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1. First, ABQ is about 25 years late. They should have recognized their over-reliance on government spending in 1990, after the Cold War ended. ABQ is hardly the first city in the world to try to create a little Silicon Valley-like innovation district. Most are not successful, and those that do generally take at least a decade for a positive impact just to be felt. This "Field of Dreams" they are building will not attract talent and investment overnight.
Meanwhile, as the city tries to spruce up downtown, the Central & Tramway area is crumbling into a ghetto as bad as any in ABQ. It looks like they can't put the fires out fast enough.
2. The board selection process is classic government. Guess what? Every government agency, including UNM, has appointed their politically connected, paper pushing administrator or corporate "Yes" man to the board. The result is that Innovate ABQ is going to cater to the special interests of these bureaucratic organizations, not real job creation.
3. The singular tech entrepreneur appointment (who is still government affiliated, by the way) declined a seat on the board. Now, it seems people are more upset that there are not enough minorities on the board than the fact that there are no tech entrepreneurs.
4. From the article linked above:
Quote:
Education is important, Berry said, highlighting the “Homework Diner” program at Manzano Mesa Elementary School, which provides a weekly meal for families, along with homework help for the students.
Umm, ABQ's master plan to reduce reliance on government spending is...another government program to feed poor children? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for feeding the hungry, but is this about attracting the best tech talent and entrepreneurial risk takers, or simply trying to keep the roof from collapsing? On Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, food is pretty low on the pyramid, so if you are still working on that level, you got a long way to go before you can think about starting the next Google.
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Less you think this post is all about whining and complaining, here is what I think they need to do:
1. Toss out everybody on the board, including mayor Berry. Appoint 75% venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs. Fill the rest with people who are politically connected to tech corporations and government who can sway investment decisions (e.g. an Intel executive, Tom Udall, etc.)
Anybody who wants to be on the board is by defenition unqualified. As the saying goes "I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member"
2. Focus less on the classic government ideology of building infrastructure and a "Field of Dreams" and more on the people. We don't need another Space Port. Silicon Valley is really just a giant, flat, uninspiring, sprawling office park. It was the people that made it what it is today. As a point of fact, Silicon Valley is not walkable.
3. Recognize that any plan to get off the gov't dole is going to take a minimum of 10 years to start yielding results. Have a long term plan that helps startups obtain funding, reduced rate leases. Sponsor networking events and tech fairs that help people get connected, find employees/co-founders, etc.
4. Sponsor classes, workshops and networking events that teach people how to go from engineer/scientist to tech entrepreneur. NM's problem isn't a lack of tech talent. The problem is that 7 decades of being on the gov't dole has created a welfare hand-out culture from--from the poorest New Mexican all the way up to the best educated scientist with a PhD from Caltech. There has been some work on this lately, but many of the classes are held during working hours--which is exactly the time you can't reach the very people you need to reach.
5. Fix the APD. Fire the Chief and bring in somebody who isn't afraid to let some heads roll. There is no bigger black eye for ABQ than having the APD constantly in the news for murdering yet another innocent by-stander.
6. Stop the crumbling of the Central corridor. This area is going downhill so fast, that it threatens to derail any progress ABQ makes in all other areas. Talented people aren't going to move to a city that is literally decaying before their eyes. The city should condemn abandoned buildings and convert them into park land or some other type of property that will attract people who are economically engaged.
7. Change the school curriculum from 1st grade through graduate school to promote a culture of risk taking, ambition and initiative. Point in case, Silicon Valley is what it is because of Stanford. Most universities, probably UNM included, are infested with anti-business professors who think the profit motive and corporations are evil.
Again, the problem I see with NM is not a lack of education as much as a lack of ambition and risk taking. The irony is that a purely rational person probably wouldn't start a business. But you need people who are willing to take the risk for the good of society. People in NM are more interested in "family" than starting a business, working on their career, etc. I'm all for family, but if thats the only thing you got going, ABQ will never pull itself out of its slump.
Final piece of advice: try to take these suggestions from an objective, detached perspective. Don't get all defensive because I'm pointing critical areas for improvement in the city where you were born and raised, and your whole family lives. If ABQ is going to move forward, it needs to dust itself off, take an honest assessment and move on.
Sorry if I appear somewhat naive. But could someone enlighten me how InnovateABQ is designed to improve the economy of UNM, greater ABQ, and New Mexico for that matter. Are innovation districts something that is unique to many cities or do they exist, but in less concentrated clusters?
I think it's way too early for "epic fail," but the board selection process has certainly not been well-handled. Nonetheless, I imagine it will get substantially ironed out in the weeks and months to come. The buildings will get remodeled and new facilities will be built. At that point, Innovate ABQ's "success" or "failure" will end up in the hands of UNM students, their professors, and the companies and start-ups that come to take advantage of UNM and Sandia tech transfer. It strikes me as very unlikely that this won't happen - for one thing, they're already coming without Innovate ABQ.
Will Innovate ABQ utterly transform Albuquerque and New Mexico into the next Silicon Valley and revolutionize the local and state economies? That's probably no more likely than your bullet #7 above, but I don't think it's ever been particularly likely irrespective of the way Innovate ABQ is executed.
