Editorial: A new technopolis
For the past two days, we’ve been delving into a recent report on the best places in the world for technology start-ups, in hopes we’d glean some insight that might apply on a smaller scale here in this part of Virginia.
On Sunday, we looked at how the report by the San Francisco-based StartUp Genome organization shows the United States losing its dominance in the technology sector — the cities rising the fastest as “the next Silicon Valley” are generally elsewhere.
On Monday, we looked at how the fastest-growing part of the technology sector is the field known as “deep tech” and how Blacksburg already has an interesting foothold in the things that constitute deep tech — advanced manufacturing and robotics, blockchain software technology, agricultural tech and artificial intelligence, big data and analytics.
Today we turn our attention to the American city that is defying global trends. While international cities are rising as technology capitals at the expense of some American ones, here’s an American city that is also rising — and has for the first time elbowed its way into the rankings of the top 20 cities for technology start-ups.
The city is Washington, D.C.
That’s the shorthand; the report is really referring to the larger Washington metro area, which brings in Northern Virginia — and that’s what matters most to us.
The report ranks Washington having the 19th best “startup ecosystem” in the world.
Historically speaking, this is a significant change. Once Washington was considered a “company town” for the federal government. Now it’s growing a private sector that ranks on a global scale.
To learn more, check out the whole article below.