Burlington and technology officials announced the city’s first “Innovation Week” to be held in October. The goal is to highlight the region’s emerging technology “ecosystem.”
BTV Ignite is coordinating Innovation Week, basing it on successful events previously held in Burlington such as HackVT and TechJam. It will incorporate elements of those technology initiatives into the showcase week.
BTV Ignite Executive Director Mike Schirling noted that the scope and depth of the technology sector in Burlington is not as well-known as it should be and Innovation Week is intended to illuminate the tech sector. “Each day will spotlight innovations, study, research, products and companies working in areas ranging from food, beverage, agriculture, energy and efficiency, manufacturing and maker-spaces, health care and bio-science, software and service technology. And there’ll be a whole host of demonstrations and lectures and opportunities primarily to engage with folks that are operating in this ecosystem that will enable a collision of ideas, and hopefully spin-offs of new ideas, new companies, new products and something that can take the ecosystem even further.”
Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Torti represented the Boards of BTV Ignite and HackVT. He notes that Burlington is one of the top 100 locations for tech business startups and one of the top 20 cities that attracts young talent. Innovation Week will highlight an upswing in Burlington’s technology sector and overall economy. “70,000 jobs in Vermont are somehow tech related. So that message is getting out. It’s not just gaming. It’s not just web-design. It’s the whole spectrum. Which is why the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont’s involved. Which is why the medical school, the university, Burlington Electric with the internet of things and smart-grid and smart-meters that’s all technology, and it’s all within this little condensed area of you know 35-or 40-thousand people called greater Burlington.”
Brandthropology.com Chief Matthew Dodds notes that Vermont has long relied on its agricultural tradition, but it’s time to update that image. “Historically because we have a strong tourism industry, because we have a strong dairy industry, there’s been a bit of like come recreate in my rural yesteryear. That’s all good. But increasingly our economy is no longer driven by those. And increasingly as we look to attract and retain 20-and-30-somethings the jobs that they love are often are in tech. And the well-paying jobs certainly are. And so we’re looking at about 25 percent of all employees are in tech jobs. I think what we need to do is fuse a new brand that has, hey, one foot in the pasture and one foot in the future.”
Again Tom Torti: “Our legislative book that we put out every year, it had a picture of a nice barn in a pastoral field and there were a bunch of people out in the field. But instead of farmers we had people in laptops and I-Pads and cell phones saying we have the beauty of Vermont, but it not just about cows anymore. There was one cow in the background. It’s about technology. So we’re basically coming out of the closet and saying: Tech is here. Come invest in Vermont.”
During Innovation Week, scheduled for October 14 -22, there will be a variety of announcements of new technologies, test-bed technologies and new initiatives that have been developed over the past 11 months through the BTV Ignite partnerships.
