PROVO — Utah's flourishing tech and startup scene is unprepared to meet the projected demands of the marketplace. But that could change with a focused effort on educating the workforce early and finding ways to attract women and minorities into the field.
Those are among the conclusions of some of the speakers at StartFEST, a weeklong conference bringing together successful entrepreneurs with those who have ideas and young companies seeking advice and money to grow.
Code.org chief operating officer Cameron Wilson and Cotopaxi founder and COO Stephan Jacob said in presentations Tuesday that a lack of access to computer science education and a lack of diversity will hamstring further growth in both the tech and startup sectors.
Wilson said computer science courses are needed in K-12 education in the U.S. He quoted a 2014 survey by Gallup and Google that says nine out of 10 parents want their children to learn computer science, but only 1 in 4 schools actually offers computer science.
Jacob said those challenges are not insurmountable and that Utah is a place that has attracted and grown a vibrant industry.
"It's never easy to raise money. But you don't have to justify (to investors) anymore why you are in Utah," Jacob said. He noted Utah's entrepreneurial culture, successful tech industry history, access to local talent and mentors, geographical proximity to high-tech companies and low operation costs.
StartFEST, in its second year, is Utah’s largest grass-roots tech and startup festival, according to organizer Clint Betts of Beehive Startups, described as "an independent organization committed to covering Utah’s startup and tech ecosystem."
Betts' event was opened by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert Tuesday and features a who's who of speaking guests in the startup and tech world. Domo CEO Josh James, Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith and Mercato Partners Managing Director Greg Warnock are among those lending their voices to the conference.
Herbert cited Utah's stable and low tax rates, the elimination of 368 business regulations by his administration, and public-private partnerships for making Utah a “fertile field" for business startups.
He referenced recognition from several publications, including Forbes.com which noted that tech jobs in Utah are growing at the second-fastest rate in the nation for 2015. He said Inc.com ranked the Provo area and Salt Lake-Ogden area as the No. 1 and No. 3 most-dollars-per-deal average for venture capital deals in 2014 at $51.3 million and $17.2 million, respectively.
Herbert acknowledged that the dollars-per-deal figures are a bit skewed because there are fewer deals cut with venture capitalists here than in other major hubs like Northern California's Silicon Valley, New York or Boston.
The push to grow will need a strong focus on education.
Wilson said more computing talent needs to be fostered through K-12 education, and noted that only 104 Utah high school students in the past year took the Advanced Placement Computer Science course and test. Of those, only five were female students.
Current trend lines suggest that by year 2020 there will be about 1 million computing jobs left unfilled by college grads, according to Code.org.
Wilson also said that by 2022 there will be more than 5 million computing occupations across all industries. But only a quarter of them will be filled by women. Further, only 8 percent of high school students taking the AP Computer Science tests are minorities.
Code.org, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to computer science and to increasing participation for women and minorities, provides a K-5 curriculum to introduce students to computer science.
Cotopaxi has partnered with Code.org to offer computer science training to Utah students. But, Jacob said that Cotopaxi is focused on providing charitable general education and computer science education to refugees in Utah and encouraged other tech companies to consider such non-cash giving to help diversify the tech workforce.
These socially impactful moves by tech companies will both foster loyal talent and attract existent talent, particularly millennials, according to Jacob.
"We can't purely rely on the school system to produce that talent. I think organizations and companies need to step up and need to engage to help close that gap in engineering talent," Jacob said. This gives companies a leg up in filling diversity and talent gaps.
Email: chlarson@deseretnews.com
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