By
KYLE SCHLIESMAN
Inside Tucson Business
After half a year,
interest in Tucson’s Tech Oasis remains strong.
Dedicated to
showcasing and interconnecting technology-based businesses, Tech Oasis
averaged about 80 people for each of its first six monthly meetings.
Another big crowd is expected on Nov. 19, a meeting which will feature
speakers from investor conferences. Speakers will include representatives
from Arizona Venture Capital Conference, IdeaFunding, and Investing In
Innovation.
“We definitely get a lot of Tucson companies going out
to those events,” said Grant Rowe, coordinator for the Tech Oasis Southern
Arizona Chapter. “I truly feel that there is a lot of interest from people
in the tech industry.”
The first Tech Oasis program was founded in
Tempe in 1999. Rowe brought the program to Tucson earlier this year. Tech
Oasis meetings generally provide networking opportunities, with a little
bit of informational content. Local meetings are held on the third Tuesday
of every month. The meetings are not agenda-charged. Rather, Tech Oasis is
intended to augment the efforts of other effective industry groups, such
as economic development organizations, cluster groups or government
associations. In fact, at the beginning of next year, the organization
will hold its meetings in conjunction with Tucson’s technology industry
clusters.
“It’s a very loose organization in that there is not a
lot of structure and baggage that go with it,” said Steve Miner, chief
executive officer of Vision7 Software. “This one is really focused on tech
people getting together and working on business or talking amongst
themselves about what’s going on in Tucson. There are really no hidden
agendas of any type.”
Now that the group is successfully under way
in Tucson, new Tech Oasis groups are cropping up throughout Arizona.
Yuma’s Tech Oasis held its first event last month, and both Flagstaff and
Sierra Vista will launch their Tech Oasis programs early next
year.
Though the other cities have their own meetings, Tucsonans
aren’t the only ones attending the Tucson Tech Oasis meetings. Rowe
estimates that 10 percent to 15 percent of the monthly attendance is from
outside of Tucson.
“It’s a great networking organization. It’s
really unusual because it pulls a different crowd every month. There is
always a lot of interesting people to meet,” said Terry Gossell, a partner
with Bridge Alliance. Gossell previously attended Tech Oasis meetings in
Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe and now attends the Tucson
meetings.
The November event will be at Cushing Street Café &
Bar, 198 W. Cushing St., from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Attendance is free.
In addition to the group’s general invitation to tech companies, it also
sent invitations to about 60 banks, trade associations and finance
corporations to attend this month’s meeting. Tech Oasis chose the
financial topic because capital formation is a top concern for Arizona
tech companies, Rowe said.
For more information on the Tech Oasis,
visit www.techoasis.org.
Kyle Schliesman may be contacted at
kyles@azbiz.com or 294-1200, ext. 124. |