Lincoln hosts the first statewide tech summit on Friday as Nebraska is in danger of being left behind

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LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and the University of Nebraska are co-hosting a first statewide Innovation and Technology Summit in Lincoln this Friday.

There will be business leaders, developers, researchers, educators and more.

Organizers say global competition in these vital areas has been heating up for years and our state cannot afford to fall behind.

This comes just after University of Nebraska President Ted Carter issued an op-ed Thursday. He stressed that we need to grow our state’s workforce as quickly as possible.

Carter says every industry needs to compete harder and smarter for talent as Nebraska’s economic success depends on it.

Right now there are approximately 80,000 open jobs statewide, yet our unemployment rate is one of the lowest nationwide.

This means that the vast majority of people who want a job already have one.

Carter says that if we have any hope of filling key positions, we need to grow our workforce by leaps and bounds.

This includes stopping home-grown talent from going elsewhere and getting more skilled workers to come here.

Carter adds that college is key to achieving these goals and that he is “the first to say we are not happy with our current enrollment. We’re not alone nationwide in experiencing enrollment challenges. But that’s not Nebraska’s way of settling for the status quo. There is no reason why the University of Nebraska shouldn’t compete hard for every smart kid in Nebraska and for Nebraska’s highest achieving students, no institution should offer a better financial deal than the University of Nebraska.

You can get a glimpse of what the future looks like by checking out Friday’s Innovative State Summit at Lincoln’s Innovation Campus. It runs from 9:30 to 16:00

Tags: Innovation Campus, Innovative State, Innovative State summit, Lincoln Innovation Campus, Lincoln Jobs, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska Competition, Nebraska Jobs, Nebraska Innovation Campus, Nebraska Jobs, Nebraska Unemployment, Workforce of Nebraska, President Ted Carter, Ted Carter, University of Nebraska

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