Looking back at 2022 Highlights
With 2022 coming to a close, it’s an opportunity to look back at some of the highlights from the past year. News from the year showed progress for Vermont’s tech sector, which we shared in this newsletter and on our website:
A report prepared by Cairn Cross of VTTA member FreshTracks Capital, found that Investment in Vermont companies had risen nearly 500 percent, led by investments in tech-focused companies Beta Technologies and Polly.
A study by the organization CompTIA, focused on information technology and software jobs, reported that Vermont ranked # 1 for the percentage increase in new tech business establishments.
In addition, the state launched its first technology-based economic development program to help businesses expand access to federal technical and research funding. This effort is the result of $800,000 appropriated in the 2021 legislative session – funding which was supported by the VTTA. Development of Vermont’s tech ecosystem also received boost with the announcement of $4.5 million in funding to enable tech-focused economic development projects in Rutland and Randolph.
Many VTTA members were looking to fill positions this year and we supported this effort by listing their job opportunities on our Career Center throughout the year, which regularly carried more than 300 openings.
Providing an additional incentive on the public policy front, the VTTA supported the successful passage of new funding for Vermont’s Worker Relocation Incentive Program, which provides grants of up to $7,500 to people moving to Vermont to take a job or bringing a remote job with them.
Another public policy success was once again holding off the levying of the Cloud Tax, the latest version of which would apply the sales tax to essentially all Internet activity. However, the tax could be proposed again in 2023. Also of note, was funding for expanded Internet connectivity and housing, two areas, along with childcare, likely to be a focus of the upcoming session.
We posted and shared more than 40 events over the past year. The VTTA hosted webinars on topics ranging from branding to ecommerce to starting a business. We held in-person networking events including the annual sunset cruise, and once again we were an organizing partner for the Vermont Tech Jam.
Finally, in addition to our 200+ members who enable what we do, I want to thank our sponsors. This includes our member sponsors: Chroma, Cross Insurance, Data Innovations, Dealer.com, FirstLight, Hula, Instrumart, Leonine Public Affairs, Marvell, PCC, Scout Digital, SymQuest and UVM.
It also includes supporters of our public policy efforts and others who sponsored an event or our Tech Jam ad: Advanced Illumination, Aerie Consulting, Coldwell Banker Hickock and Boardman, Comcast Business, Creative Micro, Davis & Hodgdon, DominionTech, Downs Rachlin Martin, Faraday, GBIC, Green River Data Analytics, HR Happens, J Scott Marketing, NDI, Stark Tech, The Tech Group, VMEC, Vermont Technology Council, Vertiv, and VIP.
Thank you to them, and our members, friends and supporters who we connected and worked with this year.
The VTTA wishes everyone all the best for the Holiday Season.
Jeff Couture
Executive Director
Vermont Technology Alliance
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GlobalFoundries Laying Off 148 Workers in Essex Junction
(December 20, 2022 – Seven Days)
Semiconductor giant GlobalFoundries has informed Vermont that it is laying off 148 people in the state amid a corporate-wide downsizing.
The cuts, detailed in a recent state filing, represent about 7 percent of the 2,000 people employed at the chipmaker's Essex Junction plant. The company began notifying impacted employees last week, according to VTDigger.org, which first reported the news.
The disclosure comes after the company announced that it was cutting roughly 800 people from its 14,000-person global workforce in an effort to slash operating costs by about $200 million. The announcement came on the same day that leaders of the $35 billion company told investors that GlobalFoundries had raked in $2 billion in revenue in the third quarter of this year — a 22 percent increase over the same period last year.
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Officials Urge Vermonters to Challenge Errors in FCC’s New Broadband Map
(December 9, 2022 – VTDigger)
The Vermont Community Broadband Board is asking Vermont residents to check their addresses on the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map to see if their internet speed and provider availability are reported accurately.
State broadband officials have challenged the accuracy of the map, which shows that more than 95% of Vermont households have broadband internet access.
The state will receive at least $100 million through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but the federal government will distribute an additional $37.1 billion to states based on the numbers of unserved locations that appear on the FCC’s map.
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THINKMD Awarded $1.5 Million to Improve Clinical Capacity of Frontline Health Workers
(December 6, 2022 – VermontBiz)
THINKMD, a Vermont-based health technology company and VTTA member, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant by Development Innovative Ventures (DIV), the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) open innovation program.
THINKMD’s clinical assessment software and data analytics tool delivers on-demand, physician-based clinical knowledge to allow less-skilled healthcare providers to evaluate and treat patients. This grant provides for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Nigeria to evaluate the tool’s effectiveness in enabling community health workers and nurses to provide a similar quality of care to that offered by medical doctors.
“The DIV grant gives THINKMD the opportunity to explore how our clinical intelligence software can help to address the significant healthcare worker shortage in Nigeria,” said Dr. Barry Finette, co-founder of THINKMD. “The ability to adapt and scale our proven model in a new location gets us closer to the improved outcomes and healthier global population we are striving towards.”
