Why tech and startups flourish in the Washington DMV region

Technology

The DMV region boasts a robust tech ecosystem with significant venture capital investment and robust job availability. Within the broader area, the three regions have different strengths.
In the District of Columbia, there’s a focus on cybersecurity, policy-related technologies, and software development. The US government’s large presence makes for a strong B2B and B2G environment.
Maryland excels in biotech, aerospace and quantum computing, and is supported by major federal research centers and state-level organizations that provide funding and business assistance to startups.
Virginia is a center for defense technology, data infrastructure, and software development, attracting multinational tech giants and becoming a hub for the US data center boom.
TThere’s a strong sense of community across all three, through regular events and conferences that promote networking and collaboration among entrepreneurs and tech professionals.

The DMV region is a bustling hub of innovation and technology. Home to more than 6 million people, it extends across three jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, the Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia. Each brings unique anchors that define a robust tech ecosystem. How robust? Tech job postings in the Washington DC area outpaced even New York City in early 2024, according to industry trackers. Across many small firms and a sizable number of global companies, the region counted more than 270,000 tech industry jobs in 2023. That’s more than triple the similarly sized Philadelphia metro area, and nearly double the Atlanta region’s count. On the funding side, venture capital investment saw a much less dramatic post-pandemic drop in the DMV than the national average, per PitchBook data, with close to $5 billion invested in 2023.   Several factors contribute to this innovation economy strength, but the most obvious is proximity to the center of the United States government and the action on Capitol Hill. Dozens of big-budget federal agencies, from the Pentagon to the Department of Energy, regularly contract with tech firms in the private sector. In part because of this dynamic, the majority of the region’s successful startups are B2B (business to business) or B2G (business to government), though there are plenty of founders with consumer-facing ideas, too.The catalyzing power of government funding in the region is amplified by its wealth of major academic institutions. Public and private universities across the geographies conduct key research, spin out companies and generally prime people for the innovation workforce. Community is another strength. Recurring events like DC Tech Meetup and Unstuck Tuesdays foster connection and collaboration, as does the annual DC Startup Week. This multi-day convening not only connects DMV entrepreneurs, it also draws attendees from around the country for tech and business-related workshops and discussions.With an economy that lets both startups and tech giants thrive, the DMV has been called the “Silicon Valley of the East.” And each geographic zone shines in its own way. Pre-order Innovate Washington DMV Edition by Oct. 25District of Columbia: The nation’s center for power and policyIf someone from outside the region asks a founder or funder where they’re based, they’ll almost always answer “DC” even if they’re really in Maryland or Virginia. But a lot of tech and entrepreneurship activity does happen within the city limits of the US capital. Startups in DC include firms focusing on cybersecurity, SaaS, policy-related products and more. Software development jobs in the district have grown in the past decade, increasing by 53% between 2014 and 2023, according to Lightcast data. Those workers are paid more than double the global average, per Startup Genome’s 2024 report. That study ranked DC the 12th best startup ecosystem globally, surpassing all of the US besides Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston. District government has its own council dedicated to technology and innovation under the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The council has published work like the 2023 Pathways to Inclusion report, which broke down the city’s tech assets, accomplishments and quantitative benchmarks to make recommendations on moving toward a more equitable and robust sector. This is the place where national tech policy gets developed.Plus, this is the place where national tech policy gets developed — setting standards or implementing programs that determine how employers and employees and creators and consumers interact with emerging technologies. For example, the Biden administration in 2023 put out an executive order calling for AI safety standards to be established throughout public and private sectors, and that same year the Economic Development Administration launched its Regional Tech Hubs program to pump millions of dollars into developing ecosystems throughout the country.That policymaking power brings lobbying activity. Tech companies spent more than $300 million on those efforts in 2023, with $74 million of it coming from giants Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft. These big tech companies aren’t just sending envoys to persuade lawmakers — they’re establishing roots, taking up a combined 791,000 square feet of city office space in 2023. Lobbyists are also moving into the venture capital world, which has been growing in DC. Silicon Valley powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz in 2024 announced plans to set up an office in the district, and lobbying firm J.A. Green & Co. announced a partnership with local investment firm Anzu Partners to create a new $100 million fund for defense technology. Local universities also bolster the DC innovation scene. Georgetown has an Entrepreneurs In Residence program where students can get one-on-one mentorship from business leaders. American University offers a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship, as well as an incubator and other programming via its Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship and Kogol School of Business. Howard University collaborated with PNC to launch the PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship. There are also several accelerators housed in the district, including the social impact-oriented Halcyon Incubator, the disabled founder-focused 2Gether-International and a local edition of Techstars, the nationally active early-seed funding firm. NIST’s Gaithersburg, Maryland campus (Courtesy NIST/J. Stoughton)Maryland: A major player in biotech and aerospaceWhat section of Maryland is considered the DMV? Most typically, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, which directly border the district. Some definitions also incorporate the counties of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s that stretch along the waterway south of the capital. Sectors that flourish here include aerospace, biotechnology and quantum computing. The area is home to both NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — considered the nation’s largest organization of space-focused technologists — and the headquarters of Lockheed Martin, a global aeronautics company that does most of its business with the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. The section of Interstate 270 that runs from Bethesda to Gaithersburg has long been called “DNA Alley,” ever since the Human Genome Project launched there inside the headquarters for the National Institutes of Health. The Food and Drug Administration is also located nearby, as are the offices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  State-level organizations play a big role in boosting the Southern Maryland innovation ecosystem.State-level organizations also play a big role in boosting the Southern Maryland innovation ecosystem. The Maryland Tech Council, a major trade association, hosts an industry awards ceremony, an annual conference and other events throughout the year. TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, regularly provides early-stage funding and business assistance to startups in the region.Private sector giants like Adobe, Raytheon and Capital One all have a presence at the University of Maryland Discovery District, which also houses university startup spinouts like the quantum computing firm IonQ and federal offices including the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction. Software development jobs in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties grew over the past decade, increasing in number between 2014 and 2023 by more than 25%, according to Lightcast workforce data. 

