Charleston’s innovation industry is one of the fastest-growing across the United States

A new report from the Brookings Institution states that Charleston has the 9th fastest growing innovation industry in the U.S, with roughly 7,2000 jobs added in the so-called Silicon Harbor between 2005 and 2017. These jobs cover chemical manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software and information technology and the professions of the future seem to be on the rise in Charleston.

Why innovation industry matters

These industries have been dominating the market for the past few years and have gained the attention of professionals and authorities across the world. Slowly but surely these industries are changing the way we approach regular services and products and are setting the new standard for the consumers and the providers as well.

Many countries are going out of their way to promote these changes and to deliver innovative services since everyone agrees on the inherent value of these innovations and their importance for development and cutting-edge technology.

Across the world, people are embracing these innovations, particularly software and information technology and using it to elevate the everyday experiences of their clients. It has now become normalized to offer cryptocurrency payment methods at various places.

And this trend is not limited to any certain regions. The same can be said for online services in general. All of the major industries have either moved on to the digital sphere or are using it to the full force. For example, you can access the best online casino in New Zealand through the internet, you can order whatever service you want online or get food delivered to your house.

The importance of technological innovations is evident and all the places that can get a head start in this direction will be guaranteed a privilege in the future as well as a better developed, higher quality everyday life.

Divide between metropolitan areas and the rest

Charleston ranked as number 9 on the list, falling behind only to the likes of Boston, New York, Seattle, and Silicon Valley. But employment in those key industries is growing quickly in Charleston. Most of the innovations in Charleston’s case comes from the region’s aerospace and tech sectors. Charleston’s labor force has been also increasing rapidly and for the past 8 years growing 25% since 2010. What is unique about this particular statistic is that even though the majority of people and analysts were assuming that technological progress would spread naturally this hasn’t been the case.

While the hubs of these developments continue to grow the rest keeps falling behind. The gap is growing and it has become somewhat of a concern. Brookings research rang alarm bells about the divide between nationals dynamic superstar metropolitan areas and almost everywhere else. While it’s easy to say that since doing business in the smaller cities this hasn’t really encouraged growth. Few cities manage to keep up while creating more and more innovation jobs and they stay concentrated in the metro areas.

How to close the gap

The report calls for action from the government to promote innovation in unlikely areas and to give smaller communities a chance to grow and develop as well.

Charleston stands somewhere between and it’s a great example of the state that has managed to keep growing and developing in the right direction at the right time. It has shown consistency in this direction and has produced enough innovations to put it in the top 10 fastest growing states in this direction.

If more states take initiative to purposefully develop these fields it will be much easier for them to keep up with the rest and slowly close the gap between the big cities and the smaller, less advanced areas across countries. It will take much more work to get to the stage where the innovation is distributed somewhat evenly since the theory about the innovation traveling across different cities turned out to be not true.

It will take government effort as well as the willingness of the people to bring more equality to this side of the development but it is possible and it will become a necessity since the difference between these two different types of cities and areas will continue to grow anyways.

Another aspect of the innovations are healthcare, pharmaceuticals and chemical manufacturing. In these cases, the gap between metropolitan areas and the rest is that the benefits of having access to these innovations can sometimes save a life and in other cases, the lack of access can limit the choices and the possibilities for a lot of people in need. This is why the innovation should be spread more evenly and it just goes to show that there’s more to this matter than just a higher level of development.

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