Technology Policy: What goals should be included in a long-term Digital Roadmap for Baltimore?

Since 2007 I've visited or otherwise participated in the tech startup culture in London, Berlin, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Paris, Baltimore, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, DC, Philadelphia, New York, Moscow, Tallinn, and Zagreb. Based on these experiences, I can say that Baltimore is unexceptional. It has the necessary conditions for success (talent and capital, primarily), but trails most of these other cities in important ways. First, Baltimore is a small city. Of the startup communities I listed, only Tallinn is smaller (at 400,000 people). However, culturally, Estonians celebrate math and science and have the good fortune to have built most of their governmental systems in the last 20 years from scratch (using open source software). They also have one major tech success (Skype — valued at well over $3bn total in multiple acquisitions) which has had a major trickle-down effect on that community. Overall, Tallinn seems to have a more vibrant tech community than Baltimore. Second, leadership matters. Cities that are explicitly seeking out opportunity in the tech arena on the global stage seem to be thriving. Cities that have good endemic leadership from entrepreneurs within their communities also seem to be doing well. Baltimore's civic and governmental leaders have made little to no effort to establish the city on the world stage from a tech entrepreneurship perspective, and there are too few internal entrepreneur champions working on developing the community. Baltimore gets by only in spite of itself. In contrast, New York's Mayor Bloomberg has made it a priority to compete with Silicon Valley. In Zagreb, the Croatian president Ivo Josipovic is eager to establish his country as a tech hub in eastern Europe. Startup Chile has literally put that country on the global stage. Vibrant communities in Philadelphia have sprung up around coworking facilities, while we struggle to maintain interest in them here. In the end, the trouble with Baltimore may just be that there are too few people here. Or, put another way, because of suburban sprawl, people are spread out over too wide an area to ignite a vibrant scene in the city. Despite all of this, I remain bullish about Baltimore — but a long-term view is required. Baltimore is one of the only cities on the east coast to lose population between 2000 and 2010. To thrive as an entrepreneurial city, it simply must reverse its population decline. While the Mayor has made this a priority, it is not clear that the State government or residents in the rest of the state concur. Arguably, Maryland's leadership has been more concerned with building casinos than with promoting entrepreneurship. That is a losing strategy, and every minute spent worrying over gambling is a delay for Maryland and for Baltimore. A trifecta of macroeconomic forces can reverse Baltimore's fortunes: an increase in gasoline prices, increasing road congestion, and a disdain for car commuting (and preference for city living) amongst the millennial generation. That has the potential to reverse Baltimore's population decline, drive density in the city, and promote a rich entrepreneurial community that would rival any in the world. Until that scenario emerges, the primary obstacle is leadership. While top-down governmental efforts are less important than macroeconomics, a strong policy agenda can at least create a shared sense of purpose and project a set of intentions. The Mayor and Governor should immediately develop and champion a vision where a new Digital Baltimore is the heart of an urban, transit-oriented, greener Maryland. Members of our community also need to lead. We need to cultivate and promote new leaders. We need to stop recycling the same people and ideas. Another interview with Brenner, Subelsky, Troy, Hardebeck, Hazlett, Cangialosi, Fowler, etc, is not going to move us forward. We need more channels for developing leaders and more people who are willing to put aside their own agendas and egos in favor of others'. Lastly, our community needs to get a more global perspective and lose any illusion that we are outperforming all but the most hopeless of places. We have raw potential here, yes, and we have some good groundwork in place. However, other cities all around the world are rapidly overtaking us. Boosters may point to the many events happening here, and I agree they are good events, and even higher-quality events than many of those happening elsewhere. But they are largely on-par with those in other cities. In many important ways, we are now underperforming our peers around the world. Barring a scandal, Baltimore and Maryland will most likely be under the same leadership through at least 2020. The next Mayoral election will most likely be in 2016 (because of likely changes to election law), and the Mayor will be eligible to be reëlected for another four-year term. Governor O'Malley will be in office through 2014, and Lt. Governor Brown is his most likely successor. So to create change in Baltimore in the next eight years, we need to educate this leadership team on what must be done, while also waiting for macroeconomic effects to take hold. I'm long on macroeconomics, and am doing what I can (like serving on the board of Live Baltimore) to address population growth. But in the end it's incumbent on all of us to work with our leaders to help to demonstrate a clear need for forward-looking, city-focused economic policies. And our colleges and universities must finally start feeding human capital into Baltimore, instead of passing people through it. The best thing Baltimore has going for it is its geography. It's a wonderful, compact, beautiful, well-preserved 19th century city in the center of a megalopolis — with amazing history, culture, and people. The only thing keeping Baltimore from growing and outperforming every city its size is a lack of true leadership, and any digital roadmap must identify the leaders and structures which will help drive it forward.

