I think the US’s manufacturing base was the biggest factor for the locations of “founder” ID firms 75ish years ago (heavy industry in the midwest, shipbuilding, textiles and some farming along the east coast, heavy farming in the rust belt, tech and textiles on the west coast, etc) so those firms became established and flourished along with expanding industry in those areas - Ohio, for instance, remains a hotbed of design because it’s still a hotbed of industry, Detroit still has the Big 3 (kinda), so firms will always be nearby.
But here in Baltimore, we had three founding industry leaders - Duncan Black & Alonso Decker (put a Stanley in front of it now), McCormick (the spice company) and DeWitts (“snake oils”) - McCormick never needed ID, SB&D is still an ID powerhouse and DeWitts went under with the founding of the FDA (in 1921 - I only know the story because the founder was my great, great, great grandfather - he was one of B’more’s “big three” back in 1900). So in the 90’s B&D was a driving force for Towson’s ID program but I don’t think they did a good job fostering its growth, so within one graduating class it was gone. The MICA experiment is still too young to judge but I don’t believe SB&D, Under Armour or Becton Dickinson (the three largest “product” manufacturers still in the area) are working closely with the program - and if that’s the case it’ll be gone soon. I hope I’m wrong!