Business Week Special Advertising Sections

Massachusetts is the State of Things to Come

Massachusetts, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America, has been a hotbed of technology and business innovation for more than 150 years. Entrepreneurs here have spearheaded many of the world's most remarkable innovations in information technology (IT) -- including the invention of the telegraph, the telephone and, yes, the Internet.

Minicomputers, spreadsheets for PCs, COBOL for mainframes, and the first online communities all emerged from the minds of Massachusetts innovators. Even today's Web-savvy venture capital industry was spawned here in the 1940s by a decidedly unstuffy Boston investor, Gen. Georges Doriot, from his office atop Beacon Hill.

Massachusetts has not rested on its laurels. Indeed, in its landmark study on the New Economy, the Progressive Policy Institute now ranks Massachusetts first in the nation for innovation, knowledge, jobs and venture capital invested, making it the state best-positioned to foster business success in the dot-com economy.