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Governor McAuliffe Hopes Virginia Becomes Leading State for Information Technology

Business executives from the high-tech sector hosted an event at the State Capitol to share research and information, as well as network with government officials.  Governor McAuliffe called on the members of the Government Business Executive Forum to help Virginia pivot from the nation’s top state for defense spending to the leading state for information technology.

The forum says the intersection of IT and government leaders can enable them to use technology together to solve problems in homeland security, energy, and other challenges. That fits well with McAuliffe’s goal of building a hi-tech Virginia economy.

“We’re the perfect place for all this.  So, technology taking it to the next level on all these big issues, but cyber most importantly—and big data. As you know, 70 percent of all Internet traffic in the globe went through Loudoun County.  Think of that.  Half of all Visa transactions go through Virginia.  So, we’ve got the assets, we’ve got the fiber, we’ve got the cable. We got it all here.”

The governor later said he wanted the executives to know that he is their partner.

“This is a huge opportunity for Virginia to be the cyber-capital here in America.  It is one explosive growth area.  Thousands and thousands of jobs will be created in this space.  Billions of dollars will be spent—privately and by the federal government on cyber because we’re all impacted.”

He also pointed to tens of thousands of unfilled hi-tech jobs in Virginia.  He said he’s recently met with public and higher-ed officials to tell them that the state must help develop technology skill sets among students and change the way education is delivered.

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