A group of Philadelphia-area companies and organizations just released a joint study describing the state of the information technology industry in the region. The group is composed of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, CEO Council for Growth, Select Greater Philadelphia, Ernst & Young LLP, Fairmount Partners, Comcast, and the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) . In pointing out that the routes of the IT revolution were established in Philadelphia in 1946 with the demonstration of the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) at the University of Pennsylvania, the report seeks (successfully) to detail investment in IT companies in the Greater Philadelphia region from 2010 through the first half of 2015. It also describes the many resources available to members of the IT community in Philadelphia, from incubators and co-working spaces to colleges and universities, and it provides an in-depth look into IT-based occupations in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Highlights of the study include the following:

  • From 2010 to Q2 2015, more than 6,000 IT-based companies operated in the 11-county Greater Philadelphia region, employing almost 90,000 people;
  • From 2010 to Q2 2015, over 1,000 investment rounds in IT companies were closed, more than 250 M&A deals (valued at $10.2 billion) were completed, and over 400 funded deals (valued at over $1.1 billion) involving IT companies were closed;
  • The IT industry grew from $21 billion in sales in 2001 to $35.8 billion in sales in 2014, accounting for approximately $8.3% of the Greater Philadelphia region's GDP; and
  • A layered IT ecosystem, consisting of pre-seed/seed investment partnerships, startup communities, co-working spaces, incubation/acceleration programs, university challenges, regional initiatives, corporate partnerships, media, and even targeted community programs, was successfully developed and continues to flourish.

The study is certainly worth a read, as both the scope and volume of IT-driven growth in this region is often overlooked by those within and outside of Philadelphia.

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