5 Nuggets of Knowledge: State of Downtown SLC Tech

Last week I was honored to be part of a distinguished panel hosted by Silicon Slopes addressing the state of downtown SLC tech. Productive discussion with Erin Mendenhall, SLC Mayor-Elect; Tina Larson, Recursion Pharmaceuticals COO; Tom Stockham, ExpertVoice CEO; and Jason Hahn, Janiis CEO. A few key-takeaways I found intriguing.  

• Air quality continues to be a top issue for recruitment. – According to a September 2019 Salt Lake Tribune article, “Over three years, the Salt Lake Valley reduced the amount of fine particulate matter in its air…” Though wonderful news and a move in the right direction, Utah air quality remains worrisome to those looking to in-migrate. “There is a great opportunity for a public, private partnership to address this,” Mayor-Elect Mendenhall.
• Misconceptions and myths still exist about Utah’s culture. – Talent being recruited still question Utah’s inclusiveness. “We have an incredibly high conversion rate if we can get the candidate here and experience Salt Lake City. The city offers livability, proximity, recreation, and ever-increasing diversity,” Tina Larson. 
• Secondary tech education isn’t keeping up. – Utah’s higher education continues to climb in national rankings. However, much of the knowledge new graduates obtain is old. “When it comes to college curriculum, my concern is it isn’t updated fast enough to keep up with how quickly innovation and tech are changing. I find myself retraining new hires from what they just learned,” Jason Hahn. 
• We don’t have to be the best right now, but we do have to have a plan. – “Three things matter when attracting talent to Utah, air quality, inclusiveness, and education. We need to thoughtfully and thoroughly articulate what our plan is to improve on those items,” Tom Stockham.  
• Public and private partnership is key. – One thing that echoed throughout the panel discussion was how a healthy public/private partnership could positively impact challenges. From gender pay-gap to air quality to education, all would greatly benefit from collaborative conversation.