Dayton's IT Push: The View From City Hall

Author: Matt Joseph

June 2008

One of the perks of being a City Commissioner is that I have been able to see the behind--the-scenes work being done to build the region’s research and development capability in our target areas.  Through the efforts of organizations like the Greater Dayton IT Alliance and others, we are seeing a steady increase in the quantity and quality of IT ventures in Dayton.  

One project that I am particularly excited about is the new RFID Incubator that is coming to Tech Town in just a few short months.  This concentration of radio frequency sensors development folks will combine with the talented people working at companies already working in the area to build what will be a nationally or even internationally known center, providing new ideas and products to customers near and far, including to our neighbors at Wright-Patterson AFB.

(I should probably add a disclaimer here that in my day job as a systems analyst for BTAS Inc., I help direct RFID and other technology projects.  Writing about RFID and its emergence in the city is a nice confluence of my two jobs.)

This brings me to the second point I’d like to make.  When you compare Dayton to other cities, even larger ones, it becomes clear that we have advantages that just do not exist in other locations.  The biggest of those advantages is our proximity to Wright-Patt, where the Air Force conducts technological and medical research, and also buys most of its  technology.  In the RFID world, and in many other areas, this proximity gives us a leg up on other regions:  we have the technical knowledge here, we have the research infrastructure here, the people doing vital research and huge acquisitions are local and accessible and easy to contact.  Even with these advantages, I’m convinced that we still can do better.  The Dayton Development Coalition and other groups in the community, like the Greater Dayton IT Alliance and the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Association, are leading the charge on this, and are doing an excellent job of opening doors and urging folks to step through them and make the contacts that will lead to successful partnerships for their businesses, the Air Force, the city and the region.

So, as we watch Tech Town grow, as more and more local businesses partner with the Air Force, as young RFID businesses thrive, and as new jobs in science and medical research arrive from around the country in the next few years as a result of the Department of Defense Base Realignment process, it is becoming much easier to see that what was formerly just a vision is now a reality.  Dayton is a center for cutting-edge research, and will only continue to expand that capability as far into the future that we can see.