Virginia: A locus for defense tech, data and developersA collection of jurisdictions make up the “V” in the DMV. It’s typically considered to include Arlington County, Fairfax County, the City of Falls Church, the City of Alexandria, Prince William County, the City of Manassas Park and Loudoun County Defense, aerospace and cybersecurity make up a great deal of the area’s tech and startup activity.The Pentagon, perhaps Northern Virginia’s most visible federal agency, announces millions of dollars in contracts on a daily basis. Northrop Grumman is headquartered there, designing and developing missile defense and intelligence tech.Arlington skyline as viewed from Georgetown, DC (Ajay Suresh/Wikimedia Commons)In the private sector, multinational tech giants have established a presence in Virginia. In 2018, Capital One relocated its headquarters to McLean and remains a top employer in the region. Amazon, another major employer, opened its second headquarters in Arlington in 2023. That same year, Arlington was dubbed the nation’s smartest city by Forbes (DC came in third), with 76% of adults over 25 holding a bachelor’s degree. The same report, however, noted a major racial attainment gap; less than 1 in 7 of degree-holders were people of color.The Northern Virginia Tech Council, similar to the Maryland Tech Council, is a trade association connecting startup founders, Fortune 100 executives, students, nonprofit heads and many others in between. Software development jobs in Northern Virginia have skyrocketed.Software development jobs in the region skyrocketed between 2014 and 2023, with Arlington and Loudoun counties’ numbers increasing more than 90%. And while Fairfax County didn’t grow quite as fast, it was already big — its 30,000 developers in 2023 outpace other areas in the DMV by far.Fairfax is home to George Mason University, which operates a Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is known for both business and technology education. Though delayed by supply chain issues, the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus is slated to open in Alexandria, in the same complex as a branch of Amazon’s HQ2.Northern Virginia has also become a hub of the US data center boom. More than 300 such facilities were active in the region 2024, handling around 70% of the world’s internet traffic. Amazon Web Services operates more than 50 of them, and with generative AI processing increasing demands, Google announced it was investing $1 billion in building more.

