HIGHTECH IN THE BALTIMORE - WASHINGTON CORRIDOR

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Date
1988
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Publisher
Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
This essay discusses the development, spatial structure, and location factors of high technology in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Moreover, some strategies for furthering high-tech industries in the Baltimore-Washington area are outlined. For about ten years this region has shown a strong increase in high-tech jobs due to the influence of federal authorities and research institutes. Furthermore, a number of research-oriented big high-tech firms located in the area for a long time function as growth poles, as customers and bases for the foundation of young high-tech enterprises and so-called "spin-off" high-tech firms in the corridor. The great importance of high-tech oriented services is a specific element of the economic structure of this region. High-tech firms are mainly concentrated in Washington D.C. , in the suburban areas of the two core cities and along axial growth areas. Important high-tech locations are the Interstate I 270 (Rockville-Gaithersburg-Frederick), the new town of Columbia, and the northern suburbs of Baltimore city (Interstate I 83 Towson - Cockeysville - Hunt Valley). A striking regional variation of the high-tech branch structure can also be observed across the entire corridor. Washington D.C. and its suburban counties (e.g. Montgomery and Fairfax County) can be typified as an area of high-tech concentration with service-orientation while Baltimore City and its suburbs (Baltimore County and Anne Arundel) represent the type of a production-oriented high-tech area. In this region high-tech companies are extremely mobile and non-high-tech areas around Washington and Baltimore might take advantage of this luring away such firms to their industrial estates. Baltimore City, too, could profit from the over-spill and the high-tech image of the corridor.
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Keywords
High-tech, Baltimore, Maryland, Regional Economic Development, Federal Authorities, Technology, Washington, D.C.
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