engineering. So people in careers such as software and web developing, agricultural and food sciences, chemical and environmental engineering, soil and plant sciences, and food science were added to the workforce category.

Minnesota ranked fourth in the technology and science workforce index, due to its high concentration of occupations in computers, mathematical operations, engineering, and life and physical sciences.

The report’s authors also note the state’s ranking improved five points each in the research and development inputs index, and the technology concentration index.

“Minnesota has developed a long-term foundation for innovation,” according to the authors. “Minnesota has grown a high-tech sector that can compete with better-known tech hubs such as Utah.”

Ag’s impact

Our food production, research and manufacturing industries, in my biased opinion, are another reason why Minnesota ranks high as a top tech/science leader. Yes, the North Star State is home to Mayo Clinic and various world-renowned health-service companies. However, agriculture is high-tech, too. Plant breeding, fertilizer placement, chemical application, crop scouting, animal performance tracking, animal nutrition, data transfer — these areas and more require professionals with training in computers, engineering and biology to do their jobs.

Other states that ranked in the Milken Institute’s top 10 include first-place Massachusetts, which has held that position since the index began in 2002; second, Colorado; third, Maryland; fourth, California; fifth, Washington; sixth, Connecticut; eighth, Utah; ninth, Virginia; and 10th, Delaware.

To read the report, visit milkeninstitute.org/publications/view/827.