The Rio Grande IGDA Chapter’s Ryan Leonski provides updates on the Childs Play Charity Game Tournament (12/15) and January’s Global Game Jam.
To get more info and sign up for the 4th Annual Child’s Play Charity Game Tournament, visit the event on Facebook. (More info on New Mexico Global Game Jam sites coming soon!)
We’ve seen some growth in local ‘hackerspaces’ and labs — and there have been some interesting proposals to make these more available (such as including them in libraries). Rob Carlson is taking this even further with suggestions to encourage “Garage Biotech” in his proposal, ”Fostering Economic and Physical Security Through Public-Private Partnerships and a National Network of Community Labs” (PDF).
“In short, I proposed that the U.S. government facilitate the founding and operation of community biotech labs as a means to improve the pace of innovation and reduce the attendant level of risk.”
(Full post at: http://www.synthesis.cc/2011/12/the-national-bioeconomy-blueprint.html)
In his proposal, he applies data from recent Kauffmann Foundation studies on innovation and job growth to Biotech:
Start-ups and small organizations are at the heart of both innovation and job creation in the United States. A recent re-analysis of Census Bureau data published by the Kauffman Foundation determined that 100% of net job creation in the United States is due to start-up companies. Companies in their first year of business create an average of 5.7 jobs, for a total of 3 million new jobs per year nationwide, while “all other ages of firms are net job destroyers.”
Small firms are also responsible for an impressive array of innovations now driving the U.S. economy. Table 1 includes a list—literally A to Z—of important innovations provided by small firms during the 20th century. Mature products based on these technologies are unlikely to be mass-produced in garages, but garage innovation played a critical role during their development.
(More at: http://www.synthesis.cc/library/Building_a_21st_Century_Bioeconomy.pdf)
The idea that these kinds of spaces (can) have a significant role in encouraging innovation feels pretty engrained here at NMTC, hance our support for The Hive, Quelab and the Santa Fe Complex and their activities. But… it feels like we should say more on why.
For me, the biggest unique value I see is in the opportunity to bring different kinds of talented people together in a semi-public space for the making or doing of something. While we like to help serendipity along with a variety of networking events, actual collaboration really builds the kinds of connections that can build friendships, companies and sometimes both. Lowering the threshold for those kinds of interactions – and having cool gear – helps make innovation a little more likely.
To a fair extent, that’s why we also support events like the NM and Global Game Jams (coming soon!), Mobile Apps Challenges and BarCampABQ. We’ve met great people and seen some great results at each. While it may seem that each of these places and events is for ‘people who do that sort of thing’ we often find that it’s with the involvement of new people with talents outside these circles that real innovation occurs.
Congratulations!
You’ve reached – and we have – a new site for the Tech Council, and it’s one we hope will grow with us and our community for the next several years. With it we have some new (and much needed) capabilities, and among them a new platform for blogging. We’d like to get some better idea of what you might like to see and hear in this space.
I happened to see a nice post in another blog I follow (The Enablers Netwwork from Didier Marlier) on what his followers were engaged with: http://enablersnetwork.com/2011/the-most-successful-posts-of-2011/ based on the info he gets from Mailchimp, and while many of you know we’ve been using Mailchimp primarily for updates on events and activities in the statewide tech business scene, the blog here will add – we hope – some additional content worthy of reading.
As something of a baseline, our current mailing list serves over 1600 people with about 810 subscribed to the NMTC ‘Main’ List (1-2 weekly updates, primarily on events) and about 860 subscribed to ‘Shandra’s List’ (varies, but usually 2-4 weekly emails on news and events). There’s surprisingly little overlap — and about 20 on the list who really aren’t subscribed to any content (I have to check in on them). We typically see about 20% of our subscribers open our email (about right for the industry) and 2% clicking on links (a little low). For email to NMTC members, we see about 50% open each with about 10% visiting links.
It’ll be interesting to see how this changes.
One of the popular posts Didier refers to is on Simon Sinek and the Power of Why – a topic we’ve wanted to share more here as well. Simon’s talk at TED (short version at http://youtu.be/y42uf90JITI) puts for the idea that people respond more to the ‘why’ a company is doing something more than the ‘what’ of what the company’s selling. Even if you don’t agree, I think it’s useful to look at why you’re doing what you’re doing and see if it’s compelling not only to you, but to your potential customers and clients as well.
Why is the Tech Council doing what we’re doing? Because we believe that a healthy tech community is essential to making New Mexico the best place it can be for not only work, but a satisfying life in general. We look forward to continuing that work – and this dialogue – with you.