Need to Turn the Engine of Innovation: Unleash the Power of the New Media SIG

Now that the impact of the BRAC recommendations has fallen off the front pages of even the local papers, we must start to investigate the future direction of the Northern Virginia economy.

Government employees often talk about how slowly the “boat” turns when talking about large federal programs. This same analogy can be used for a regional economy that is supported by large government programs. Earlier in the year, there was a lot of talk about the potential for “new media programs.” Now is the time for leaders in Northern Virginia to start a New Media Special Interest Group (SIG) to investigate the opportunities for this region to develop a New Media industry.

New Media is the term used to talk about the changes that on-demand consumers are having on the “media landscape.” The new media business model is more of an attitude than a single technology or business strategy. In this new business environment, customers want to be treated as peers. They don’t want to be owned. They are very skeptical of any claim, inherently self-reliant, and radically independent.

The New Media SIG will identify the current resources available to support small companies that want to develop New Media programs. The New Media SIG will facilitate cooperation between local companies, higher education and local government. This cooperation will lead to training for the business support people and the development of support organizations where needed. The activity of New Media Programs will capitalize on the region’s traditional and mobile Internet dominance. Let’s hear it for the future of New Media programs in Northern Virginia.

Full steam ahead!

A Little Weekend Humor: Start of the Small Business Development Season

In case you haven’t heard, small business development is like a team sport. Executive management, the employees, and all the investors have to work together to squeeze as much productivity as possible out of each and every event. The Semantic Viewpoint will start covering the major business development events in Northern Virginia with box scores and highlights.

In many ways, covering a small business event is a lot like covering a basketball game or hockey match. In fact, small business development has many things in common with both. Small business development events take place in large indoor venues. Like hockey, small business development is a contact sport where it is completely within the rules to hip check anyone that tries to approach another player’s prospect. Like basketball, more than one player has been injured by an “inadvertent” elbow during business card swaps.

Like high-school and college basketball, there is a holiday business development tournament. The object of the tournament is to get invited to as many high-profile holiday parties as possible and deliver the business. The really top players excel at these matches. The reason is that these players know that their ranking for the entire year can be determined solely by their performance during the holiday season. Because of the importance of this tournament to the overall business goals of small businesses in Northern Virginia, the preparations and venues will be covered in detail during the next couple of months.

The greater Washington Area has all the major professional team sports: Washington Wizards basketball, Washington Capitals Hockey, the Washington Redskins which is the most popular football team in the NFL, and the Washington Nationals which brought baseball back to the nation’s capital. However, with all due respect to the other team sports, the most popular team sport in Northern Virginia is still small business development. Let the season begin.

The Government-Business Consultants Trend: Is it a good thing?

There is an interesting article in the September 10th issue of the Economist Magazine, “From big business to big government.” This article discusses the similarities that large consultancies are finding between big business and big government.

By almost all accounts, the future of the US economy lies in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Large companies and large government agencies have been laying-off workers since the early part of the 1990s. SMEs are the real engines of economic growth in the US economy.

Large management consultancies would be well-advised to develop business practices that can survive on the reduced profit margins and lower overhead costs that SMEs can afford. There is a need to work with small service companies to help them increase automation and reduce their cost structures. There is a need to reduce the cost of doing business with them. This would improve their productivity and the country as a whole would benefit greatly from it.

Focusing on Hydrogen Technology Companies

Hurricane Katrina has dramatically focused this country’s attention on energy security. It has once again highlighted the importance of electricity. In fact, the only difference between the dark ages and today is electricity. All the other advances go by the wayside if there is no electricity like we saw in the aftermath of Katrina. Hospitals don’t function if there is no electricity. Police and fire departments can’t protect us if there is no electricity to power their radios. Electricity has become the new measure of economic prosperity.

In March, there was a local event called E-Business in the Hydrogen Economy. This program discussed Northern Virginia’s Internet dominance. It started a conversation about how companies in the region can reuse current technology investments. It showcased local hydrogen technology companies and their success stories.

The E-Business in the Hydrogen Economy event also acknowledged that there was a need for public outreach and consumer education. With the heightened level of interest in Hydrogen Technology and alternative fuel sources because of Katrina, Americans see the vulnerability of our energy infrastructure. Because of the resulting high energy prices, there is an opportunity to organize support for local hydrogen tech companies.

Some technology commentators suggested that we are twenty years away from the wide-spread commercialization hydrogen technology and other alternative fuel sources. It only took ten years to go to the moon once we decided we wanted to go. Why would commercializing hydrogen technology and other alternative fuels sources take any longer than going to the moon.

Hurricane Relief Efforts: One Nation Stands Together

Many have talked about the massive devastation in many Gulf-coast states this past week. Others have talked about the ongoing relief effort. Readers of the Semantic Viewpoint are encouraged to talk about the planning and rebuilding process. The semantic web, the P2P Economy and all the other next generation technologies rely on physical and internet-based communities in this country. We are, as of this week, all members of those communities hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. We should stand as one nation and start this week to rebuild the many lives that have been so tragically affected.