When Techonomy's Chief Program Director Simone Ross first proposed in late 2011 that we consider doing an entire conference in Detroit, I was a little confused. Detroit? Isn't Techonomy all about cutting edge, shiny, new,...
We know the sharing economy as an efficient and convenient resource, and launchpad for trendy startups like Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit. But the sharing economy could help address needs for a much wider swath of...
Some of our largest cities are caught in a paradox. As the federal government is paralyzed by partisanship and limited by budgetary realities, cities and metropolitan areas are taking more responsibility for policy innovation and...
In the days since Techonomy Detroit, I'm more hopeful about my hometown than I have been since I left for New York to go to Columbia University 30 years ago. Yet before I headed to...
Demolition isn’t exactly a techonomic concept, but clearing Detroit of tens of thousands of burned-out houses and crumbling factories is a crucial next-step in urban renewal here, according to Dan Gilbert. In fact, he’d like...
It may seem early to talk about Detroit’s rebound, with the city’s recent bankruptcy filing on July 18th, but the fact is this city is ripe for renewal. Its much-needed fiscal reset provides an opportunity...
With 90-percent occupancy rates, 10,000 new jobs, a brand new Whole Foods, and the repurposing of a long-abandoned GM building as a design center, midtown-downtown Detroit—soon to be linked by a new rail line—is poised...
Kids today would rather be mayor than president, Thomas L. Friedman writes in a recent column. “The country looks so much better from the bottom up—from its major metropolitan areas—than from the top down,” he...
People keep asking, "Why are you doing a Techonomy conference in Detroit?" We're known for our invite-only annual retreat in the desert near Tucson. So why, you may wonder, is our first one-day event in...
