“All highly competent people continually search for ways to keep learning, growing and improving.”
The impetus for the creation of the Center for the Future was the brain drain in which young people were being educated in Northern Arizona at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and then taking their ideas, skills and talent elsewhere to build their careers. With funding from the City of Prescott, Yavapai County and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Grant program, the Center celebrates three years since its ribbon cutting in July 2021. In that period, new high-paying jobs have been created by growing firms in disparate fields, including cybersecurity, network technology, digital video, software systems, managed financial services, co-working and artificial intelligence.
Education is key to success in the development of a viable business. The Center utilizes the lean business model made popular by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur in their book, “Business Model Generation.” Unlike the old style of many page business plans that often were obsolete by the time printed, this educational approach creates a living and dynamic design that is agile and actionable. It begins with the customer. Who are the customers and what is the problem they face each day that your new business is going to solve? Our entrepreneurs engage with potential clients to help shape the products and/or services that will be purchased by these customers.
Over the course of three months, entrepreneurs participate in three workshop weekends we call “Startup Hackathons.” Each session is capped by a “Shark Tank”-like five-minute pitch to sell the idea to a panel of judges. By the end of the quarter-long educational training, the company is ready to grow and deliver to its targeted customer audience and seek the capital for expansion. Our ecosystem of mentors and coaches includes members of SCORE, score.org/northernarizona as well as partners at the local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Services are offered free or at low cost to encourage and support the growth of innovative companies in rural Northern Arizona.
With the attention of companies to relocate to Arizona, thanks to spending on innovations such as the semiconductor industry (INTEL and TSMC) and autonomous vehicles (WAYMO, GM and Ford), the opportunity has never been better for small businesses. The Center for the Future has been focusing on growing all of the elements required to incubate and accelerate young companies that will retain our talented younger people being educated at our colleges and universities, including Yavapai College, ERAU and Northern Arizona University. Students are being educated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in addition to business areas such as digital marketing and entrepreneurship. The Center for the Future helps with mentoring, internship and capstone opportunities in a thriving environment.
Another critical area of growth for the region and the nation is the protection of data, devices and infrastructure from the ever-present cyber threat from criminals and other nations. The website cyberseek.org shows in easy-to-understand graphics the different job opportunities, skills needed and type of education that would be required to participate in this hot field. Thanks to funding, summer camps for high school students in the four northeastern counties are seeking interested teachers and students to learn more about this exciting field. Since there are more than 50 job roles, you don’t have to be a computer scientist or even a coder to get into this well-compensated career field.
Some adults are looking to re-train and change careers to this type of work, which can be performed remotely after six months to a year of apprenticeship-type learning and education with some of the leading firms. This possibility has blossomed since the pandemic proved that productive work from home is a win for both employer and employee. Combine rewarding work with the beautiful Northern Arizona life and no wonder this a future-focused area.
Education is truly critical to keeping up with the changing landscape of the future workforce. We don’t even know what 35% of the jobs of 2034 will be. How do you stay on top? The answer is critical thinking and the love of learning. Ben Franklin said, “All highly competent people continually search for ways to keep learning, growing and improving.”
If you are ready to continue your education and growth, reach out to the many resources available here in Northern Arizona. In the Flagstaff area, Northern Arizona University and Coconino Community College are good starting points. In Yavapai County, contact us at the Center for the Future or one of the colleges and universities. Your future awaits you. QCBN
By Jon C. Haass
Jon C. Haass, Ph.D., founded the Cyber Intelligence and Security degree programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2013. Since that time, more than 200 have graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, finding employment in the public and private sectors at organizations including Boeing, Mitsubishi Union Financial Group, BofA, Raytheon, Honeywell, Lockheed, NASA and the FBI. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded or served in executive positions in six startup companies, including OpenTV, which went public and was subsequently taken private by the Kudelski Group. He continues to serve as professor in the College of Business, Security and Intelligence in addition to being the president of the Prescott Regional Opportunity Foundation. He earned his Ph.D. at MIT in Applied Mathematics and grew up in Casper Wyoming, another mile-high city like Prescott, where he resides with wife Stephanie. They enjoy traveling internationally and kayaking on the many lakes of the region.
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