Report: MA Digital Sector Up More Than 30% Since 2010
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The report, entitled "The MITX Digital State of the State," was researched and written by a team of second-year Babson College MBA students and found that digital technology, digital content, e-commerce, digital marketing, mobile and social technology firms generated $31.3 billion in revenue and employed over 117,090 people in New England in 2012.
The vast majority of those businesses, or 91 percent, call the Commonwealth home.
"Boston's digital ecosystem is on the move and growing in virtually all its forms," the report's authors wrote. "Through our research, the strengths of this ecosystem's infrastructure have become readily apparent and have led us to conclude the sector is poised for future growth."
New England's digital sector is already steadily growing. From 2009 through the third quarter of 2012, the region was the second-largest hub for venture capital dollars in the country, trailing only Silicon Valley. And those investments have been steadily increasing, as evidenced by the growth in jobs and revenue.
The MTIX study found that the number of employees at internet business and marketing companies in the region increased by 34.5 percent, from 87,045 to 117,090, between 2010 and 2012. Revenue also grew from $27.8 billion to $31.3 billion, a 13 percent increase.
Massachusetts was responsible for the lion's share of those numbers. Of the 3,499 digital sector firms in the region, 2,830 were located in the Bay State, and those firms accounted for more than 105,000 of the industry's jobs and $29.1 billion of its revenues.
MITX, a leading industry organization with over 7,500 professional members in New England working in the digital marketing, media and technology communities, calls Boston home as well.
Growth in the digital and technology sectors earned the Bay State the distinction of being home to the highest percentage of high tech jobs in the country, or 7.8 percent of the state's total jobs, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's 2012 State New Economy Index.
The MITX study also gathered insights from local business leaders, venture capitalists, academics and government officials, whose two cents helped with the concluding section of the report, a summary of areas to improve upon as Massachusetts seeks to continue to be a leader in the digital realm.
Not even Massachusetts is perfect, and the Babson students presented three recommendations, specifically: companies should place more focus on talent development, including through internships; stakeholders should push for improved national media visibility for Massachusetts-based companies; and new efforts to help the state’s companies get connected to business development opportunities for startups through events and platforms that bring together professionals from across different industries.
"Through implementation of these suggestions, these improvements will solidify and catalyze further growth in Boston's digital ecosystem."
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