A new eastern Kentucky business group is working to get companies and governments within the region to look close to home when they need technological help. The Silicon Hollow Association is a network of information technology and computing science firms based in eastern and south central Kentucky. The association’s Facebook page lists its goals as creating IT jobs, building web-based career capacity and fostering a more wired eastern Kentucky. Their slogan: Same talent. Better location.
From the association’s website:
Our members are entrepreneurs seeking to give back to the economy of eastern Kentucky by creating jobs in high-tech industry. By working as a team, the Silicon Hollow Association and its members can compete for IT and computer programming work against larger firms based in other countries at a price that is right for your bottom line.
The Silicon Hollow Association is the first step toward smaller firms in rural America forming partnerships that combine background and expertise in areas such as project management, communication, training, computer programming, development testing and support skills.
The network was formally announced during a daylong conference on June 21 at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky.
Jonathan Picklesimer, chairman and one of the founders of the Silicon Hollow Association, said in an interview with wymt.tv “The success of the economy in eastern Kentucky is in the hands of eastern Kentuckians. We can work together to make our region better.”
Marketing Appalachia as a place where high-tech workers will want to live is another objective of the association. In AP coverage of the event picked up by the Lexington Herald-Leader and CBS News, Picklesimer is quoted as saying, “We really do believe people in eastern Kentucky have the kind of life millions of other people wish they had, and go on vacation to get. (Information technology) is something we normally associate with big cities and big companies, but it can make a difference in rural America.”
Click here to apply to join the Silicon Hollow Association.
