State Sen. Derek Mallow
Over 17,000 separate technology businesses call Georgia home, ranging from innovative telehealth startups to Fortune 500 stalwarts. Fueled by renowned universities and homegrown venture capital funds, the sky is the limit. But if we want to keep these companies – and the jobs they deliver for our state – it is critical to maintain a stable technology ecosystem that fosters growth and competition. That requires an appreciation from lawmakers at all levels, and a concerted effort to maintain a steady economic, legal, and regulatory climate.
Of course, the sector has faced its fair share of challenges during this current economic turndown. The substantial rounds of layoffs to begin 2023 have only begun to slow down (1) at this point in the year. During a time of mass layoffs across the country, we should be clearing pathways for a more robust, equitable, and internationally competitive American technology job market.
Any conversation about technology must not ignore the pathways to a more equitable workspace provided by the tech jobs of the future. Each technological innovation is followed by a cluster of new employment opportunities that we should prepare the next generation to take on.
Right here in Savannah, we already have the Logistics Education And Pathways (LEAP) program, which established a certification program that prepares high school students, veterans, and the underserved to compete for successful high-growth jobs after earning their certification.
Savannah’s LEAP program is one that others would do well to replicate, and I would love to see similar programs that enable Georgians to join our vibrant tech sector.
Uplifting folks living inside of the federally designated opportunity zones across Savannah should be a priority for lawmakers at all levels. All leaders – myself included – should remain committed to creating equitable pathways for the people of Georgia to access the power of our nation’s tech sector.
Conversely, the temperature has risen considerably over recent years surrounding the derogatory approach taken towards our domestic tech industry. From state capitals to Congress, and in some cases within the courts, a combative posture has become all too common and contagious among political leadership. We do our nation’s tech economy and job market a disservice by further burdening tech companies with continuous anti-tech legislative and legal pushes. Moreover, we consistently see legal claims against tech companies fail due to ill-founded claims. There are more pressing issues for our leaders to address to bolster our state’s economy, and wading into the natural competition within our tech sector will only have adverse outcomes.
Georgia is home to over 280,00 tech professionals, and our university systems produce a plethora of new tech graduates to join that ever-expanding job market each year. Georgia’s job market and universities deserve to see our political leadership embrace the sector.
Furthermore, America’s tech sector must remain competitive internationally, and that is only complicated when industries face unrelenting legislative pressure domestically. Earlier this year, we began to witness America’s tech companies engage in fierce competition among new and long-standing leaders in the tech space thanks to the revolutionary release of AI. Future AI models, along with the products developed by innovators that we can’t yet imagine, will only further diversify the already longstanding options that Americans have to explore what is on their hearts and minds as they engage online. However, we do not need our nation’s leaders spending their priceless time in office, or our nation’s recourses, to muddle in the affairs of the constantly innovating and shifting competition within America’s tech sector. Let’s let businesses do what they’ve always done – compete, and let the winners rise to the top.
As we enter a new tech reality with burgeoning AI models and quantum computing, our leaders should remain mindful to foster a tech ecosystem that allows both our state and nation to benefit from the ongoing technological revolution. It is critical that both sides of the aisle remove their political ambitions from policies that impact America’s technology sector, and instead work to elevate our nation’s ever-growing and shifting tech job market – from right here in Georgia, to the world.
State Sen. Derek Mallow represents Georgia’s 2nd District in Savannah
