Regional High-Tech Industry Database

Economic policymaking increasingly involves technology-based initiatives. vTHREAD (Techno-Historical Regional Economic Analysis Database) includes a 15 year historical dataset of high tech companies and research tools to analyze regional industrial specialization, growth, decline, and reinvention. vTHREAD includes approximately 60,000 public and private, high tech business units classified by a finely granulated taxonomy of both company and major products designed to make visible or ‘discover’ the otherwise hidden technology capabilities, deep craft skills including specific engineering expertise that underlie a region’s competitive advantage.

vTHREAD report capabilities:

Audit of high tech companies by region and industry

Audit of fast growing high tech companies

Changing sectoral composition of high tech by region
Regional sectoral location quotients
Industry churn measured by enterprise entries and exits
Maps of high tech clusters illustrating size and growth
Operating units of foreign headquartered companies by region
Indicators of regional technology and production capabilities
Characterization of technology mini-clusters by location
Evidence of company and technology genealogies by region

Applications of vTHREAD:

"Nanotechnology in Massachusetts: The Next Big Thing?", Boston Fifth Century Trustees Meeting, Boston, May 15, 2007.

"Massachusetts Medical Devices: Leveraging the Region's Capabilities", MassBenchmarks, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2006: 14-25. On-line at: MassBenchmarks.org 

"Lowell's Industrial Regeneration: Dynamic Technological Capabilities". On-line publication of the Business History Association: BHC.org