International Workshop on Modern Technologies in Survey-Resurvey for Urban Land Records Inaugurated

Technology

Union Minister of Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Photo Source: @OfficeofSSC/X)

Union Minister of Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, today inaugurated a two-day International Workshop on “Modern Technologies in Survey-Resurvey for Urban Land Records” at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC). The event, organized by the Department of Land Resources, marks a key step in modernizing urban land records in India.

This initiative is part of the government’s broader efforts to streamline land records through the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), which has been operational since 2016. While the program has already made significant strides in rural land record modernization, the focus is now shifting to urban areas. Urban land records, which often suffer from fragmentation, outdated information, and complex maintenance, present a challenge to effective land management and urban planning.
The workshop follows the announcement of the 2024-25 Budget, which highlighted the need for an IT-based system to manage property records. This system aims to update urban land records through digitization and GIS mapping, ultimately improving urban planning, tax administration, and the financial standing of urban local bodies. By leveraging modern technology, this initiative seeks to increase transparency, reduce disputes, and support sustainable development in urban areas.
The workshop aims to unite key stakeholders, including government officials, international experts, and technology providers, to showcase global best practices in urban land record modernization. It will address challenges like standardization, data security, and capacity building, while promoting collaboration to develop actionable policy recommendations and plan pilot projects for selected urban areas.

The event gathers experts from around the world, including representatives from Singapore, South Korea, the UK, USA, and other countries, who will showcase best practices in urban land record modernization. Indian and international technology providers will also exhibit cutting-edge solutions such as drones, aircraft, and GIS software to support these efforts.
The workshop will feature case studies and discussions on emerging technologies, including aerial photography and satellite imagery, to enhance property taxation and urban planning. The event will conclude with a valedictory address by Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications.

This workshop represents a crucial step in India’s efforts to implement more efficient, transparent, and modern land management systems, focusing on enhancing urban development nationwide.

