Some thoughts about how to grow the technology ecosystem in Memphis

1. Innovation &
Technology
Council

2. Today: Technology is the number one source of wealth generation in US but
in Memphis no umbrella organization is focused on improving our
innovation capacity in our schools, companies and organizations to ensure
we have the talent and organizational capacity to grow our economy.
Where’s the
Technology &
Innovation
Focus?

3. Result: Lots of activity and duplication but little synergy
and limited ability to make a real difference.
1. No single place to find out about all Tech & Innovation related events & groups
2. No formal programs to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across non-competitive
organizations
3. Knowledge transfer velocity slower as limited knowledge sharing
4. Difficult to scale as no single group has the resources and brand to really develop world-class
programs & events
5. No organization devoted to driving the integration of technology and innovation techniques into
educational system
6. Minimal technology & innovation education opportunities for students and non-techies who
want to learn but don’t know where to start
7. Hard to really achieve what’s possible or desired as everyone working on the events working
after hours. Hard to sustain the focus between work and kids.
8. Limited cross-pollination between universities, schools, industry and other organizations

4. Benchmark: Other Regions have entire organizations devoted to
elevating their region’s innovation and technology quotient by
making collaboration and education easy.

5. Opportunity: Create a Memphis Innovation & Technology Council with a
paid executive director to drive collaboration, education and innovation
capacity as there are many different organizations that would participate
and benefit from the collaboration and organizational infrastructure.

6. Goal: Drive community-wide collaboration, education,
advocacy and access to drive innovation excellence &
technology adoption
• Collaboration:
Provide the organizational infrastructure to make it easy for groups to thrive, e.g.
single place to advertise events, support hosting events, etc..
Help put together larger initiatives across multiple organizations
• Education:
Increase the frequency, variety and quality of innovation and technology education
available from elementary to professional level
Grow the quality and size of the talent pool
• Advocacy:
Create and drive adoption of Memphis innovation and technology vision for entire
community
• Access:
Help grow access to the latest technology and innovation for all socio-economic
levels and organizations

7. K-12: The goal is to make technology education part of
the core curriculum instead of an occasional afterschool
activity for the lucky
• Identify:
Find working models and funding sources that can be implemented locally
during and after school
• Experiment:
Implement various approaches and measure and then modify based on what
works and doesn’t work
• Advocate:
Push to make technology education a core part of the curriculum for all
students