My View: Making a strong, unique Valley tech community
There has always been a significant amount of tech here — semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, software, IT and medical. Thriving, but only rarely connected.
This recent shift towards concentration and collaboration is an opportunity to bring life-improving technology to the world.
Defined and constrained by urban sprawl for so long, our desert home was finally condensing and creating the concentration of people and resources needed to become a leading tech hub — if we work together to seize this opportunity. The potential was visible in the panoramic view of the valley all around us. Cranes were lifting supplies to growing towers, and squatter four-story luxury condos were sprouting in what had been a parking lot. A half dozen other empty lots were waiting for what is next.
Both empty spaces, inside and out, would soon fill with intelligent, driven people who would figuratively and literally bump into one another in the growing center of biotech and spill into the already thriving arts district to the north. I could also see and feel how large and spread out our community is.
The open space, the sprawl, has always been our technology ecosystem’s biggest problem. Sprawl is what kept the cost of doing business down. It also kept us from achieving the critical mass of technology startups, established large companies, and concentrated capital that every other leading tech hub has.
It is up to members and leaders of our tech community to fill the new buildings with people, ideas and purpose. This is also a chance to do things differently. We can bring our pioneering spirit with us and create a tech hub known for more than our business and technical abilities. We can build a community that is also known for our determination, hard work and cooperation.
VISIT HERE to read the Phoenix Business Journal article in its entirety.