On Sunday Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards teased us with an upcoming announcement of what he called, “one of the most significant economic development announcements in Louisiana history.” Almost immediately a new energy filled the city regarding the future of job security here in New Orleans. We got our answer the next morning when the news was leaked before the official announcement. No, it wasn’t the announcement of Amazon’s HQ2 which isn’t expected to be revealed until 2018, but instead DXC Technology’s plan to open a digital transformation center and bring 2,000 jobs to New Orleans over the next seven years. DXC is a new company created in April 2017 by a merger of two longstanding companies in the U.S. tech sector: HP Enterprises and Computer Sciences Corp., known as CSC.
This big news comes after Entrepreneur magazine listed New Orleans at Number 5 on a list of “8 cities whose entrepreneurship communities are booming” The article mentioned New Orleans being home to Collision, one of tech’s hottest conferences (and a personal favorite). In three years, Collision has grown to almost 20,000 attendees from 119 countries and holds an innovative women in tech segment.
On a smaller scale , New Orleans is also seeing a rise in the number of annual local tech showcases. The Silicon Bayou Showcase takes place tonight at The Shop in the Contemporary Arts Center. In it’s fifth year, the event will highlight local startups in the food, medical, and tech industry. The event is free, so check it out. A couple of ideas we think are particularly exciting: Ready Responders and Digital Tip Jar.