First published on: 21 Oct 2024, 07:26 IST

Did Marvel really kill the movie star? Tell that to Harrison Ford

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Did Marvel really kill off the old-fashioned the movie star? And should anyone with hopes of becoming the new James Dean avoid starring as Captain America like a night out with Proxima Midnight?This ongoing debate first entered the cultural ether around the time that Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola were proclaiming loudly that all superhero movies were basically spawn of the corporate whore of Hollywood Babylon in 2019. The supposed problem was then crystallised intellectually by one Quentin Tarantino in 2022, who pointed out that most Marvel stars would be virtually unknown if they hadn’t got the superhero gig.“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is … you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he told the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast while promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star … It’s these franchise characters that become a star.”More recently there have been rumours that Glen Powell, Hollywood’s current great hope for a return to the era in which swaggering, chisel-jawed All-American (and sometimes European) blokes could open a movie with little more than their pheromones, refuses to take part in Marvel films for precisely this reason. Yes, he might look great as the new Johnny Storm/Human Torch – don’t get excited folks, they already cast Joseph Quinn – but might this also take away his power to open middling rom-coms opposite Sydney Sweeney with little more than a smile that feels like it could sell you a luxury watch?Who better to ask than Harrison Ford, an actor with so much movie star charisma that he could roll out of bed and scowl at his toaster while still coming across as cooler than anything ever in a Fast & Furious flick? And yes, we should probably offer up here that Ford must declare an interest – he has just been cast as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (who in the comics, and a recent trailer, becomes the Red Hulk) in the new Marvel movie Captain America: Brave New World. But still …“I understand the appeal of other kinds of films besides the kind we made in the 80s and 90s,” Ford told GQ. “We’re silly if we sit around regretting the change and don’t participate. I’m participating in a new part of the business that, for me at least, I think is really producing some good experiences for an audience. I enjoy that.”Ford then went on to describe the theory Marvel has killed off the traditional movie star as “rubbish”, adding: “I don’t think the question is whether or not there are any movie stars. There’s wonderful actors coming up every day […] Whether or not they become movie stars is really not the point. If movies need stars, they will find them.”He continued: “I’ve never fucking understood being a movie star. I’m an actor. I tell stories. I’m part of a group of people who work together, collaborate on telling stories. I’m an assistant storyteller. That’s what I am.”It has to be said that we live in a strange world indeed where Powell can apparently achieve more movie star cache by starring in a hyper-cheesy modern-day Shakespeare knock-off than some of the highest grossing, most-watched films of the modern era. But after decades spent struggling in Hollywood prior to his big break in Top Gun: Maverick, the Texan actor clearly isn’t going to mess with the secret sauce. Does this also explain why we never got to see Tom Cruise, Powell’s co-star and reported mentor, as alternate reality Iron Man?skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe problem with this theory is that it stems from a rather conservative sense of cultural terror, firstly that Marvel movies are coming to dominate the landscape, and secondly that anyone who steps into this CGI-heavy fantasy multiverse can never again be “just” an actor.As Ford points out, this is indeed at least partly a nonsense. Scarlett Johansson was iconic as Black Widow, but far more of a star turn as the inscrutably gorgeous Midge Campbell in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Chris Evans showed his post-Marvel range as the narcissistic scion of a family of rich eccentrics in the excellent Rian Johnson murder mystery Knives Out, while Robert Downey Jr recently earned praise for his role as Lewis Strauss in the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer.On the other hand, Chris Hemsworth has never really emerged from Thor’s space viking straitjacket, while Brie Larson has rarely hit the heights of her Oscar-winning turn in 2015’s Room since signing up to play Captain Marvel. So