Yesterday, Portland City Council voted unanimously to ban facial recognition in Portland, Oregon. It’s being called an “historic” move. And regarded as one of the toughest facial recognition bans in the United States. Here’s a roundup of all the coverage about this historic and precedent setting move.
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I know the headline seems like a rhetorical question. And I apologize. Clearly, we all have. But like so many things in Portland and Oregon, that impact is largely anecdotal at the moment. And nonprofit Built Oregon would like to help quantify it. So that officials at local and state government have a better understanding of the actual numbers of companies impacted.
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It seems patently ridiculous that the so called “Land of Opportunity” would need a jumpstart for entrepreneurship. But that’s where we find ourselves. And once you peel back the veneer, there’s little surprise as to why. Rising cost of living, unaffordable healthcare, crushing student loan debt, lack of access to capital, lack of risk tolerance from investors… the list of negatives go on and on.
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Portland is always said to be an incredibly collaborative place. With all kinds of organizations designed to foster that collaboration. But until recently, we didn’t really seem to have an organization that facilitated collaboration among startups and government. Until Business for a Better Portland came along.
If there’s one thing founders and startups know how to handle, it’s a fire drill. Last minute requests. Crazy deadlines. Random hail marys. It’s all in a day’s work. But stepping outside of that work to help out the community? That’s above and beyond. And yet more than 80 folks took the time do that yesterday in response to a call to action from Business for a Better Portland and PIE which was designed to address a severe case of underfunding activities directed at the Oregon startup community.
I’m a huge fan of Brad Feld’s Startup Communities. (Well worth the read or listen, if you haven’t already. I reread it every year.) And with it, the concept of “leaders and feeders.” That’s the idea that there should be folks who lead the startup community — entrepreneurs — and those that feed the startup community — like government — but don’t attempt to lead. Most startup communities I visit have plenty potential leaders but a dearth of potential feeders. That’s why seeing a reboot of legislation like the bipartisan Startup Act (which, in itself, was a reboot of a previous effort) is heartening. But it’s only a small step forward.
Startups are tackling any number of transportation challenges. And, more and more, government is looking for creative solutions for transportation challenges. So it only makes sense to get those two groups together to figure out how they can collaborate, right? Well, that’s the Greater Portland Tech Challenge.
Truth be told, I can’t even spell entrepreneurship. (I used spellcheck for that.) But there are many folks who can. Among them, there are even a few who understand all the ups and downs of the rollercoaster that is starting a business. And among them, are a select few who recognize and understand the potential impact government can have on startup ecosystems. And Business Oregon wants to talk to those folks.
There’s been a ton of discussion about “big data” from a corporate perspective. But how does it figure in with some of the biggest big datasets of all? New Relic is exploring that question in their next FutureTalk with Chris Reith of Socrata. Read More
Portland is known for buying local. Almost ridiculously so. Isn’t that right, Colin? So it only stands to reason that our technology purchases should follow similar suit. Which is exactly what the Portland Development Commission is proposing to the City of Portland. Read More
