Eugene’s efforts to grow its burgeoning tech community are being noticed. One of the world's leading business and innovation media outlets – Fast Company – named Eugene one of the “next top ten cities for tech jobs.” In the online article Eugene joins a list of the “country’s hottest up-and-coming tech scenes” for “entrepreneurs and young professionals looking to launch their career.”
According to the article, the rankings were based on work by ZipRecruiter which tracked hiring patterns to determine cities that had a fast growing rate of tech industry job listings and a high number of tech jobs. Eugene joined the ranks of Austin, Texas, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee and was noted as being “home to the natural beauty and culture of Oregon as well as a young and fast growing technology industry.”
Within the last several months, a number of efforts have helped raise and reinforce Eugene’s profile in the tech industry scene. In June, Alaska Airlines announced it will be offering non-stop flights between Eugene and San Jose, California – establishing an important link between the Silicon Valley Eugene’s quickly growing tech sector.
RAIN Eugene, the Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network, graduated its second class of startup companies in June, which included biotech, business services and marketing firms. With support from local cities and universities, this program links local startups to mentors, capital, and space in order to help build high impact, innovative, traded-sector companies that can grow and thrive locally.
In addition, a partnership between City of Eugene, Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) and the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) recently brought high speed fiber internet service into two downtown buildings – offering exponentially faster internet connections to local businesses. The pilot project supports internet speeds reaching up to 1 GB per second, with the hope of expanding to more of downtown in the future.
The activity and national recognition underscores the impact of the City’s strategic investments and partnerships that have helped promote downtown revitalization, support targeted business sectors, and create the conditions for the tech sector to flourish.