What has been said here already is strong enough. The only thing I caution is thinking too short term. While I agree with many of the goals outlined here, thinking only in terms of what can be accomplished today or tomorrow without being mindful of the fact that making Baltimore a city with a self-sustaining technology ecosystem (yes, I use that word, and I like it, so there), requires a GENERATIONAL mindset. It also requires a mindset that is not single-technology specific (IT, for example) or places communities at odds with each other (suburban commuters vs. city dwellers). So, I challenge you all to think a bit bigger (geographically and conceptually) a bit longer (I'm thinking it will take 20-30 years), and a bit more inclusive, and perhaps something will happen here. In the meantime, just make great things. Get things done. Keep investing. Don't leave once you're a success. Support other entrepreneurs. Participate. Encourage emerging entrepreneurs. Invest your time and your money as an investor and mentor. Don't count on the government to make it happen for you -- many of them have no idea what it takes to make a successful enterprise work. To sum it up, the goal should be one of LONG VISION, PERSISTENT AND CONSISTENT ACTIVITY, and INCLUSIVENESS. Everything else are tactical execution steps on the long road to this strategic vision.

The way we can support and foster the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship in the city is to support and foster what already works in the city. Access To Capital: Accelerate Baltimore / TEDCO works! Figure out how they do it and replicate. Incubation: ETC works! Figure out how they do it and replicate. Showcases: TechBreakfast works! Replicate! Youth Education: The EDAC at Morgan works!! Local Tech News: Technically Baltimore / Baltimore Weekly Developer Engagement Bmore on Rails Ron does an amazing job at promoting the TechBreakfast, but beyond that, why aren't any of these other programs touted in the Bmore Tech FB group?? As far as i'm concerned the ENTIRE COMMUNITY should have been behind Accelerate Baltimore. How involved were the leaders in mentoring the 4 Baltimore startups in that accelerator? It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit Instead of everyone going off and trying even more of their own programs and initiatives which we don't know will work, why not just get behind the programs that are already tried and true?

The more I ponder this, the more I think Mike Subelsky is on the right track. As Dave Troy keeps emphasizing, innovation and entrepreneurship ( serendipity, ideation, etc.) require face-to-face interaction. How do you foster more of this? Add more people, of course. As you add more people, new leaders emerge and greater influence over public policy becomes more plausible. But, how to add more people? The first step is to stop losing people. Plenty of twenty-somethings are naturally drawn to downtown Baltimore, testament to its still-existent reputation as a regional center. But, then they leave once their kids near school-age. (Some may still technically remain in the city, but they move to the suburb-like Roland Parks or Mt. Washingtons. They're still contributing to the city's tax-base, but no longer tightly bound to the interactive core of the city.) Anyway, who can blame them? 1. Baltimore isn't kid-friendly, at least not by the standards of these young parents (who, themselves, grew up in the suburbs). The schools have a bad reputation, the parks are frequently in bad shape, the open spaces are few and far between, and there aren't many other kids around for their kids to play with. 2. Our transportation infrastructure facilitates and encourages suburban living. The red line might happen. The widening of the beltway is always happening. Unfortunately, making Baltimore more kid-friendly and attractive to parents of young kids is a daunting, multi-faceted, expensive task. And major transportation decisions are frequently beyond the influence of intrepid city boosters. (Also "increase gasoline prices", "increase road congestion", and "make car commuting unattractive" aren't action items that are within reach.) But, I still think it comes down to adding more people. Conveniently, there are thousands of young people in the city who are hungry for opportunity, hope, and direction. They need to be welcomed, brought, and integrated into Baltimore's digital community. I like all of Mike Subelsky's ideas (e.g., academy of software engineering, “software maker” curriculum, etc.), but they are longer-term in scope. However, mimicking LivingSocial's Hungry Academy can be done now. The goal, though, shouldn't be "foundational" computer programming skills. The goal should be growing specific skills that Millenial, Advertising, UA, Parking Panda, Groove, 410, etc. need and want. (In exchange for getting "their skills" taught, would these companies be willing to finance the academy to some degree?) Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, much less an innovator. However, plenty of people have the potential to be a software developer. Chart the path, show the destination (the job, the boss, the company, the pay), provide the hardware/software, and recruit the post-high-school-age candidates into the curriculum(s). As this "industrial commons", as Mike terms it, develops and grows in the city, these new software developers (who already have roots in the city) feed the growth of our existing startups, widen the talent pool, attract new tech companies, and strengthen the city as a whole. Eventually, the city will have the resources to make itself more kid-friendly and, further on, the sway to influence transportation decisions. Recommendation: Establish a Baltimore "Hungry Academy" to turn the city's opportunity-starved young adults into software developers that our existing startups are eager to hire.