perhaps there is something to the sense that Marvel films subsume their cast members in a sort-of comic book gloop that makes it hard for audiences to remember who they are when they are not participating in an interstellar family feud involving glowing space stones.Perhaps the real question here is whether audiences really want or needs stars like Powell and Cruise any more, though it would appear from the huge success of Top Gun: Maverick that they are pretty sure they do. Then again, if your movie star charisma can’t survive being enveloped in spandex and asked to jump through the multiverse in search of giant space hammers while debating intergalactic ethics with a talking raccoon, perhaps there wasn’t quite so much swaggering charm there to begin with.

Parish the thought: Papal thriller Conclave loses the faith of its fun B-movie convictions

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Open this photo in gallery:Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes in a scene from Conclave.Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features/The Associated PressConclaveDirected by Edward BergerWritten by Peter Straughan, based on the novel by Robert HarrisStarring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John LithgowClassification PG; 120 minutesOpens in theatres Oct. 25Send up the white smoke and slap on your favourite high-thread-count cassock – the world has a new papal thriller in Conclave.Open this photo in gallery:Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave.Philippe Antonello/Focus Features ©2024 All Rights Reserved./Focus FeaturesJoining a surprisingly strong sacramental subgenre that includes The Two Popes, The Young Pope, and, um, The Pope’s Exorcist (can’t have a Heaven without a Hell), the new holier-than-thou drama starring Ralph Fiennes makes a decent enough argument that more filmmakers should say Vati-can rather than Vati-can’t. And if you think this review is already cheesy enough to stink up pews filled with pecorino romano, then prepare yourself for director Edward Berger’s actual film, which is like a mass made entirely of mascarpone. Delicious, if not exactly good for you in molto grande quantities.Adapting Robert Harris’s bestselling novel, Berger’s film is a sometimes zippy, frequently ridiculous drama chronicling the tense election of a new pope following the death of the preceding pontiff. Heading the conclave is Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes), a good man given a thankless job and surrounded by some of the most power-hungry backstabbers in the world.On the side of angels is American Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), easily the most progressive man to ever enter the Church – to an almost comical degree – and thus the long shot for the top job. Opposing him with devilish glee is Italian Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), an arch-conservative who wants to set Catholicism back decades, if not centuries. And in-between is the shady Cardinal Tremblay who, given that he’s played by an eyebrow-wiggling John Lithgow, of course some sort of foul plan in mind.As agendas unfold and nerves fray – including those of Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini, in a largely thankless role that unintentionally echoes the disdain that the Church’s leaders have for their nuns) – Lawrence must navigate shifting realities, long-buried secrets, and a late-film twist that will have audiences alternately shaking their heads or Googling which streaming service currently has the rights to the classic film [redacted].Open this photo in gallery:Brían F. O’Byrne as Cardinal O’Malley and Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave.Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved./Focus FeaturesIt is all exceptionally dishy, B-movie silliness that Berger constantly and annoyingly tries to elevate into prestige-minded drama, muddying everyone’s fun along the way. As with the director’s 2022 remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, Berger constantly looks to his collaborator, the composer Hauschka, to unnecessarily beef the drama up to Hans Zimmer-like levels of intensity. The filmmaker’s lack of faith in the cheap but potent power of his source material would make the most true-blue believer turn agnostic.Fiennes, though, seems to understand the whole assignment best, matching the teeth-gnashing of Lithgow with the steely confidence of a star who knows that he has won his audience over from the film’s very first frame. In another, more hopeful era, Fiennes might have snagged his very first Emmy Award for his work here, given how close Conclave feels to being one helluva HBO Sunday night movie. Let us pray.

