Silicon Valley Has Noticed the Heartland. What Now?

Two weeks ago I joined Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, whom I advise on topics of innovation, when his city hosted a Midwestern bus trip led by Congressmen Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). Dubbed the Comeback Cities Tour, the congressmen brought along a dozen venture capitalists and investors. Most of them were from Silicon Valley, including representatives from big funds like General Catalyst and Softbank.

Their 48-hour itinerary was impressively full, with stops in Youngstown, Flint, Detroit, and South Bend in addition to Akron. I can’t speak to the group’s activities in other cities, but during their five hours in Akron they visited Bounce, the city’s new open innovation hub, and met with public officials and entrepreneurs before joining a group of civic leaders for an informal dinner. To a person, the investors I met were thoughtful and engaged. One was full of questions about potential solutions to the opioid crisis, asking how local entrepreneurs were addressing it.