I don't have a lot to add to these awesome ideas. There are some things we can do at the tactical level, like what @Mike Brenner suggested, or what I've written about on my blog, but if we want to make Baltimore into the vibrant, globally-competitive tech city it has the potential to be, we need big investment from local business, nonprofit, and government leaders (in that order) of time, resources, and social/relationship capital. As a first, modest step, we have fledgling/grassroots institutions and events that could use more stable financing and support. http://gb.tc is doing kick-ass work on a small budget, imagine what they could do with a big checkbook and a visible, public mandate?  Or what if Betascape was able to pay for a full-time organizer? Or if What Weekly and Technically Baltimore got a grant or an investment to expand their mission? As a second, more involved step, we NEED to get moving on education initiatives. One main limiting factory for tech company formation and growth is simply a lack of an "industrial commons" of smart, connected, trained people moving from company to company.

I think Baltimore and its private tech boosters need to realize that, unlike other cities, Baltimore will draw a lot of its tech talent from the suburbs, including, maybe especially those from the south. Baltimore also needs to be more of a 24/7 town.  The water taxi line from Maritime to Locust Point stopping at 6:45p is too early, real work gets done later than that.  Coffee shops don't open until 8a?  Not useful. I think the tech companies that we already have need to boost community.  http://Advertising.com/AOL is a great example.  We need more of that.

We should have our own version of the digital roadmap, with clearly defined goals created after aligning government, business, and non profit stakeholders. Your point about the linkage between density (as a result of transit oriented planning) and growth of new business and population is important.  Due to the lack of resources, I think the private sector will need to take a leading role in many of these efforts.  Careful planning (pruning, so to speak, areas of baltimore that are dying and encouraging dense growth in others) will lead to a vibrant core which would definitely draw more residents.

Dave and Mike -- Seriously a lot in your answers. Wow. I'm going to toss out just a simple suggestion to be included in a digital roadmap for Baltimore: build technologies and new enterprises that offer solutions and alternatives and connections and engagement to/with the "voiceless" citizens of this city -- the kids and students, the elderly, the poor, the drug addicted, and the forgotten. I think the best way to build a tech community is to look into the heart of our city and make things right here -- things with a Baltimore accent, if you will -- that will help it get healthier. I think that starts by engaging those with the most to lose -- those most often left out of the decisions and those who don't have a choice to move to a safer neighborhood let alone Silicon Valley -- in learning how to use, make, and dream up technologies and designs and ideas that directly effect their own lives and the lives of people in the neighborhoods.

I don't know how to say anything better then what has been said here. I think we should take a look at what has and hasn't worked for other cities. Look at other developing and developed cities. Make the overall messaging clear and concise. Realize that these solutions may take local, state, regional, and federal participation to complete. My Alumni Johnson & Wales University "America's Career University" as they coined themselves. They have the companies come into the classes to do demonstrations, share knowledge and experiences, help develop and add real world experiences to the curriculum. Case Studies and Internship... Practical experience matters... I've also seen Chambers of Commerce, BWI Partnership, and many public and private organizations work together for the common good of the community. Tech or Non-Tech a better community is good for all citizens of the community.