Iowa Science City Scorecard Case Study: An application of the Stifterverband‘s Science Scorecard for the university cities of Iowa

April 2015

“Science” Scorecard Background

• Rankings, indexes, and scorecards provide an effective tool for breaking down big data for easier analysis and depiction

• The science scorecard is a policy tool tor measuring and identifying the potentials and challenges in each actor’s respective city. This tool can be used to help cities design best practices for strategic knowledge based community development.

“Science” Scorecard Concept: Knowledge Based Community Development

• The science scorecard is made up of two components: the regional profile (quantitative indicators) and the region in action (qualitative indicators)

• The city profile empirically measures the performance of each city based on its economy, science presence, and community strength

• The city in action provides a closer in depth look at the current processes taking place to strengthen the city through knowledge based development.

The Science Scorecard ranks cities based on quantitative and qualitative factors.

City

in A

ctio

n

Strategy

Policy Framework

Community Engagement

Transfer

Networks

Innovation Culture

Collaboration

Platform

Structure

Branding

Science Brand

City Brand

Knowledge Retention

Education

City Attractiveness

City Profile

Science

Institution

R&D

Tech Transfer

Community

Demographics

Infrastructure

Economy

Potential Growth

Startup Culture

Workfoce Indicators

Bildung

City

Obj

ectiv

es

City Profile

Science

Institution

R&D

Tech Transfer

Community

Demographics

Infrastructure

Economy

Potential Growth

Startup Culture

Workforce Indicators

Productivity

The Quantitative Indicators

Science Indicators

University

• Bachelors of Science Degrees

Conferred

• International Student Population

• R&D personnel per student

R&D

• Government R&D expenditure per

student

• Institution R&D expenditure per

student

• Business R&D expenditure per

student

Tech Transfer

• University spinoffs

• University Sponsored Research

Park/Incubator Growth Rate

(companies)

• University Sponsored Research

Park/Incubator Growth Rate

(employees)

• Patents per 1,000 jobs

Institution Indicators

• Institutions play a vital role in providing a skilled workforce, contributing to knowledge spillovers, and supplying firms with cutting edge research

• STEM degrees are essential for providing the labor market with highly skilled knowledge workers

• International students bring diversity, new ideas, and play a key role in knowledge diffusion

• University R&D is plays a key role in providing small firms the information they need to commercialize knowledge and succeed

R & D Indicators

• New economic knowledge is captured by R&D thus cities that want to attract high tech clusters and promote job growth need to have a strong presence of university, government, and private R&D along with skilled workers (Audretsch & Feldman)

• According to the Small Business Administration research universities and their investment play a significant role in contributing to economic growth and the regional labor market (SSTI)

Tech Transfer• University spinoffs are generally in highly paid STEM

fields.

• University research parks/incubators provide specialized support which has the tendency to attract firms and lead to the development of commercialized technologies which result in new business startups

• These research parks promote industry clustering which benefits these businesses by reducing costs of finding skilled labor and transaction costs between firms; increasing productivity and income

• University students and employers mutually benefit from apprenticeship programs which provide the company with new innovations and the students with technical experience

Community IndicatorsDemographics

• Population Density

• Population Growth

• Proportion of Foreign Born Residents

Infrastructure

• Gross Median Monthly Housing Costs

• City Funds Dedicated to Transit Improvement per Resident

• School District College Readiness Score

Demographic Indicators

• High population density and strong population growth facilitates more face to face interaction which von Hipple (1994) demonstrated was key for high tech knowledge transfer

• In Richard Florida’s “3 T’s” model of economic growth technology, talent & tolerance are all interrelated

• Foreigners bring in new ideas and perspectives and provide diversity which makes cities more attractive for the creative class

• High-tech workers correlate with the creative class, the Talent Index and other diversity resources (18)

Infrastructure Indicators• High housing costs forces local employers to increase

wages and in the long run dampens economic growth, because these costs raise the compensation it takes to attract and retain workers (2-3)

• Over-regulation and restriction of housing supply can lead to high housing costs and income inequality especially in university cities (62)

• A study by the US Chamber of Commerce found that in the short run, a dollar spent on infrastructure construction produces roughly double the initial spending in ultimate economic output (10)

Infrastructure Indicators

• Munnel’s study found that more investment in infrastructure tends to be associated with greater output, more private investment and more employment growth

