Arkansas Business Looks at NWA as a Tech Hub
In this week's Arkansas Business Executive Q&A, IA adviser Jeff Amerine of Startup Junkie admits that back when Innovate Arkansas was launched in 2007, the tech startup ecosystem in Arkansas was "pretty bleak."
Fast forward eight years, and northwest Arkansas has transformed into a true tech hub.
More this week from AB's Marty Cook:
Northwest Arkansas isn’t California’s Silicon Valley and has a long way to go before it can be considered remotely comparable, but technology industry leaders say the area is proving to be on the short list of best places in the field.
The concentration of huge, profitable companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Tyson Foods of Springdale and J.B. Hunt Transport Services of Lowell naturally attracts suppliers and secondary businesses. With the world quickly turning to online business in all manners and forms, information technology has become a vital component of any industry.
Mike Harvey of the Northwest Arkansas Council said the technology sector is one of the fastest growing in the area. New companies are starting up, older companies are expanding, and all are more than dipping their toe into the technology pool.
Bill Akins said he took the plunge years ago, and now he is trying to help others come to the same realization.
Akins is the senior vice president of business innovation at Rockfish Interactive of Rogers, a digital marketing and advertising company. Before that, Akins worked the other side as a supplier for Wal-Mart.
“I saw the writing on the wall many years ago and made that leap into the tech sector,” said Akins, 41, who has been with Rockfish for five years. “You really had this whole collision of physical and digital commerce that was beginning to happen with these thousands of Wal-Mart suppliers that are all within a 3-mile radius here.”
Cook also talks to Amerine, who said NWA was ripe to be a leader in the tech industry. He also talks to some IA client founders as well. Good stuff.
Full story here.