Tech-YOU-Topia Network https://tech-you-topia.org Engines for local and regional economic development - 501c3 Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:56:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/tech-you-topia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/cropped-icon-512x512.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Tech-YOU-Topia Network https://tech-you-topia.org 32 32 169094260 Meeting in New Mexico https://tech-you-topia.org/905-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=905-2 Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:45:56 +0000 https://tech-you-topia.org/?p=905

Looking to the Future

Members of the AFG and Tech-YOU-Topia teams met with a group of interested individuals and business representatives in the State of New Mexico, eager to move forward soon with rural and metropolist “Smart City” planning.

 

When we know more we will provide details. Make sure you are on our newsletter list to receive updates.

 

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Young Entrepreneur Award https://tech-you-topia.org/young-entrepreneur-award/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=young-entrepreneur-award Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:47:05 +0000 https://tech-you-topia.org/?p=838

The Timing:

The details and information will be coming soon with individualized requirements for each community.

Please submit your request to receive the newsletter so we can send updates. 

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Thank you. 

Tech-YOU-Topia Supports Economic Growth and Diversification in Rural America

Tech-YOU-Topia is serious about creating an entire new cohort of rural entrepreneurs, especially young entrepreneurs, who will serve as role models to peers and resources to small communities.  In order to provide a further incentive, AFG/TYT pledges to award a $1,000,000 grant to the first high school student who, in association with one of the Tech-YOU-Topia centers, generates $1,000,000 in gross revenues within a 12-month period based on a business venture they developed and implemented (funds from sources other than any grant award associated with the current proposal). We look forward to the opportunity to make good on our pledge.

Our Why Behind this Promise

Never before in the history of the United States has the American Heartland faced such an overwhelming economic challenge. The enormity of the issues facing rural economic redevelopment demands that the technological capabilities widely available to suburban and urban citizens be made equally available to rural Americans. Fostering economic development is fundamental to advancing rural development in all of its dimensions. TYT will function as an entrepreneur accelerator and innovation center catalyzing and supporting the activities of future business developers, owners and employers and create in-place start-ups.

Ironically, rural communities were built and thrived, in part, because of a strong, intrinsic, entrepreneurial spirit that contributed to the establishment of successful local businesses and sustainable multigenerational family farms that began with the original pioneers who first tamed the land and cared for it as a cherished resource.

In this digital technology century, successful entrepreneurism is heavily dependent upon digital technologies. These range from simple social media marketing of local products to technology start-ups based on intellectual property associated with new computer applications and a huge array of other business opportunities.

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Reports from Lamoni City Council https://tech-you-topia.org/reports-from-lamoni-city-council/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reports-from-lamoni-city-council Tue, 03 Mar 2020 02:40:03 +0000 https://tech-you-topia.org/?p=751

Tech-YOU-Topia leaders prepare to present at a Lamoni City Council meeting as soon as possible to provide details for all the members. 

For additional information, please submit your request on the form on the Contact page. 

Lamoni, Iowa City Council’s Recent Meeting

Lamoni Chronical’s Report of
Recent Council Meeting

Chair of the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission, Bill Moraine, presented the 21-page “Lamoni 2020 Five-Year Comprehensive Plan” as developed by the members of the commission over the past year and approved at their January meeting.

“A comprehensive plan is an expression of what a community is and what it wants to become. It is not just the commitment of those who are responsible for carrying it out but everyone who is a part of the community in any way.”  It replaces the previous five-year plan and the commission is asking the council to adopt it by resolution. May foster pointed out how important it is for the city to have this plan, not only to guide the work of the City Council, MNY, Lamoni Development Corporation (LDC), and Decatur County Development Corporation (DCDEC). But to increase the chance of obtaining grant money for important projects that the city cannot afford to fund by itself.

Councilor Omstead, who was the city council liaison with P&Z for 2019, moved to amend the motion to adopt, by requiring the names of two specific business to be dropped from the plan. The plan as written recommended coordinating with Tech-You-Topia under Economic Development and researching possible benefits of working with Agile Fractal Grid under Utilities. Although their most recent focus has been with Agriculture and Graceland, which Councilor Omstead believes is a good project, he things it should not be in the plan itself.  Intense discussion ensued.  Chairperson Morain reported that the commission members discussed this at length and felt it was important to include them as they have the potential to contribute greatly to the development of Lamon I with no cost to the city.