• According to Glaeser, highly educated parents are attracted to places that can provide a top notch education for their children

Economy Indicators

Potential Growth

• Small Firms

• Resident Firms

• High Tech Firms

Startup Culture

• New Startup Growth

• Firm move-in Rate

• Small Business Innovation

Research Awards

Workforce

• Population holding

Bachelor’s Degree or

Higher

• Workers Holding a STEM

bachelor degree

• Tech Workers

Productivity

• Real GDP per capita

• GDP per worker

• Unemployment Rate

Potential Growth Indicators• The Small Business Administration found that over 90% of high

impact firms had fewer than 20 employees (11)

• Small and young businesses are the primary source of jobs in the US

• High tech firms are responsible for approx. 60% of private sector R&D and are important for local knowledge spillovers (17)

• Although new startup firms have a high failure rate, high tech and ICT startups outpace their failure rate by double and grow more rapidly than non-tech new firms (17)

• Additionally, high tech jobs are associated with job creation. For every 1 high tech position there are 4 additional jobs in the local services economy in the region (17)

Startup Culture

• Entrepreneurship is positively correlated with measures of economic growth. Audretsch found that higher entrepreneurial activity is clearly linked to lower rates of unemployment (26)

• The number of move-in firms is used to show the strength of the city’s business environment.

• Awards from the Federal’s Small Business Innovation Research is an indicator for the success of local business innovation.

Workforce & Productivity Indicators

• A highly skilled technical workforce is an essential component for achieving a tech based economy (7)

• The number of workers in the technology field is a proxy for the number of highly qualified workers. A higher number of qualified workers concentrated in one place is associated with increased productivity.

• Per capita GDP per worker is a well known indicator for measuring productivity and is positively correlated with economic growth.

City in Action

I. Strategy

Policy Framework

Community Engagement

II. Transfer

Networks

Innovation Culture

III. Collaboration

Platform

Structure

IV. Branding

Science Brand

City Brand

V. Knowledge Retention

Education

City Attractiveness

The Qualitative Factors

Why Iowa?

City GoalsAmes

• Promote economic development through developing a brand communication plan

• Identify characteristics that support ISU Technology Transfer

• Address housing needs i.e. availability and affordability

Cedar Falls

• Explore the potential of intergovernmental cooperation options

• Support economic efforts that attract, retain and create quality jobs resulting in a diverse economic base and

increased population.

Des Moines

• Promote economic stability, growth and vitality

• Improve and enhance community communications

• Maintain and enhance the city's infrastructure

Iowa City

• Strong urban core

• Strategic economic development activities

• Enhance community development

Science City Scorecard: Ames

Science

70.37%

Community

58.63%

Economy

56.53%

Strategy

87.5%

Transfer

81.25%

Collaboration

100%

Communication

75%

Knowledge Retention

62.5%

A Closer Look: Ames

Strengths

+ Strong research tradition

+ Highly skilled workforce

+ Robust networks

+ Recognized place branding

Weaknesses

- Knowledge retention

-Low spinoff growth

Science City Scorecard: Cedar Falls

Strategy

75%

Transfer

87.5%

Collaboration

91.6%

Communication

37.5%

Knowledge Retention

75%

Science

37.25%

Community

31.19%

Economy

26.07%

A Closer Look: Cedar Falls

Strengths

+ Startup culture

+ Strong partnerships

+ Knowledge Retention

Weaknesses

- Lack of science presence

- Underinvestment in R&D

- Low density of small & local firms

Science City Scorecard: Des Moines

Strategy

37.5%

Transfer

81.25%

Collaboration

66.67%

Communication

50%

Knowledge Retention

100%

Community

34.79%

Science

32.96%

Economy

33.18%

A Closer Look: Des Moines

Strengths

+ Strong community networks & social

services

+ Attractive region

Weaknesses

- Knowledge transfer

-Presence of skilled workers

-Low R&D investment

Science City Scorecard: Iowa City

Strategy

12.5%

Transfer

62.5%

Collaboration

100%

Communication

68.75%

Knowledge Retention

62.5%

Community

80.38%

Science

72.04%

Economy

43.55%

A Closer Look: Iowa City

Strengths

+ Strong research tradition

+ Highly skilled labor pool

+ Regional attractiveness

Weaknesses

- Innovation culture

- Incorporation of science into strategic plan

Science Community Economy0.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

City Profile Comparison

Ames Cedar Falls Des Moines Iowa City

Strategy

Transfer

CollaborationCommunication

Knowledge Retention

0

50

100

City in Action Comparison

Ames Cedar Falls Des Moines Iowa City

Data Methodology

• Raw data was collected from highly recognized sources i.e. US Census Bureau, Iowa Board of Regents, National Science Foundation etc.

