“Duluth was trying to develop another economy with technology, like hundreds of others tried,” Link said. “It failed everywhere, not just Duluth.” – J.R. “Rob” Link DNT
It did not fail everywhere. Stupid failed.
We don’t get to be the Galactic Seaport Gateway Harbor to the internets anymore just because we paid some Swedish shysters moneys?? Opportunistic bandwagoneers. What makes this so frustrating is 11 years ago, the same sorts of people (the Dotys, the developers, the councilpersons, the Soft Center representatives [PDF]) were cheerleading and saying exactly the opposite. And it was as obviously /Facepalm then as it appears today.
“The focal point of the Duluth Technology Village will be the Duluth Soft Center, an international information technology development and operations center modeled after a similar program in Ronneby, Sweden, which involves 75 computer software companies and about 1,000 university students. “What the model does is create a synergy between the companies and students and between the companies working with each other,” says Michael McNamara, executive director of Team Duluth, a public-private business development group that has spearheaded the project.” – Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Here is your* Soft Center Duluth today. Or maybe this:
- free recruitment
- relocation assistance
- training and retraining subsidies
- research and development grants
- child care assistance
- free consulting from the on-premise Center for Economic Development
- tailored on-premise training programs from colleges and private firms, college work-study and internship programs
- attractive financial and investment packages
- shared education and training programs
- lead generation, and synergistic linkages
And I will say it again: the most hilarious part of the Duluth Public Library Soft Center clipping archive is watching UMD sloooowly distance, and then pretty much completely remove themselves from the picture. Incubator interns, off-campus classes, “collaborative synergies,” &ct.
