Tech investment on rise in N.H.
As American businesspeople roam the globe, Lou Altman supplies them with cellphones that work from Australia to China and Iraq.
Altman is president of GlobaFone, a six-year-old Portsmouth company that rents, leases, and sells mobile phones to traveling businesspeople, government, and military employees.
"You can't go to Japan and subscribe to a phone line any more than a Japanese or UK national can come here and subscribe to a US phone," said Altman. "So we create partnerships with local companies, and currently we offer local cellular service in 15 countries around the world, and we're looking to expand to 30 by the end of the year. And if they're a defense contractor going to Iraq or something, there's no cellular service there, and a satellite phone is the only choice."
Some would say Altman's business exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit on the New Hampshire Seacoast.
A new study by the Milken Institute found that of the three northern New England states, New Hampshire is making the largest investment in technology and science.
The Milken Institute report ranked states according to 75 indicators, putting Massachusetts and California first and second, New Hampshire 13th, Vermont 22d, and Maine 33d. Every indicator in the study is adjusted for the size of each state's economy based on its population, gross state product, or number of businesses, said the study's principal author, Ross DeVol.
The Milken Institute is an independent, nonprofit economic think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif., according to spokesman Skip Rimer.
By "investment in technology and science," Rimer explained that the study focused on "everything from business start-ups to venture capital funding-- not just government funding of technology and science."
The study published March 30 is an update of the 2002 study. It includes a technology and science index based on five criteria -- research and development, risk capital, human resource investment, technology and science workforce, and technology concentration.
In that five-category index, New Hampshire moved up from number 13 in 2002 to number 12; Vermont went from 31st to 22d; Maine went from 36th to 33d.
Fueling economic success today are new forces based on "attracting and expanding technology and science assets and leveraging them for economic development," rather than factors such as proximity to major highways, raw materials, and manufacturing, the report said.
In other findings:
New Hampshire ranked sixth in capital funding early-stage businesses, up from 14th. Maine went from 25th to 22d; Vermont jumped from 42d to 27th.
In research and development, New Hampshire went up to eighth in 2004, up from 10th in 2002; Vermont went from 31st to 20th; and Maine went from 41st to 37th.
In academic research and development dollars, New Hampshire went from 19th in 2002 to fourth this year; Maine went from 48th to 47th; Vermont dropped from 17th to 19th.
In concentration of technology, New Hampshire ranked seventh in 2004, up from 10th in 2002; Vermont went from 29th to 27th, and Maine went from 46th to 45th. Technology concentration means the percentage of the state's economy made up of technology industries, measured in employment and total dollars for all goods and services sold by those industries, Rimer said.
"There is an awful lot of activity going on [in N.H.]," said Warren Lackstrom, director of the Hamel Center for the Management of Technology and Innovation at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics. He added that technology does not mean "just high-tech -- it's the whole area of information technology, software development, hardware development, new uses of information technology to enhance business options, biotechnology, and my opinion is that New Hampshire is the leading state of the three northern New England states as I define them."
Not only is the state pursuing a science and technology strategic plan, but the University of New Hampshire just created a master of science degree program in technology management, Lackstrom said.
"This is a graduate business education degree specifically to prepare people with technology backgrounds in the management of that technology," said Lackstrom. "The program was developed in response to a perceived demand for people skilled in that area here in New Hampshire."
Lackstrom, who sits on the steering committee of the Start Up New Hampshire Business Competition, said the competition is another effort to jump start business in the state.
Governor Craig Benson and Public Service of New Hampshire are running the competition to encourage entrepreneurship and economic diversity in the state, according to Doug Porter, a member of the competition's steering committee.
More than 200 would-be start-up businesses or companies wanting to expand in or into New Hampshire submitted business plans by the March 31 deadline, said Porter. The semifinalists in each of four categories -- biomedical/life sciences; financial services; North Country; and all other -- will be eligible for cash prizes when they are chosen by April 21. The winners in each category will go on to compete for the grand prize of $130,000 on May 3 at the Center of New Hampshire in Manchester, said Porter.
PSNH is offering $250,000 in cash awards for the competition, and the response has been "overwhelming," Porter said.
Carol Stephens is executive director of the New Hampshire High Technology Council , a statewide group that helps high-tech companies via networking and educational support programs.
"That's an investment," said Stephens of the business start-up competition. "It's going to give a jump start to high-tech companies in New Hampshire."
