They may lack the luster of Silicon Valley or Route 128, but Abington, North Andover, and Uxbridge are the most tech-friendly communities in Massachusetts, according to a ranking set to be released today by the Massachusetts High Technology Council.
The results of the second annual MassTrack ranking of the state's cities and towns, posted on the masstrack.org website, look very different from those in last year's inaugural ranking, largely because the council added a criterion: Nine out of the top 10 communities on this year's list have accelerated their municipal permitting processes.
Faster permitting is often cited as a key issue for expanding high-tech companies searching for office space where they can get up and running quickly, said Christopher R. Anderson, president of the Waltham-based high technology council.
He said more than a dozen cities and towns have approved expedited local permitting plans - reducing their permitting times from two or more years to a matter of months - to take advantage of new state cash and tax incentives.
"You can't have a two- or three-year permitting process here and expect to attract a lot of new businesses, particularly when almost every other state has a shorter turnover time," Anderson said.
Other measures used in the latest MassTrack rankings, all developed through feedback from technology leaders, range from tax policy to MCAS proficiency to proximity to a skilled labor force. But the new permitting criterion was enough to scramble the rankings, sending last year's No. 1 municipality, Hopkinton, down to 22d place.
This year's top-ranking town, Abington, was ranked 11th last year.
Robert E. Wing, chairman of the Abington Board of Selectmen, said leaders of his residential South Shore town made a decision several years ago to recruit high-tech companies in an effort to expand the tax base.
Toward that end, Abington has zoned some areas for high-tech offices and expedited its permitting process. But the town has yet to attract its first technology company, Wing conceded.
"We're very pleased by this," he said of the new MassTrack ranking. "We're wide open, and we're welcoming. Out of all the businesses we've looked at, high tech gives us the best leverage."
Rounding out the top 10 in the MassTrack ranking, after Abington, North Andover, and Uxbridge, are Grafton, Canton, Walpole, Medway, Athol, Shrewsbury, and Douglas. Boston ranked 35th.
The MassTrack website was launched last year to provide data to technology employers and employees about the openness of cities and towns to high-tech business expansion.
In a separate ranking before the 2008 general election, the high-tech council will be evaluating state senators and representatives based on their votes on education, tax, unemployment insurance, and other issues, Anderson said.
Anderson said the purpose of the rankings is to "develop a new communications vehicle to connect the communities, the high-tech companies, and the Legislature around issues important to the industry."
That's important, he said, in a state where a tradition of home rule in zoning, building permits, and education has often placed Massachusetts at a competitive disadvantage in vying for businesses with other states.
"History is riddled with anecdotes about companies that have an interest in building here getting tied up in a long process," he said.
Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.