TV Talk: Recent books go behind the scenes of ‘West Wing,’ ‘Sopranos,’ ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘thirtysomething,’ ‘Golden Girls’

Arts & Culture, Books

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers reading tips
for recent books about TV.
One of the best aspects of writing about TV is the opportunity to occasionally visit the sets of shows to gather insider intel. A raft of recent books about the industry take readers behind the scenes as well, including:
“What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to ‘The West Wing’ ” ($35, Dutton) by “West Wing” cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack goes behind the scenes of the classic NBC drama, timed to the 25th anniversary of its premiere. It’s as warm and winning as the series itself, a must-read for fans (aka “Wingnuts”) that wisely forgoes a complete episode guide in favor of a deeper dive on select episodes (weird, though, that the post-9/11 special “West Wing” episode gets ignored). Yet at more than 500 pages, this doorstop of a book is longer than it needs to be, veering away from the making of a TV show to frequent digressions on the preferred charities of the show’s cast members (this fits the authors’ narrative but is skippable for readers interested only in the show).
While the authors spill some tea about casting coulda-beens — Eugene Levy auditioned to play Toby, the role that went to Richard Schiff; CCH Pounder was a finalist to play press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney got the part) — there is literally just one incidental mention of Moira Kelly’s Mandy Hampton. The book chronicles in detail the casting of every other Season 1 series regular except Moira Kelly, and there’s nothing in the book about why the character was written out of the series.
“What’s Next” also fails to address the arrival and disappearance of a dozen other characters, which would have been easy and helpful to address (it’s probably because creator Aaron Sorkin wrote on the fly week-to-week and the show didn’t make long-term deals with guest cast, meaning they may or may not be available to return). “What’s Next” does tackle the departure of Rob Lowe’s Sam Seaborn and series creator Sorkin, but given the book’s length, its omissions disappoint.
“Hits, Flops and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood” ($29, Gallery Books): TV and film writer/director Ed Zwick recounts his experiences as a filmmaker, which in television includes making “thirtysomething,” “My So-Called Life” and “Once and Again” with writing partner Marshall Herskovitz.
The book’s focus is on Zwick’s film work, which includes directing “Glory,” “Legends of the Fall,” “The Last Samurai” and filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Love and Other Drugs,” which may leave TV fans disappointed. Among his series, Zwick spends the most time on “thirtysomething” but his other shows get short shrift (there’s just one mention of “Relativity,” which starred Pittsburgh native David Conrad).
Setting that aside, “Hits, Flops and Other Illusions” delivers a well-written, fairly honest portrayal of the frustrations of working in Holly­wood, including Matthew Broderick’s mother trying to tinker with the script for “Glory” and getting rudely ghosted by Julia Roberts when she bailed on starring in “Shakespeare in Love,” which led the film to be shut down until it was revived by Harvey Weinstein, who elbowed Zwick out of the production when the film finally got made a few years later.
“The Girls: From ‘Golden’ to ‘Gilmore’: Stories About All the Wonderful Women I’ve Worked With …” ($18, IndigoRiver Publishing): TV writer Stan Zimmerman offers an admirably candid account of his time in the TV comedy trenches, dishing on who was the nicest “Golden Girls” star (it’s not Betty White) and even raising an eyebrow at the aloofness of friend Amy Sherman Palladino (“Gilmore Girls”). This book leans more toward personal memoir than deep dive into the inner workings of TV, but there are still industry insights to be gleaned, including the value of managing with kindness rather than fear.
“On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life on Set with ‘The Sopranos’ and in the Film Industry” ($25, Steerforth Press): Author Mark Kamine delivers a nitty-gritty account of life on the set of a film/TV series, particularly working behind the scenes in the locations department of the HBO hit. Kamine is not afraid to offer a warts-and-all portrait of the effect of fame on some “Sopranos” cast members, including a perpetually late-to-set James Gandolfini, bedeviled by substance abuse issues.
Weirdly, Kamine does pull punches elsewhere, not naming the cop drama where he skimmed from petty cash as producers used production resources to finance the construction of a liquor store and the successful director who seemed too big for his britches on “The Sopranos” (a quick IMDB search shows it was likely Fox’s “New York Undercover” and director David Nutter).
This is a personal account that mixes memoir elements, particularly his frustration around not advancing in his career (including the suggestion of plagiarism from a “Sopranos” spec script he wrote), with tales of the abusive nature of some film/TV producers. And he does it with how-the-sausage-is-made frankness. Kamine now works as an executive producer on “The White Lotus,” so he’s made a large career leap, but the book, which includes a foreword by “White Lotus” creator Mike White, ends before Kamine reaches that level, leaving readers with a frustrating tease for a possible sequel.
“Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy” ($30, Atria): Former CNN host Brian Stelter chronicles the downfall of Tucker Carlson and the crazy-pants punditry that slandered Dominion Voting Systems, resulting in Fox paying $787.5 million to settle Dominion’s lawsuit. Although the book is categorized as “political science,” it’s as much about the inner workings of a TV network where executives were unconcerned that hosts spouted untrue talking points as long as they coddled the network’s viewers. Stelter combs through court records, providing context (and insider’s observations) that do more than regurgitate the well-known contours of the Fox-Dominion case.
“Apocalypse Television: How ‘The Day After’ Helped End the Cold War” ($37, Applause): This deep dive by author David Craig is more about politics than the particulars of making a TV movie. Craig explores the production of the 1983 ABC nuclear war drama “The Day After,” how it was used by both doves and hawks to prop up their agendas and how The White House and President Ronald Reagan reacted to the film. The emphasis is less on the making of the program and more on its cultural and political impact, particularly Craig’s thesis that the film played a role in changing Reagan’s strategy and tone regarding the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. “Apocalypse Television” is a little dry at times but springs to life with descriptions of NATO war games that almost initiated a nuclear strike.

You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at [email protected] or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, X, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.

BBC’s John Stapleton reveals Parkinson’s diagnosis in heartbreaking film with son

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Nationally renowned news journalist John Stapleton, who has presented programmes such as Newsnight, Panorama, and Good Morning Britain in his 50-year career, has revealed for the first time his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s in a touching film with his son and BBC presenter Nick Stapleton. Talking about his diagnosis, John shared: “Speaking is how I’ve…

