06.02.01
Mike Wendland: Groups are
hungry for a piece of tech pie
It's a high-tech group glut.
There's the IT Zone in Ann Arbor, Smart Detroit downtown,
Automation Alley in Oakland County and Digital Detroit throughout
the region. Add a dozen SmartZones across the state, the
ITE@M, Dot-Com Detroit, Cyber-state.org, GLIMA (the Great
Lakes Interactive Media Association) and Fourth Friday ...
Whew!
No wonder the theme for a technology forum I moderated
Friday at the Detroit Regional Chamber leadership conference
on Mackinac Island was "Technology: Collaborate or Complicate."So
many high-tech booster groups are competing for shares of
the technology pie that they remind me of street gangs fighting
over turf. The chamber announced Friday it will try to help
turn the many organizations into a unified force, joining
with various tech-focused groups across the southeast Michigan
region -- especially Digital Detroit, a nonprofit technology
organization financed by the for-profit Sloan Ventures venture
capital and development company. Larry Marantette, a chamber
official, also said the organization will launch a technology
action group to "focus and advocate a collaborative technology
agenda to help power the economy in Southeastern Michigan." It
sounds like they've just formed two more groups. "This is
just duplicating what we already have with the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation," said Ken Rogers, executive director
of Oakland County's Automation Alley tech cluster. "We need
unity, not more groups. It's confusing enough." But Marantette
got solid applause as he announced the new efforts toward
collaboration, something a lot of the area tech groups have
sought.
Sue Lackey, president of the IT Zone tech group in Ann Arbor,
said the region has a deep technology base but lacks the "social
infrastructure" to send that message to the world. While
she was encouraged that tech leaders were at least talking
about speaking with a unified voice, she's realistic about
the job that needs to be done. Lackey said none of the organizations
individually can compete with areas like Silicon Valley. "Jointly,
we can sell our individual brands under an agreed-upon banner
that defines the richness of our technology base," she said. "But
that banner can't be something identified by the IT Zone
or the Chamber or any single organization." Jeff Mason, vice
president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., outlined
the efforts of his group to unite business and governmental
agencies in attracting new technology businesses across the
state. The efforts sounded a lot like the new initiative
announced by the Chamber and Digital Detroit. "Well, maybe," Mason
said. He added that the technology community needs more coordination, "though
I'd question the need for us to add more organizations that
duplicate work already under way."
At the Mackinac conference, the chamber announced several
tech-related priorities. It will:
- Oppose efforts by local units of government to ban cell
phone use while driving.
- Work with the MEDC to develop a comprehensive broadband
strategy for the state and region.
- Advocate a wireless Internet network for the region.
- Support legislation that would uniformly regulate cell
tower locations.
Good points all. But still, after all the talk about the
need to speak with one voice and somehow bring all those
technology advocacy groups together, the chamber's well-intended
offer to assume that role seems pretty ambitious and a bit
self-serving. It seems to me the best way to bring real unity
to the high-tech community is to call a summit of all those
groups and let them form their own coalition under their
own banner.
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