Ned Staebler, vice president for economic development and TechTown CEO, wrote an opinion piece for the Oakland Press (subscribers only), which also appeared in Michigan Future, about the need to invest “on Main Street” in order to see real economic development across Michigan. Staebler wrote: “We need to support our existing small businesses and to help create new ones. It’s absolutely imperative that we have another stimulus package either at the state level, as Governor Whitmer has called for in the lame-duck legislative session, or from the incoming Biden administration. It’s equally imperative that the stimulus is focused on the mom-and-pop small businesses that employ more than half of America’s workers. In other words, if we want to see real economic development across Michigan, it requires us to invest on Main Street.”

Detroit is one of six cities chosen for Amazon’s Tech Hub expansion and Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown, an incubator on the Wayne State University Campus, says he isn’t surprised. “Our manufacturing industry is heavily tech dependent, as a result, there is a tremendous amount of tech talent here. I think that’s why you’ve seen Amazon today, the Twitters, the Googles, the other tech companies coming to Detroit." TechTown is located on the Wayne State University campus where the number of students at the College of Engineering and innovation majors has skyrocketed. Staebler says continued investments from a company like Amazon helps to ensure Michigan talent stays in Michigan. More than just proof of how far the city has come and a reminder that Detroit is the place to be, Staebler says today’s announcement helps to inspire and encourage Detroit youth who may have an interest in STEM careers. “If no one you know is working at Amazon or Google or Microsoft, it becomes harder for you to envision yourself doing that. Here’s another visual cue and reminder that these are very real possibilities for Detroiters,” says Staebler. From automotive and manufacturing technology to start ups to tech giants like Amazon, could Detroit be the next Silicon Valley? Staebler says no; Detroit will be better. “We’re going to be Detroit and leapfrog them and move into where technology is going to be in the next 20 or 30 years. Then 50 years from now, people will be saying ‘we’re going to be the next Detroit.’”

The world we’re living in today is faster and more connected than ever before. An estimated 4.1 billion people worldwide use the internet, and that number is rapidly growing. No aspect of our lives and our society is untouched by connectivity. In 2018, 95 percent of Americans spent an average 5 hours per week shopping online; last year 81 percent of mobile phone users in the U.S. accessed the internet via their phones. Fulfilling the potential of connected technology requires public officials to consider and address complex matters such as equity, security, privacy, governance and investment. Comcast Business partnered with Crain’s Content Studio to bring together Michigan technology executives and leaders from Michigan’s state, county and local governments for a discussion of diverse communities’ experiences, best practices and possibilities related to smart technology-enabled infrastructure and public services. Rural communities face unique challenges when it comes to implementing Smart City technology. Across Michigan, an estimated 381,000 households lack access to broadband internet; 368,000 of those households are in rural areas. Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown and vice president for economic development at Wayne State University, points out that similar issues present challenges in urban communities. “We’ve found that urban and rural problems often aren’t very different. They may differ in scale, maybe in density issues, but they’re very similar,” said Staebler, who helped launch the Detroit Urban Solutions program between TechTown, Wayne State University and NextEnergy. That initiative has united practitioners to innovate solutions to a broad range of urban issues using IoT technology. “We really feel that what smart cities are about is leveraging technology to find solutions to citizens’ problems,” he added. Staebler pointed out that disenfranchised populations in both urban and rural communities may simply not know the importance of and opportunities inherent in robust connectivity. “They don’t think it’s for them. They don’t know why this would be beneficial. They don’t know why they need it,” said Staebler. “We need to bring them in and include them in this economy. If we’re designing new solutions to help folks in our communities, we also have to make sure that they know it exists, what the benefits are and how to access them, and that they have the devices and connectedness to do it.”