Italian tech company Bending Spoons has eye on US for potential IPO

Technology

MILAN : The head of Italy’s Bending Spoons says Milan is a great location for a start-up but he would probably favour New York were the tech company that owns services such as note-taking tool Evernote and photo editor Remini to list.The Italian app developer, whose products count 200 million monthly users, is seen as a potential candidate for a public listing after a string of acquisitions this year, including file-sharing service WeTransfer in July.Chief Executive Officer Luca Ferrari, who co-founded the company in 2013, said there were no firm plans for an initial public offering (IPO) but Bending Spoons was working to be ready for it, and looking beyond Europe.”If and when we choose to pursue an IPO, we’ll evaluate all reasonable options. Today, we have a slight preference for a listing in the United States, but our views may change,” Ferrari told Reuters in e-mailed comments.In February, the Milan-based firm completed a funding round which valued it at $2.55 billion and marked it out as a rare unicorn in the Italian tech landscape. A unicorn is an unlisted firm valued at $1 billion or more.Tech companies often look to list across the Atlantic because of higher valuations that can be attained. A U.S. listing would be a setback for the Milan Stock Exchange after a series of defections.Limited access to capital and an excess of regulation are among the main constraints facing a company like Bending Spoons in Italy, Ferrari, aged 39, said.However, Milan provides a good pool of skills, with competition for talent less fierce than elsewhere, he added.”All in all, I still recommend starting and growing a business in Milan. Were I to start over, I’d favour Milan over many of the cities most commonly associated with entrepreneurship,” he said.MORE DEALS TO COME?Bending Spoons, whose name was inspired by a scene in science fiction movie ‘The Matrix’, has a business model centred around restructuring and developing the firms and products they acquire.Ferrari described the strategy as “hybrid” between that of a private equity fund – which he says is the typical rival Bending Spoons competes with when it bids for an asset – and a proper tech company such as Alphabet’s Google.He said the company had “the focus on acquisitions” of a private equity firm, but added: “we’re engineers and scientists and we spend almost all of our time building technologies and products”.The WeTransfer deal involved a big restructuring, with 75 per cent off its staff facing being laid off.Ferrari did not rule out further deals, with the company casting its net widely.”We’ve added around 5,000 companies to our business acquisition pipeline during the past 12 months alone. Naturally, only a handful will prove a suitable target in the end,” he said.

India used opportunity of digital technology to benefit p…

Technology

 21 Oct-2024 12:50 PM

By:  FirstIndia
New Delhi: India has successfully harnessed the power of digital technology for the benefit of its people, while the United States has missed the opportunity, highlighted Nobel Laureate in Economics and former World Bank Chief Economist, Prof. Paul Romer on Monday.Speaking at the NDTV World Summit 2024, Romer highlighted the stark contrast between the two countries in how they have utilized technology to improve the lives of their citizens.Romer emphasized that the United States has “squandered a phenomenal opportunity” in the digital technology space, failing to translate technological advancements into tangible benefits for its people.He said “The opportunities that we were given in the United States with digital technology, we have wasted, squandered a really phenomenal opportunity. And the way to see what we’ve lost is to compare the success in India”.He pointed out a troubling trend in the U.S., where life expectancy, a traditional measure of progress, has not only stagnated but started to decline. Despite the technological revolution in the country, he noted, people in the U.S. are not living as long as they once did, signaling that technology has not been used effectively to enhance the quality of life.”I talk to the Silicon Valley types and say, you know, life expectancy has stopped increasing in the United States. It’s actually falling. And then they say, oh, well, no, we don’t want to use that measure anymore for progress…. And I’m saying, no, if that’s the measure that we picked in the beginning, you’ve got to stick with it. And by that measure, something’s really gone wrong in the United States. People are not living as long as they did before” Prof added.In contrast, Romer praised India for its innovative use of digital technology, particularly through the Aadhaar system.He highlighted how Aadhaar has transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians who previously lacked any formal identification. Before Aadhaar, many people in India had no documents such as birth certificates or driver’s licenses and did not exist in the eyes of the modern state. Aadhaar gave them an official identity, enabling access to numerous services.Prof said “Then you see what Aadhar has done by not just making it easy for people in this room to make digital payments, but taking hundreds of millions of people who have no existence in the formal state”.Romer further emphasized how India has built on the success of Aadhaar with initiatives like direct benefit transfer schemes and access to financial accounts, ensuring that the benefits of technology reach everyone, especially the underserved. This, he said, is an example of a country leveraging technological opportunities for inclusive growth.Prof Romer also assured that India’s life expectancy has not started falling, underscoring that the country’s approach to using digital technology has helped improve the overall quality of life for its citizens. He contrasted this with the U.S., where the lack of such a strategic focus has led to missed opportunities.

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