December 16, 2022 — Today, NE Chamber President Bryan Slone announced the formation of Tech Nebraska, a new, statewide organization to cultivate Nebraska’s tech community and drive collaboration, growth and policy.
 
Tech Nebraska will unite and strengthen Nebraska’s statewide technology community by helping drive industry growth and position the state as a leader in the future of technology and innovation, advocate for tech-forward public policies and support the development of a diverse, talented workforce. The organization is in the early stages of formation with senior level information and technology officers joining the founding board, including representatives from Kiewit, Google, Methodist Health System, Union Pacific, Meta, and Workshop, among others.
 
“Nebraska needs a thriving, unified tech sector to help drive its economy, compete for top talent and solve the challenges of tomorrow,” Slone said. “It’s imperative – regardless of whether you run a business in the urban core of Omaha, the shop floor in Columbus or from a pasture in the Sandhills. Every company is a tech company.”
 
The organization is being launched on a solid foundation. Nebraska outputs nearly $4.5 billion in GDP from the information technology sector and ranks in the top 15 states for most tech jobs per capita, a tribute to the work already underway by technology leaders, partners and governmental agencies, Slone said.
 
“We’ve grown our Silicon Prairie reputation by leaps and bounds over the past decade, but our tech community hasn’t reached its full potential yet,” he said.
 
For example, the Milken Institute’s State Technology and Science Index in 2022 ranked Nebraska 34th out of 50th,  a modest gain from 38th in 2020. The Milken Index measures state-level knowledge economies, including their capability to support business formation, job creation, and wage growth. Nebraska also ranked 46th of 50 in the 2022 Global Innovation Index’s most and least innovative states list. 
 
Tech Nebraska will leverage the collective expertise of its members – from McCook to Valentine, Scottsbluff to Omaha – to align with progress in peer states, many of which have had statewide-focused technology associations for decades. It will also partner with existing technology advocates and stakeholders in various regions of the state to build Nebraska’s reputation as a top-tier tech state.
 
In the coming months, Tech Nebraska will continue to recruit new members and begin to set future fundraising goals, as well as hire an executive director and staff.
 
More information will be made available soon, and a website and social media accounts will launch. Companies interested in engaging their chief information and technology officers may contact the NE Chamber for more information at nechamber@nechamber.com or 402-474-4422.

​University of Nebraska (NU) President Ted Carter and NE Chamber President Bryan Slone today announced the agenda for “Innovative State”, Nebraska’s first statewide innovation and tech summit co-hosted by the two organizations. The summit is December 16, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln’s Innovation Campus, 2021 Transformation Drive.    

Business executives, CIOs, operations and systems leaders, developers, researchers, educators and innovators are invited to attend, especially those in agriculture, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, technology and logistics. Tickets for the event are on sale now. For more information, or to register, visit nechamber.com. Conference passes will be available to members of the news media.

Bryan Slone, NE Chamber president, said Nebraska has the potential to be a leader in the technology ecosystem.    
“Global competition in tech and innovation has been heating up for years. The Blueprint Nebraska report identified that tech enablement in our largest sectors is vital to continued economic growth and how Nebraska-made food, goods and services compete globally,” he said. “If we don’t at least keep up, we fall behind. Ideally, though, we lead.”    
The event also includes sessions on:

• The imperative to quickly scale research and development (R&D) and technology investments in core sectors;

• NU’s vision for leveraging research and technology to build Nebraska;

• Accelerating growth in Nebraska’s technology and innovation ecosystem;

• Ag-tech opportunities; and

• Potential public policy solutions by sectors.

“Innovation is a key ingredient to Nebraska’s economic growth,” Carter said. “The University of Nebraska System – consistently ranked among the world’s best in bringing our faculty innovations to the market – is well-positioned to help lead the way. We look forward to gathering together with our partners in business, industry and education to share ideas on how we can do even more to build a vibrant innovation-based economy for Nebraska’s future.”

Joe Kava, Google’s vice president of data centers, will deliver the luncheon keynote address entitled, "Demystifying the Internet: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Where the Internet Lives".
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Event sponsors include Google, Nebraska Public Power District, NextEra Energy, 21st Century Equipment, LLC, Cox Communications, and Hamilton Telecommunications.