Dell Ranks DC's Business Scene Among Best for Future Growth

In a new report published by Dell to seemingly promote the company's Future Ready Economies Model, based off information collected by the 2015 Strategic Innovation Summit, the Washington, D.C.-area is named the 3rd most "future ready" economy in the U.S.

The model looks at whether cities are prepared to grow economically in the future based upon technological developments and the capacity to innovate, locally.

Global market, industry and technical expertise intelligence firm IHS Economics was commissioned by Dell to quantify the study by identifying several key indicators, which included rankings of educational institutions, building infrastructure, commerce activity, investment, labor force participation, productivity and wages, among others.

Washington, D.C., boasted strong rankings in human capital to offset a relatively weak commerce mark, according to Dell. Human capital, within this context, relates to the educational standing, intellectual ability and the potential of individual citizens to contribute positively to a growing economy. (more on what human capital is)

"The index revealed that future readiness is not dependent on geography or being better than other economies, but rather relies on finding the strengths in a given economy and capitalizing on them," the report reads.

Interestingly, 19 of the 25 most future-ready cities also have open data initiatives.

In early January, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser's administration launched an economic development dashboard using open source data focused on income and housing information. The new initiative is the latest, but certainly not the first, open data project leveraged by the District.

On the financial side, Dell's report shows that venture capital investment activity correlates strongly to whether a metropolitan area was in fact "future-ready." For example, "five of the top ten cities were among the six highest concentrations of venture capital."

For reference: from Q1 to Q3 (January to November) 2015, the D.C. area's startup and larger tech ecosystem attracted more than $700 million in investment, according to a data report provided by the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers. That figure puts the D.C.-area firmly in the top ten but outside the top 5 for 2015 VC investment.

Without further adieu, here's the top 25 future ready economies: