The Inc. 5000 is an annually released list that tracks the 5,000 companies in the U.S. that are experiencing the highest revenue growth. Of those companies on the 2020 list, 188 are headquartered in PA.

The literature shows that high growth firms (defined as firms experiencing 20% or greater compound annual revenue grown over 3-years) are responsible for a significantly outsized contribution to economic growth and job creation. It also suggests that small, young, and knowledge-based firms are much more likely to achieve the levels of high growth seen on this list.

The Brookings Institute conducted an analysis and general endorsement of the list: https://www.brookings.edu/research/high-growth-firms-and-cities-in-the-us-an-analysis-of-the-inc-5000/

 Source: INC 5000, Introducing the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America

Startup early survival rate is one major piece of capturing Pennsylvania's early-stage entrepreneurship quality. It is important to focus on the survival of startups as they are responsible for essentially all new job growth in the U.S. economy. The Kauffman Foundation more fully explores this facet of the economy in this series: https://indicators.kauffman.org/series/earlystage.

It is important to consider that this metric captures all new businesses, not just those that are considered to be innovative, or offer a new product or process to the market.

 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics Survey