Cleveland Technology Town Hall Meeting with Senator Sherrod Brown
April 1, 2008
I had the pleasure of attending a Technology Town Hall Meeting with Senator Sherrod Brown a few days ago.
There were at least 20 individuals from the technology sector in Cleveland, Ohio including leaders from Nortech, WVIZ Ideastream, and OneCommunity.
The round table started with a discussion of stimulus packages that could help revitalize the region.
We also talked about technocratic topics such as tax credits and rent subsidization. Another theme of the round table was the region’s hunger for talent. This is similar to an interesting observation in a Plain Dealer article:
Despite an unemployment rate hovering above the national aver age, Ohio still has thousands of jobs in manufacturing, information technology and other fields that go unfilled for lack of skilled workers, officials say.
While the meeting went fairly well, Cleveland’s weak economic conditions is not something to celebrate.
Cleveland business leaders seem open to discussing ways to transform the region’s economy. Unfortunately, slim operating margins makes it challenging for businesses to invest in forward-looking initiatives that could bring about that kind of economic revival.
Many business leaders probably feel caught between wanting to invest in long-term workforce training and fearing that making those kinds of investments in a tough economic climate could force them into bankruptcy before those investments paid off.
Cleveland has the homegrown talent to succeed. But it is up to Cleveland business leaders to balance the short term interests of their companies with long-term investments in coaching, on the job training, and developing their existing employees.