Connecting Inclusion and TBED
One of the more commonly used acronyms in today’s business development arena is the term TBED or “Technology Based Economic Development”. In short, TBED efforts seek to identify and commercialize new technologies that have the potential to become significant new businesses which in turn help to revitalize regional economies, create new jobs, regain our country’s competitive advantage, etc. The challenge with most TBED efforts is that they generally fail to fully engage the broader community – particularly the historically underserved populations of minority groups and women. While I have seen a noticeable increase in the involvement of women (though clearly there is more work to be done) - led by such organizations as Springboard Enterprises, Phenomenelle Angels, and Golden Seeds LLC., to name a few; minority populations remain significantly underrepresented. Given the documented realities of our shifting national population trends which call for ethnic minorities to represent roughly half of our nation’s population over the next 20+ years, we can no longer afford to not fully engage all members of our community in TBED activities.
As significant TBED resources are invested in our nation’s colleges and universities to help commercialize new technologies, a few areas that our academic institutions can consider include:
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Hiring more diverse professors in Science, Chemistry, Biology, etc.
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Working closer with minority and women focused economic development organizations to form more structured partnerships
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Working with minority executive recruiters to identify top management talent for new ventures
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Connecting with such national organizations as:
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The PhD Project, an organization focused on driving more minority professionals to doctoral programs and business schools - www.phdproject.org
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American Association of Blacks in Energy - www.aabe.org
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Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership - www.httponline.org
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TiE, Inc. - www.tie.org
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As for the host of other TBED organizations in our regional and national community, we simply must do a better job of engaging and connecting with diverse populations. Information dissemination is critical. To ensure that opportunities are being effectively communicated and reaching non-traditional audiences, TBED organizations must adopt new and creative methods of sharing information through diverse media channels and outlets, forming new collaborations with leading minority and women focused organizations, and investing the necessary time and resources to ensure that the connections actually happen and are sustained.
It’s time for new and innovative collaborations to spring up whereby budding new concepts such as TBED are commonly known and embraced by all citizens in our increasingly diverse community.
Darrin is Chief Economic Inclusion Officer of JumpStart and President of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors. He founded and ran his own strategic planning and management assistance firm and spent 16 years in the commercial banking and finance industry. Darrin has an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College and an undergraduate degree from Mount Union College. He has led a series of workshops and seminars on matters of economic development and diversity.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Well said, Darrin. As someone invested in the “tbed” terminology down to my domain name, I agree completely. But the challenges are broader than participation by minorities and women. Americans in general are discouraged from investing in their STEM skills by the near-universal propensity even of high-tech startups to seek lower-cost and often off-shore talent as soon as they are able, as Andy Grove observed in his recent, provocative essay touching on the meaning of the term “China strategy” in the VC community. If we want Americans of all backgrounds to prepare themselves properly for this world, we have to stop pulling the rug out from under them. Our institutions also need to become quite a bit less cynical about their inclusion strategies and really think through the implications of their daily business operations and capital-investment programs outside what are strictly defined as “tbed” areas. You might enjoy my essay on the Columbia Manhattanville campus project: http://tbed.org/2010/manhattanville-the-implications-for-economic-development/ or directly here: http://www.nycfuture.org/content/articles/article_view.cfm?article_id=1259&article_type=5 . You can look for more thoughts on the synergy between high-tech and community-based development strategies when my “blueprint” for Living Cities (about which you and I spoke a year or so ago) finally is published, hopefully soon.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Hi Darrin
Thanks for the shoutout to Springboard. We actually tried to incubate a few ‘clones’ that would provide the same programming and network for minority entrepreneurs. The leaders of those organiations abandoned the projects in order to move upstream to private equity transactions. There’s a huge gap that needs to be filled perhaps a special scholarship program to recruit talented women and minority mid career professionals and guide them through the tech transfer/commercialization/funding process. Great pipeline program is ACTiVATE. http://www.umbc.edu/activate/ and http://www.txstate.edu/activate/ - would be great accompaniments to JumpStart!!
August 9th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
David, thanks a million for your thoughtful reply to my recent blog. I’m a tad tardy in my response as I am just returning from vacation. I completely agree with your position on the broader challenges our community faces in this regard, and welcome the opportunity to work with you to tackle these challenges. I will be sure to read your essay on the Columbia project, and look forward to your blueprint for Living Cities upon its completion. We should definitely try to reconnect soon to explore opportunities to collectively address these very real challenges…
August 9th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Thanks Amy for your reply to my recent blog, my apologies for the tardy reply as I am just returning from vacation. We are presently looking at some very promising opportunities here at JumpStart to address some of these gaps for minority entrepreneurs through some additional programming, however I very much like your idea about a special scholarship program and would love to discuss further. I will be sure to check out ACTiVATE as I’m always on the hunt for partnering opportunities…