Techie.com’s editorial staff researched some of the most exciting and innovative up-and-coming hubs for 2014. Burlington, Vermont, was one of the 10 it selected.
Needless to say, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger was happy for the news and released this statement: ‘Congratulations to’Code for BTV, our great local tech companies, the organizers of Vermont Tech Jam, and the many people involved in the’BTVIgnite’initiative on the’announcement’that Techie.com has named BTV one of the top 10 most promising tech hubs to watch in 2014. This recognition demonstrates that all the hard work done to make BTV a great, green tech city is having a recognized, positive effect, and bodes well for the economic future of all Burlingtonians."
In aggregating this list, Techie.com asked (SEE’REPORT): Where are the country’s most innovative and creative tech hubs? The answer to that question, it said, used to be easy. There was Silicon Valley, and maybe a couple others, with maybe Bangalore thrown into the mix to keep it interesting. Today, the answer is not so easy. Thanks to easily accessible cloud technology, increasing democratization of the startup’s ‘means of production,’ and a startup culture that has excited new entrepreneurs in every corner of the world, Silicon Valley is in an increasingly crowded marketplace and must fight to hold onto its once-dominant role.’Techie.com looked for several factors, some of which are a little less tangible than others:
Cities that have, or are building out physical infrastructure including fiber optic rings; offer lower costs for utilities; and have available and low-cost office space.
Presence of high-tech industrial parks and incubators/accelerators.
A ‘startup culture’ evident with smaller, informal meetups, ‘startup weekends’ and co-working spaces.
People who are willing and anxious to spread the word about why their city is on the rise.
Presence of one or more universities.
Support from city government with innovative programs designed to encourage tech startup growth.
Techie.com said it heard from nearly a hundred cities, all wanting to make our list. We truly are at the beginning of a new era ‘ the dotcloud boom that is already changing the way startups launch, the way work gets done, and the way people live. We found every one of the cities on our list worthy, but our immediate goal was to select ten. Here are the ones that stood out. Click on the name of the city below to jump to that city.
Atlanta, GA
Burlington, VT
Champaign/Urbana, IL
Detroit, MI
Ft. Collins, CO
Huntsville, AL
Kansas City, KS/MO
Orlando, FL
Sioux Falls, SD
St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN
Burlington, Vermont leads on innovation and community
The city of Burlington, Vermont, also has a promising future as a tech hub. Ranked 38th in the nation on Lumosity’s recent ‘100 smartest cities’ report, it is the community itself that we find so promising. There are active, overlapping networks in Burlington both physically and in virtual space.
The’BTV Web App Group’meets several times a month for presentations and networking.’Laboratory B, the local hackerspace, holds regular events. The
sustainability-focused Green Drinks’meets twice monthly, once in Burlington and one in Montpelier.’CodeForBTV, a civic hacking group that meets weekly, enjoys support from’Code for America, and they’ve produced several improvements to local systems and organizations. The meetup groupBurlington Net Squared’also hosts regular meetups that cover many different tech angles.’Tech Jam Vermont’is a well-attended annual event sponsored by Dealer.com, which is headquartered in Burlington.
Burlington’s tech scene is also burgeoning in virtual space. There’s a dedicated local forum ‘ the’Front Porch Network; there’s an active facebook community; and Burlington has a’sizable subreddit’with its own IRC channel. These digital spaces form bridges between all of these groups, and directs new talent where they can best be utilized.
This sort of energy and community engagement is vital to innovation. This culture affords tinkerers a laboratory in which to learn and to practice, and participation in this culture builds valuable business connections. Moreover, the work they are doing ‘ online and ‘IRL’ ‘ sets an example for others in the community while establishing permanent improvements in the community’s digital resources. We’re excited to see where this leads.