• Data was then standardized for each indicator and transformed into an index score

• An indexed score for each indicator was calculated using the following method:

Example: population growth(ln city_value – ln min_value) / (ln_max_value – ln min_value) = X

Original Data: Science IndicatorsScience_Indicators Ames CF DSM IC

% of bachelors degrees conferred in science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and mathematics 0.44 0.03 0.16 0.22

% of international students 0.11 0.05 0.03 0.08

% R&D personnel of student pop. :2013 0.18 0.02 NA 0.21

Government expenditure on R&D per student 4.77 0.22 0.15 8.32

Institutional expenditure on R&D per student 2.44 0.07 0.05 4.46

Business expenditure on R&D per student 0.53 0.006 0.002 0.47

Number of startup companies formed in total (2011-2013) (uni spinoffs) 5 222 NA 22

Research Park\incubator growth rates (companies) 0.12 0.21 NA 0.19

Research Park\incubator growth rates (employees) 63.45 24.48 NA 0.006

Patents/1000 jobs (2007-2011) 5 year average 1.30 0.40 0.70 0.70

Original Data: Community Indicators

Community_Indicators Ames CF DSM IC

Population density 2552 1410 2566 2863

City growth rate 0.048 0.033 0.016 0.054

% Foreign born residents 0.112 0.058 0.111 0.142

Gross median monthly housing costs $ 807 828 863 919

City funds dedicated to transit improvement per resident in $ 198 143 61 104

Education: US News College Readiness Score (2011-2012) 40.4 28.1 11.1 30.8

Original Data: Economy IndicatorsEconomy_Indicators Ames CF DSM IC

Ratio of small firms to total firms 0.636 0.618 0.597 0.677

Ratio of resident firms to total firms 0.894 0.887 0.903 0.897

Ratio of high tech firms (Code:31,51,54) to total firms in all industries (2012) 0.169 0.136 0.162 0.133

% of new startups growth from 2000-2013 0.053 0.001 0.074 0.603

% growth of new move-ins 2000-2013 0.037 0.023 0.015 0.091# SBIR awards, 2011 7 2 4 0

% of population ( 25 yrs +) holding bachelors degree or higher 0.618 0.441 0.297 0.58

% of workers in tech, 2011 0.026 0.018 0.033 0.037

% of workers with STEM bachelors 0.187 0.066 0.094 0.097

Per capita real GDP(chained 2009 dollars) (2013) 50302 47748 66212 49475

Per capita GDP per worker, 2011 71882 80386 96207 70776Unemployment rate 0.023 0.029 0.039 0.025

Further Data Analysis

*Am currently working on putting together a storyboard on Tableau which will go here.

- It will include an overall analysis of the different patterns found in the data as well as several heat map pictures

Next Steps…

• Expand study to include all cities with AAU institutions in the Midwest or adapt index for MSAs

• Create an interactive scorecard to be used as an analytical tool for each city

Interactive Scorecard

CockpitDashboard

Analysis

How it Would WorkCity Selection Goal Selection

City Profile City in Action

Characterisitics

Population 100.000

Students 20.000

…

1) Economic growth

2) KnowledgeTransfer

3) Diversity

…

Factor 1 56/100

Factor 2 0/100

Factor 3 80/100

Factor 4 66/100

Question 1 0/4

Question 2 2/4

Question 3 4/4

Question 4 3/4

Analysis & Best Practice Methods

Lessons for GermanyScience and entrepreneurship are critical factors to improving regional economies. Iowa is mostly rural yet its university cities have become hubs for innovation in business, agricultural sciences, engineering, and data science. By providing access to high speed internet, co-working spaces, business incubators, research parks, and venture capital, these cities have created a business friendly climate for firms of all sizes. Additionally, the robust extension programs of the public universities has resulted in knowledge spillovers and job creation. By deregulating internet laws and making high speed internet connection a priority in rural areas Germany could diversify and strengthen its economy. Also, by establishing university extension programs German cities can increase knowledge transfer which results in more jobs.