WDCEP Teams Up to Promote #DCTECH at SXSW

Last month, the WDCEP and the District Government partnered with the DC tech community to collectively promote the District’s growing technology economy at SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas – one of the premier conferences in tech world today. DC has long attracted talented and energetic entrepreneurs that have helped its technology industry become one of the leading technology centers in the country. This initiative, however, marks the beginning of the WDCEP’s efforts in collaboration with District Government to attract both much needed talent to DC’s tech companies, but also to attract new tech startups and entrepreneurs to the city.

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To kick off the conference, the WDCEP and Tech Cocktail hosted the first official DC Tech Meetup at SXSW. The event attracted over 300 RSVPs, including Mayor Gray! During the meetup, Frank Gruber, CEO of Tech Cocktail live interviewed Mayor Gray and former CEO and cofounder of AOL, Steve Case. Mayor Gray discussed the importance the tech community plays in the District’s economic growth and his hopes to see the DC tech community become one of the most competitive technology hubs on the East Coast. Click here to watch the full interview.

Following the DC Tech Meetup, the WDCEP and District Government partnered to host a #DCTECH Dinner Roundtable with Mayor Gray and local startup leaders to discuss ideas on how to make DC more competitive with other major technology hubs. Mayor Gray, in his opening remarks, discussed his vision for economic growth in the city with his 5 Year Economic Development Strategy. “One of the things we try to do is to layout an economic development framework for the continued growth of our city,” said the Mayor. The Mayor explained further and said that his development plan has “two principle goals, and that is to be able to generate a billion dollars in additional revenue…and also create 100,000 new jobs”. The Mayor said that growing and developing the technology arena is a key component of achieving these development plans.

The roundtable event was highly effective in bringing attention to what the DC tech community needs in order to be successful and thrive, and provided a rare opportunity for ideas to flow freely between Mayor Gray and local tech entrepreneurs.

If that’s not enough, Mayor Gray also took the time to host office hours at Startup America Partnership’s Startup America Live with entrepreneurs interested in moving to DC or doing business with DC companies.

All-in-all, it was a very successful mission. WDCEP is already looking ahead to make DC’s presence at next year’s SXSW even better. If you are interested in being a part of next year’s mission, contact Tiffany Thacker at tthacker@wdcep.com.