Will it attract students and researchers interested in tech and entrepreneurship from throughout the state, contribute to the substantial renewal of at least a portion of downtown, and incrementally move our economy in the right direction by encouraging tech start-ups and providing budding would-be entrepreneurs with a physical example of the city and university's interest in and committment to them? I think so. It doesn't need to be a wild success in order to do this...the simple existence of a UNM facility downtown with these stated goals will do a lot to move the needle.
Look at Tucson...voters approved a major package for downtown renewal more than a decade ago and despite huge inefficiencies and major missteps the area is today almost unrecognizable. The downtown economy is substantially more vibrant and will attract more millennials and other would-be downtown dwellers - and their ideas and expertise - as a result. Has Tucson as a whole been transformed into an economic powerhouse? Not at all...but the simple fact that large sums of money have been injected into the downtown area has really turned things in that part of town around. I expect Innovate ABQ's impact on downtown Albuquerque to be similar, and the additional focus on technology, innovation, and economic growth might give our local economy a valuable nudge in that direction as well. Things don't need to be revolutionary to be beneficial, and at this point in our long period of stagnation that's good enough for me.
ABQ has always been at least 10 years behind on everything from commercial recycle (many large companies require it) not to mention poor infrastructure, and a very lame government that has absolutely no idea how to create wealth except lining their own pockets.
I was currious about the current Innovate ABQ board members, so I did a little research. I was pleaantly surprised at some of the members. Others, not so much.
The two finance guys make absolute sense. A big problem startups have is funding. These two will be great assets in this area.
Terry Laudick, NM Eductors FCU. NM Educators put up over half the funds to make this possible and they want to protect their investment. Logical and fair. Mr. Laudick has an impressive bio, including marketing experience, and is active in organizations in and out of NM. Seems like a well-rounded executive, and as involved as he is in assorted (but related) groups, hopefully he'll see both inside and outside the box.
Charles Wellborn, retired from STC.UNM. Go read the mission statement of STC.UNM, you'll understand their involvement in this project. Mr. Wellborn has a good background in tech company development and venture capital.
Those two I like, now that I've looked them up.
Onward…
Richard Larson, UNM. My first thought was "oh joy, stuffy administrator". I'm happy to say I may be very wrong. The guy has a very impressive bio, including extensive patents in the bio tech area and serves on several boards. Keep in mind, part of the vision for Innovate is to expand our technology footprint. Viewed that way, Mr. Larson isn't a bad choice at all.
David Harris, UNM. The weakest of the UNM members, IMO, but someone has to be on the board to watch/protect UNM's investment, which I can't say I blame UNM for. I do think there are better suited representatives from UNM, this one is a tad too political. I'd have preferred someone from Anderson, but hey, what do I know?
Patricia Vincent-Collawn, PNM. Wow. She should have been on this board from Day One, if not before that. Being female has zilch to do with it. Google her, read her bio - it's impressive and relevant. I especially liked what others had to say about her. She's definitely not a 'we've always done it this way' person and seems very open to change. Good choice if for no other reason that that.
Mayor Berry. I get it, someone has to represent the city. Personally, I'd have preferred to see Gary Oppedahl as the city rep.
A local business person commented a couple of weeks ago after the announcement of the original board and noted that the first board will be repsonsible for the physical development of the facilty. You have to have that in place, completed, before you can begin the innovate part and developing people/businesses/leaders etc. His observation was what the board needs now is not what it will need down the road, and it should match the board to the needs now; then grow and change members as needs change. I can't find the link to his interview, but it made sense. The question is, though, will the board be willing to do that - grow, change and adapt as the project grows and changes?
I'm thinking Innovate ABQ may not be the epic fail that the OP fears.
I hope it succeeds and can expand itself into Innovate NM.
Its easy to forget that Berry started his own business (if I remember fairly successful too, but too lazy to look it up) before politics, although I too was also surprise that it was Richard Berry and not Gary Oppedahl on the board.
It is obviously too soon to say its an epic failure or even that it might be, this is the very beginning, you are watching its birth, and sure some thing are going to be messy and it will be a learning experience for many people. I know a lot of people are pouring their heart and soul and time into these projects. Things like this (especially the education parts) take a decade or more to see if they work, but I would guess we have about 3 - 4 years to see truly positive results at that point the city/county politicians will have seen turnover and if there is nothing to show for it the people putting their all in to it will be burnt out or frustrated and resources will be focused elsewhere.
I'm not sure abqcd is paying attention to what is going on in the city, #3, #4 and #6 on the list are exactly what the city is doing, although I understand the complaint about many things during work hours.
Sherman McCorkle, past president of Technology Ventures Corporation, has decided not to serve on the board.
Though the board will grow, McCorkle previously warned that large boards can be unproductive, calling large boards "discussion groups."
The one qualified board member resigned because he didn't want his reputation associated with what he believed is a stillborn initiative. Basically he is saying that UNM has setup a journal club, which is exactly what universities know how to do.
You are really against this huh? They haven't even done anything yet I'm not sure what your hate is for it. But way to put make up words to put in his mouth to support your bias. Here is what he really said:
Quote:
“I fully support Innovate ABQ,” McCorkle told the Journal. “I wanted to provide maximum ability for UNM to use the chair I would have sat in to place another qualified person. I’m available to the university and President Bob Frank at any time, but given the situation and timing, I thought they could use all the flexibility possible.” ~source
Since he doesn't like large boards and they are under heat for lack of diversity, he is not going to join the board to help it be more successful and can find way to help in other ways.
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