The worst of technology companies, universities, and top-of-the-line network infrastructures could make North Carolina the next center for the development of Metaverse and other future technologies.
North Carolina has been a technology development hub since the 1950s, and with the confluence of local universities, observers have “between areas of nine counties in the state.Research triangle.. “
“The Triangle has a jet stream of academia, with Duke at UNC Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina,” said Evan Schechtman, a former New York City resident who moved to North Carolina and founder of the immersive media company The Cuttlefish. increase. 6 years ago. “Many people from all over the country have come here and are staying now. That’s something no one expected.”
In fact, over the last two years, North Carolina has become a place for developers, designers, and other individuals looking for work inside and outside Big Tech. In April 2021, Apple Invest $ 1 billion Build a new campus in the Research Triangle area.This decision made an abandoned shopping mall in Cary, North Carolina. New headquarters..
North Carolina is attractive to Metaverse-oriented companies, especially because of its relatively strong network infrastructure in the capital Raleigh.
“This is a test city for many things,” said Lewis Smithingham, SVP of Innovation and Creative Solutions at Media.Monks, a digital marketing and advertising service company that moved from New York to Raleigh during the COVID-19 pandemic. increase. “I have Google Fiber for $ 400, which is ridiculous.”
“Everyone is laying the perfect fiber. It has some impact on bandwidth, not to mention the weather,” says Shektoman.
In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the workforce completely to remote locations, and the presence of a strong network infrastructure around Raleigh has led to labor from high-bandwidth companies in the technology, social media, and gaming sectors. I was able to attract people. Metaverse precursor — To the area. The influx has created new networking opportunities for individuals like Smithingham. Smithingham said he was convinced he would move to North Carolina after encountering numerous tech industry workers in an airport lounge during his first visit to the state.
“Lenovo’s client went through the door, an AI researcher went through the door, and someone from Epic Games who had been ignoring my email for two weeks walked through the door and sat next to me,” he said.
This helps the North Carolina Government consciously support the development of technology-focused businesses within the state.In addition to the state government subsidy agreement with Apple, Apple $ 846 million in funding Next 39 years — North Carolina $ 5 Million Grant for Esports In partnership with esports entertainment holding company Subnation, it became the first US state to officially incentivize esports in this way.
“In December, we partnered with North Carolina and a representative. [Jason] Saine will issue the first ever esports and gaming tax credit to play a major role in supporting municipalities, “said Subnation co-founder Seven Volpone. “It has spread to the United States, Canada, and now other municipalities abroad.”
After all, it’s not the tech companies in North Carolina that are most exciting to residents like Smithingham and Shektoman. These companies are Silicon Valley (or at least Silicon Valley in the Metaverse). Schechtman believes there are similarities between the region’s current growth and the early companies that lead the technology industry in Northern California.
“When they actually started using pumps, innovation was no longer coming from those companies. It was that the people working at those companies met each other, went away, and had other dreams. It came from chasing. Applied Magic, Palm, Handspring — they all came from a bunch of talented people from different places, ”says Schechtman.
“I think we’re in a 30-mile area with state-of-the-art AI researchers, state-of-the-art machine learning researchers, literal access to the Metaverse, shattering, and access to huge computations.” Smithingham said. “And you throw an epic game on it, and it’s like fire gas.”
