Organizers and supporters of this week’s inaugural FutureLAND conference are expressing firm confidence that the event has the potential to spark a movement of entrepreneurial diversity in technology, arts and culture in Northeast Ohio.
The FutureLAND Conference, scheduled for today and tomorrow at various ventures in downtown Cleveland, features a variety of panels and fireside conversations among and between minority entrepreneurs, tech industry executives, artists, and investors, and political leaders.
The overall focus of the event is on fostering a fertile cultural and economic environment for the growth of minority entrepreneurship in high-technology industries in the region.
Teleangé Thomas
“FutureLAND, as it's been conceived, is to be more than a conference. We’ve talked about it as a movement,” said Teleangé Thomas, chief operations and relationship officer for Cleveland-based JumpStart, Inc., one of the conference’s main sponsors.
The conference is also sponsored and/or supported by the City of Cleveland, the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, the Hispanic Business Chamber, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI), and MCPc, a leading area-based tech company committed to supporting high-tech workforce diversity.
Governmental, non-profit, and business leaders in the region have indicated that they see the conference as an opportunity to provide a space for innovators to network, exchange ideas, and address specific barriers to capital access for minority entrepreneurs. Thought leaders have indicated that the conference could provide the framework for a long-term strategy to further enhance the environment for wide-ranging innovation.
“It’s more than just the two days. It’s a catalyzing opportunity – not an endpoint,” Thomas said, noting that the conference provides intentional space and a stage for minority entrepreneurs, economic development professionals, capital providers, high-tech business owners, and artists to deepen their interpersonal networks to create a “shared vision”.
Government and industry leaders have continuously stressed the need for the public – business owners and workers – to fully grasp the coming technological revolutions, specifically in robotics, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence.
“Over the next 10 years, you’re going to have to have some kind of technology job, or mindset, to make a decent living,” said David Brown, principal, chief executive officer, and president of Nexgen Interactive LLC, a Cleveland-based company, that offers consulting services to businesses using technology to bolster their productivity.
David Brown
Brown said the challenge for Cleveland and the rest of Northeast Ohio has been the historic delay among area leaders and residents to fundamentally recognize and adapt to the disruptive capacity of new technologies. He said historically leaders and individuals have clung to familiar and traditional patterns of education and socialization.
“Corporations and institutions are stepping up to the plate. Other regions are able to put things (strategies) together and get things done. But in Cleveland it’s like pulling teeth. It’s a struggle,” he said. He continued that changing the traditional “all in it for myself” is crucial because technological change is accelerating, not slowing down.
Brown described a future — beyond the next 15 or 20 years — that will be even more threatening to those workers who are unprepared. He said in the intermediate future the employment environment would become harsher for those with little or no technical knowledge or background – reflecting the expected onset of artificial intelligence and singularity, which is a technological gateway for computers and machines to become self-aware. Those without a background in technology will be left without the means to achieve self-sufficiency.
Brown said NextGen is working on a pilot program to introduce public school students to high technology, and give them a path to gain employment in high tech. He said they are also working to assist employed adults in becoming technically proficient by promoting certification in information technology.
The FutureLAND Conference is scheduled to feature a fireside chat with Rich Paul, a Cleveland native and founder of Klutch Sports Group, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, as well as a keynote luncheon speech from Dawn Dickson, serial entrepreneur, inventor, and author. The conference will also include “Pitch Cypher”, an opportunity for entrepreneurs to give sales pitches promoting their businesses, and possibly win a $25,000 grant to help fund their operations. The finale will include a Homecoming concert, featuring Cleveland-born musicians.
JumpStart’s Thomas described the potential for the success of the conference is set a crucial juncture for the region, as well as for the minority community.
“Right now, we’re at a significant moment in time. There is alignment. There is leadership. There is cooperation. Collaboration a shared vision, and an urgency that affords us an opportunity move quickly” to bring things together and make things happen.
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