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Williston Tech Company Polly Lays Off 17 People in Vermont
(December 5, 2022 – Seven Days)
Williston-based Polly, a digital auto insurance marketplace for car dealers, has laid off 15 percent of its 255 employees, including 17 workers in Vermont.
Tough times in the auto industry and in the economy overall are to blame, said Ben Jastatt, the company’s senior director of communications.
The workers will likely be able to find other job opportunities, especially if they’re in Chittenden County. Vermont’s unemployment rate hovers around 2 percent, and tech companies are trying hard to find workers, said Jeff Couture, the executive director of the Vermont Technology Alliance. Couture said the job board on the Tech Alliance website has more than 300 listings.
“The trend I see is more toward, How do we get the people we need?” Couture said of his 200 or so members. “I have not seen any obvious effort to reduce hiring or initiate layoffs in the tech sector.”
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Vermont Ranks Second for Best Place to Find a Job in WalletHub Study
(December 5, 2022 – WalletHub)
Vermont comes in at #2 in WalletHub’s ranking of the best states to find a job in 2022. Washington state is ranked #1. Following Vermont in third place is neighboring state New Hampshire.
WalletHub compared the 50 states across 35 key indicators of job-market strength, opportunity and a healthy economy. Their data set ranges from employment growth to median annual income to average commute time.
Among the key metrics, Vermont ranked 4th in job opportunities, 4th in employment growth and 4th in Job Satisfaction.
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Dynapower to Support World's Largest Green Hydrogen Storage Project
(December 7, 2022 - Dynapower)
Dynapower, located in South Burlington, VT, announced that it has been selected to provide 220 megawatts of IGBT chopper rectifiers, which convert AC power to DC power, to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage hub—powering the production of green hydrogen to accelerate the decarbonization of the Western United States. Dynapower is a Sensata Technologies company and a global leader in power conversion and energy storage solutions.
Located in Delta, Utah, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage hub will be the world's largest renewable energy storage facility. The hub will capture excess wind and solar energy and—with the help of Dynapower's power conversion systems—convert it to green hydrogen using electrolysis and store it in underground salt caverns. The first two caverns at the hub will store up to 300-gigawatt hours of dispatchable clean energy and feed it back to the grid when it's most needed.
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Greening the Future with Verde Technologies
(November 19, 2022 – UVM)
With their revolutionary solar panels, Verde Technologies enthralled the judges and participants at this year’s Clean Tech Open – the world's largest and longest-running clean technology accelerator. The University of Vermont startup’s thin-film perovskite solar panels, which are lightweight, flexible, affordable, and easily installable because of their adhesive backing, won second place and the People’s Choice awards at the Cleantech Open's annual Global Forum, held in San Jose, Calif., in October. Verde competed against over 90 companies from across the globe.
Randall Headrick and Richards Miller of UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences are the Research Lead and President/CTO, respectively. The two invented this innovative solution and founded Verde Technologies with a simple but profound mission: to create the lowest-cost clean energy the world has ever seen.
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Vermont Technology Alliance Membership Update
The Vermont Technology Alliance works on behalf of its members and is able to carry out its mission through the support of its membership.
Renewing members include Paul Frank + Collins and Resonant Link, and individuals Ann Marie Curley (Newgrange Consulting), Gary Coyer (Snow Fire Digital), William Gerns, Jr. (Dell EMC Corp.), and Stephen Waite (Care Management Solutions).
Not a VTTA member yet? Then why not join now? Find more information and register here. You can also contact us at admin@vtta.org.
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Featured Member – Codingscape |
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Codingscape is a US based software development, design, and strategy consultancy that partners with high-growth companies and established enterprises to accelerate their technology roadmaps by building world class software.
Codingscape partners with companies including Roblox, Twilio, and Zappos to build reliable, high-quality software on-time and on-budget.
We can work directly with your product and engineering teams or manage your projects independently.
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Useful Information & Links |
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Short Term Forgivable Loan Program
As of November 1, the Short-Term Forgivable Loan Program application is open to all business sectors. Businesses with fewer than 500 employees, operating since March 13, 2020, and suffering economic harm from COVID-19 may apply.
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Online Professional Development Courses
The VTTA has partnered with MindEdge to offer easy-to-access, affordable, online professional development courses. Whether you are looking to expand your skill set, earn professional credits, or learn something new, these courses are an option to gain essential and in-demand skills on your own time, at your own pace, and from any location. As a bonus, VTTA members save 10% on all offerings.
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VTTA Career Center
Vermont Technology Alliance member companies are hiring, and when you visit the Career Center on the Vermont Technology Alliance website you can browse and search for these job openings and subscribe to updates. The Career Center on average features 300+ tech and non-tech jobs with Vermont Technology Alliance member businesses. Jobs available from VTTA members are listed at no charge in the Career Center as a member benefit.
Find the Career Center here.
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The VTTA Thanks Its Member/Sponsors
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