RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – A leading real estate developer in Charlotte says there is no way the Triangle will land the mammoth Amazon HQ2 project, and a new study on how states rank for innovation doesn’t make North Carolina look good.

“They’re not going to get Amazon, but if they had built that light rail, they would get it,” said Charlotte’s Johnny Harris. He’s a Democrat and he noted opposition from some Republicans to mass transit. “They opposed it, and it did not get built.”

Harris made his remarks at an awards event in the Queen City, according to The Charlotte Observer.

As Amazon continues to review proposals from the 20 metropolitan areas that it has declared finalists for the promised 50,000 jobs and billions of dollars in investments, a new study on where states rank in terms of innovation doesn’t do North Carolina any favors. The state comes in No. 21, according to data compiled by financial news and services site WalletHub.

That’s not good since North Carolina is the nation’s ninth largest state and Amazon says it’s looking to build at a region known for talent as well as other things like mass transit.

North Carolina’s rivals for the Amazon project such as Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Florida, California and Georgia all ranked higher.
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So, too, did the District of Columbia, which was listed as a stand-alone entity in the WalletHub report.

However, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Tennessee all ranked lower.

(Toronto, another finalist, was not included in the WalletHub study.)

North Carolina received an overall score of 43.84, less than a point behind Georgia and fewer than three points behind Florida. But Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland and the District of Columbia scored 60 or more, so in WalletHub’s data NC trails by a wide margin.

WalletHub said “certain … states continue to grow innovation through investments in education, research and business creation, especially in highly specialized industries.” Rankings were based on what the site says are “22 key indicators of innovation-friendliness. Our data set ranges from share of STEM professionals to R&D spending per capita to tech-company density.”

The Tar Heel state ranked No. 19 on what WalletHub calls “Human Capital.”

As for the other major category, “Innovation Environment,” North Carolina comes in at No. 23.

No. 1 overall went to Massachusetts.

 

For more details and specific criteria, read more online.