Boulder enjoys membership on the list of elite entrepreneurial communities in the United States. Boulder is frequently mentioned alongside Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, New York City, the Research Triangle, and Seattle as among the best places to launch a startup. Boulder’s presence on this list is curious since its population is a little over 100,000, far smaller than other cities on the list. How did Boulder and the Front Range become the innovation community it is today?
The October 29 Crash Course, Boulder Startup History Crash Course: The Federal Labs Story, examines the role of the Federal Labs in helping Boulder become a world-class research and tech community. James Burrus (Public Information Officer, Science Writer and Outreach Coordinator for NIST) will detail the story of how the federal labs came to the Front Range. Next, Brad Feld, Managing Director of Foundry Group, will discuss the effects of the Fed Labs story on the Boulder entrepreneurial community. Finally, a panel discussion will cover the past, present, and future of Boulder’s startup scene. Panelists include Burrus, Feld, Boulder historian Carol Taylor, and Tom Bogdan, recent president of UCAR. The panel will also be open to questions from the audience.
This event is co-presented by the Silicon Flatirons Center and the Boulder History Museum. If you have an interest in the Boulder startup scene or the story of its birth as a research center, or if you simply are interested in the history of a mining and hippie town turned startup hub, this Crash Course is an event worth attending.