Wyoming Joins The Innovation & Startup Train

While it often seems as if everything in America has become politicized, the one topic where there is bipartisan support at the national, state and local level is the growing importance of innovation and high-growth startups to economic development.  Across the United States, cities and states are trying various experiments to launch, nurture or attract technology startups.  A few years ago, the goal was to replicate Silicon Valley.  Most rational civic and political leaders have come to realize that this will never happen.  Regions like the Bay Area and the Boston-New York corridor have a unique set of experiences and institutions that can be replicated, but only if one takes a 20-30-year time frame.

Even though innovation and entrepreneurship are not at the forefront of the Washington agenda right now (except as it relates to tax cuts), they remain important issues outside the Beltway.  About a year ago, Wyoming - America’s least populous, and one of its most rural states, announced the need to diversify the state’s economy.   Wyoming's Governor launched ENDOW - Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming - an initiative to diversify Wyoming’s economy, which has largely been driven by energy production including oil,  coal and natural gas.  And in February 2018, the state legislature will decide whether to include computer science education within the "basket of goods" for K-12 education across the state - moving CS from an elective to a requirement. If the legislature makes this commitment, it will be both a strong investment in Wyoming's future and put the state in a leadership position for CS education across the country.

To mark that anniversary, Megan Smith, a former Vice President at Google and the 3^rd Chief Technology Officer of the United States, and a Tech Jobs Tour adviser, came to a packed train depot in downtown Cheyenne to talk about how to connect communities across the country to America's 500,000 open tech jobs.    As Smith said: “I had a chance to talk with Wyoming legislators about how their state can lead in making sure that there is a pipeline of talent that is ready for 21^st century tech jobs. By requiring students to have basic computer science literacy, just like with language skills or math, young people across the state of Wyoming have a chance to learn and tinker and build the digital and creative confidence that will prepare them to be the innovators that build the state – and the country – in the future.”

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