Tech Potential Better for Area

We’ve nagged for the last year about the lack of technology support, financial and otherwise, in Northwest Arkansas. Ron Goforth, general manager of Beta-Rubicon Inc. of Fayetteville, adeptly sums up the situation in this issue’s focus on technology (See analysis, Page 18).

But having completed our report, it’s obvious that the two-county area’s tech sector is moving forward, even if at a virtual snail’s pace. Bill Bowden’s cover story on a new effort to establish a local venture capital fund, and Kyle Mooty’s feature on high-tech cattle breeding show we’ve come a long way.

It’s also exciting to see the University of Arkansas and its Genesis Technology Incubator becoming such an enclave for wireless technology and satellite systems experts and entrepreneurs. Will this spawn the area’s next titan of industry to join the kings of poultry, trucking and retail? What daring venture capitalist will get in on the ground floor?

Any math-minded high school senior who’s still stumped for a career choice should give careful consideration to pursing a degree from the UA’s College of Engineering, which houses its engineering, computer science and technology disciplines. With technology heavyweights like wireless wizard Aicha Elshabini, satellite system entrepreneur Bob Friedman and business recruiter John Maguire now in place locally, the potential for Fayetteville to turn into a high-tech mecca is real.

The next obvious step is to establish a local venture fund that will help keep technology startups and stalwarts here. With more billionaires per capita than Beverly Hills, it’s at best negligent that such a fund has not already been established.

It’s time to apply pressure to the city of Fayetteville, the UA and Gov. Mike Huckabee to market these synergies. Genesis and the UA have got them, but it’s time to flaunt, and most importantly, support them.