Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Archives for October 2011

Something Amazing Happened at #EduTechMN Yesterday – Steve Jobs Was in the Room

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[This post was originally published earlier today on Tech~Surf~Blog.]

I felt it. I didn’t know it then, but it may have been at the precise moment Steve was passing. I was sitting in a room of about 100 people, mid-afternoon, listening to a panel of educators at the EduTech MN conference at the University of Minnesota. I was actually finishing a blog post on my MacBook Air, and hadn’t even intended to stay for the panel (the startup pitches were over).

But I was surprisingly drawn in by the discussion. I was blown away by what these people, senior educators, were saying — showing so much passion, speaking from the heart, talking about how kids are learning today. They just lit up as they described how the new tablet and mobile technologies are opening up worlds for these kids like nothing they’d ever seen before. The iPad, the iPod Touch, and all the great software these Apple devices have engendered.

I found myself beaming from ear to ear as I listened to them describe their real-life experiences, with such excitement in their voices.  These aren’t boring educators, I thought!  These are really dedicated, committed people who work on the front lines, whose worlds revolve around how our children learn, and how they can make that process better for them, every single day. And, thanks to technology and a certain company named Apple, they have more and more amazing tools to help them do that. It was a special experience for me, as someone not involved much in the world of education. I’m so glad I stayed.

I sat there and thought to myself — right at that very moment — “Wow, would Steve Jobs be proud to be hearing this right now.”

I like to think he was.

Steve, you didn’t just change technology, media, music, and retailing forever.  You changed education, too — in a big, big way. We thank you. We will greatly miss you.

But we know we’ll see the mark you made on this world for a long, long time to come, in the eyes of children everywhere.

 

[Left to right on the panel: Jesse Thorstad, technology specialist, Fergus Falls school district; Dave Eisenmann, director of instructional tech, Minnetonka school district; Jennifer Sly, MN Historical Society; and Jay Haugen, Superintendent, Farmington school district. The panel was moderated by State Senator Terri Bonoff.]

Tech Cocktail Mixes It Up In Minneapolis

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We were really honored to have Tech Cocktail in town last night hosting its first startup and entrepreneurial mixer in Minnesota. The event was held at CoCo Minneapolis (on the floor of the historic Grain Exchange in downtown Minneapolis).  I’m here to tell you it was a blockbuster success!  More than 200 people were in attendance.

I’ve been *so* wanting these folks to come to our town, and was delighted to represent Minnov8 at the event, along with my colleague Steve Borsch.  Tech Cocktail’s events have the stated purpose of “helping connect, amplify, and showcase the local technology scene” — and it’s now held such events in more than 20 cities, founder Frank Gruber told me.  The local sponsors who made this one happen were W3i and Ovative Group — kudos to them! (And a special shout-out to our friend Kim Garretson.)

It was a really fun evening, with a group of technologists, investors, bloggers, and entrepreneurs as diverse as I’ve seen at a local tech event, mingling and learning about a great group of local startups that were selected by the TechCocktail folks to show their stuff:


Best Attendance – Take attendance, manage event schedules, and update membership rosters online.

BookBottles –  Reserve VIP service at the hottest clubs in the world.

ByME –  A digital community that is powered through user connections and location to provide an easier way to navigate and interact.

Fantools (Four51) –  Connects businesses and customers so businesses can deliver relevant deals to active consumers.

fitparel – Find correct size apparel no matter the brand – just enter a brand that fits you, and they will recommend other brands.

Proliphiq and Shopntella (Echidna Inc.) – Proliphiq delivers credible people, topics, and content to you, while Shopntella lets you shop with the wisdom of crowds.

My Gluten Free Deals –  Deep discounts at gluten free-friendly restaurants and on gluten free products.

ServerCyde – Build web apps for most platforms, in the least amount of time, with only one language and zero server configuration

TelemetryWeb –  Their AgSphere tool helps manufacturers of agriculture technology build solutions that harvest data from the farm.

Toovio Software –  A real-time decision-making solution that is focused on centralized orchestration of each customer marketing interaction across every channel.

Zingstring – An intuitive, web-based interface for non-technical folks (marketers, customer service people, etc) to create pre-programmed conversations that are triggered by keywords in incoming messages, on Twitter, Facebook, SMS, and other messaging platforms.

I shot some pix during the event and posted a Flickr set.  Thanks again to Frank Gruber and his great team at Tech Cocktail!  We’d love to have you folks back soon — how about twice a year?  : – )

Cyberstates 2011 Report Released: Tech Jobs Decline 2%

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TechAmerica Foundation today released its 14th annual Cyberstates report detailing national and state trends in high-tech employment, wages, and other key economic factors. Cyberstates 2011: The Definitive State-by-State Analysis of the U.S. High-Tech Industry covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

The U.S. high-tech industry lost 115,800 net jobs in 2010, for a total of 5.75 million workers. This two percent decline in tech industry employment was less than half of the 249,500 jobs lost in 2009, which followed several years of sustained growth. Over the longer term of 2007 to 2010 – the span of the economic downturn – the tech industry fared better then the private sector as a whole, with a four percent decline in employment versus a seven percent decline in the private sector.

Recap of Minnesota's tech jobs in 2010 - Click image for a larger view

That said, Minnesota’s high-tech industry lost 2,900 net jobs in 2010. Minnesota remained the 17th largest cyberstate, employing 120,800 tech workers with a total payroll of $9.6 billion in 2008.

These jobs are well compensated at an average wage of $79,200 – 74 percent more than the state’s average private sector wage. Tech industry job losses in Minnesota were led by the computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing sector (-1,100jobs) and electronics components manufacturing sector (-800 jobs).

“The tech industry is vital to Minnesota’s economy, led by electromedical equipment manufacturing,” said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, president & CEO of the Minnesota High Tech Association, a TechAmerica partner organization. “It is a tough job market and these numbers are part of a larger trend across the country. Minnesota will recover with policies that encourage education in science and technology and economic development tools such as the data center sales tax exemption recently approved by the state legislature.”

…  [Read More…]

Scalable B2B Platform through Rocware

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The Minnesota-based SaaS company Rocware has recently released an enhanced B2B platform offering, which allows businesses to create, connect, and intuitively maintain their expansive online product catalogs. This platform allows businesses to seamlessly connect to existing and prospective customers through private invitation, technology features found in traditional social media.

This interconnectivity creates an instant conduit for information, which allows businesses to rapidly share updated product images, descriptions, customer specific pricing, purchase order details, and more all in a secured environment. Perhaps more interestingly, these small and midsized businesses can easily exchange messages and fully engage in purchase order and invoice transactions between businesses, without EDI.

The three-member team behind Rocware brings a unique combination of personal experience running product-based businesses, the vision and technical expertise to build a novel solution, and the business knowledge necessary to bring this solution to market. Together their talents represent a complimentary skillset at Rocware. …  [Read More…]