What became clear in the discussion was that neither the mayor nor the council members know very much about the opportunities these two businesses offer to Lamoni. While Chairperson Morain wished there had been more conversations of the council and utilities with the business leaders, the council members felt they had been either not invited, or invited on too short notice, or the meetings took place when they were at work. Mayor Foster and Councilor Smith attended a dinner with them, but both feel they want more information, while at the same time wanting them to invest in Lamoni. Shannon Erb, Executive Director of DCDC, who was present in the chamber, said she would coordinate with the next visit of the business leaders to allow them to present at a city council meeting. She reports she has taken Superintendent Barney’s concerns to them, and that whatever is specific to Utilities should be within his comfort level. She is supportive of these business opportunities.

The council approved Councilor Omstead’s motion to remove the names from their location in the five-year plan, and then at the suggestion of Council member Jeanes, approved a second amendment to include the businesses in the Private Sector Innovations section of the report. With these amendments in place, the plan was adopted.

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Plans for Lamoni, Iowa https://tech-you-topia.org/plans-for-lamoni-iowa/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plans-for-lamoni-iowa Sat, 09 Nov 2019 17:55:04 +0000 https://tech-you-topia.org/?p=112

AFG “has designated Lamoni, Iowa as a premier location to develop technical e-solutions to common rural problems that can be upscaled to the state level and beyond.”

Agile Fractal Grid Has Plans for Lamoni

By Bill Morain
Lamoni Chronicle

Most residents of Lamoni have been aware of numerous visits by a prestigious company, Agile Fractal Grid/Tech-You-Topia, over the past year to work with local leaders in evaluating the city’s broad-based needs with an eye to solving problems.  The company has designated Lamoni as a premier location to develop technical e-solutions to common rural problems that could be upscaled to the state level and beyond.

Dr. Ronald Toll, Vice President for Community Relations, has summarized the company’s current perspective on how this cooperative venture could benefit Lamoni, Decatur County, and ultimately to rural America at large.  His summary follows:

 

 With hard work, strategic planning, and careful investment, Lamoni/ Decatur County has bootstrapped its own economic development.  Success is reflected in the addition of new companies (Zoomers, Freedom Racing), a new motel (Cobblestone Inn) and improvements to the I35, Exit 4 interchange.  Further, employers and residents of Lamoni/Decatur County benefit from gigabit speed, fiberoptic connectivity to 99.6% of all businesses and residences.

 

Lamoni is now ready and able to take a transformational leap forward that will result in our community becoming a cutting edge, platform empowered, economic development center that supports multiple and varied services and business opportunities.  This change will establish the City of Lamoni as nothing less than one of the most powerful edge computing IoT platform-based, digital marketplace communities in the United States.

 

To achieve this vision of our future, The City of Lamoni should develop a relationship with a value enterprise partner to establish itself as a rural, national model with the goal of achieving the following outcomes:

 

1) Expand the existing fiber network through the deployment of 5G broadband;

2) Establish a high-tech, high-touch, entrepreneurship and innovation development facility, the Lamoni Tech-You-Topia Center, to be housed in a downtown building;

3) Designate a Lamoni Entrepreneurship District, with a size of approximately 3 square blocks, in the downtown area immediately surrounding the Lamoni Tech-You-Center;

4)  Identify an investment partner to support the renovation of selected buildings within the Lamoni Entrepreneurship, along with the razing of blighted structures;

5) Develop partnerships with national telecommunication, edge computing, and platform based companies with a goal of establishing the following outcomes:

a) Establishing a comprehensive E911 system to improve response time and quality;

b) Support creation of new businesses, especially platform-based (Zoomers is essentially a platform company, as is Freedom Racing);

c) Expand the current ‘industrial park’ to be a true industrial center/distribution center;

d) Stabilize and then expand the tax base by creating jobs to retain current citizens and incentivize immigration to expand the population of the City;

e) Deploy the infrastructure necessary to establish a precision/smart farming infrastructure

f) Develop a unified community portal (website) to centralize the dissemination of information, support marketing of the community to outside constituencies, and create broad-based citizen engagement

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