Kansas City ranks as top U.S. tech, entrepreneurship hub
June 9, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Kansas City’s emerging tech hub and entrepreneurial ecosystem continue to attract national attention.
On Thursday, Kansas City ranked among the top tech cities in the U.S., according to the Tech Cities 1.0 report by Cushman & Wakefield. The report showcased the nation’s top 25 cities, with Kansas City nabbing the No. 22 spot on the list. The cities were determined by factors such as access to talent, investment capital and growth opportunity.
Cushman & Wakefield Tech Cities 1.0 report
Although it’s no surprise that cities like San Jose and San Francisco outranked Kansas City, The City of Fountains’ performance is still noteworthy. Kansas City fared better than New York City and Los Angeles in metrics such as tech workers per capita, share of workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, entrepreneurial growth and share of “knowledge” workers, defined as those in occupations such as architecture, social science, health care and education.
In preparing the report, Cushman & Wakefield found six qualities as essential ingredients for a tech hub: Institutions of higher learning; capital; tech workers; knowledge workers; educated workers; and growth entrepreneurship.
Kansas City ranked No. 18 on percentage of tech workers and No. 16 for entrepreneurial growth. In both areas, the metro is rated above the national average.
To calculate entrepreneurial growth, Cushman & Wakefield tapped the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Growth Entrepreneurship. The index is calculated by the rate of startup growth, share of scale-ups and high-growth company density.
Although these statistics are promising, Kansas City is nowhere close to Silicon Valley with venture capital and deal flow.
In 2016, the combination of venture capital capital activity from San Francisco, San Mateo and San Jose reached $35.2 billion. In Kansas City, that number is less than $2 billion.
Cushman & Wakefield Tech Cities 1.0 report
Ken McCarthy, principal economist at Cushman & Wakefield, said that “tech is everything.”
“Basically every company today is a tech company in one way or another. We’re all using it, we’re using various aspects of tech companies to do various things,” McCarthy said in a release. “Whether it’s Salesforce as customer relationship management, or Workday for HR, and various other database programs, the old way of doing business just doesn’t work anymore.”
Cushman & Wakefield is a global real estate services firm. 2017 marks the first year the firm has released a Tech Cities 1.0 report.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Lawrence-based Ainstein taking flight with jetpack founder in Red Bull Air Race
When the founder of JetPack Aviation blasts to the sky later this month in Red Bull’s Air Race World Championship, it will be a testament to the innovation and quality at Ainstein, a Kansas radar tech firm, said Bryan C. Boots. “Although our products are widely deployed today in unmanned aviation (drone) applications, this will…
CreativeMornings KC relaunches with art culture, business community in focus
Artists are George Brooks’ people, the Crema co-founder and a co-host of the newly relaunched CreativeMornings KC guild said. “I love that CreativeMornings fosters the idea that we can all view our work, hobbies, and life through lenses of creativity,” Brooks said. “By bringing together a community of people who value creativity, it bridges the…
Advancing women as important now as ever, says STEMMy Awards leader
Women leave tech-intensive industries at a higher rate than their male counterparts because of a lack of encouragement and support, said Renee Keffer, citing a 2014 report by Catalyst. The fifth annual STEMMy Awards Gala aims to change that narrative in Kansas City, Keffer, co-chair of the event, said, but organizers need help: Nominations remain…
Kauffman Foundation’s Philip Gaskin sees entrepreneur ecosystems in the humble snowflake
Editor’s note: This content was sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation but independently produced by Startland News. When it comes to developing a startup, there’s no better training ground than a political campaign, Philip Gaskin said. “You’re building movements of people to do extraordinary things,” said Gaskin, director of entrepreneurial communities and chief of…