2022/04/20 Council Agenda Packet

(nwIRc NW Innovation Resource Center We help entrepreneurs bring business ideas to life! Competitive and Resilient SME "In the so-called data decade, when data is expected to hit 175ZB worldwide by 2025, less than 0.5% of the world's data is actually being analyzed, our lives become increasingly digital and virtual. Harnessing it and using it to generate competitive advantages is the number one challenge facing business leaders and strategists today. To put it starkly, if you don't become the leader in data -driven business activity in your industry, someone else will." Bernard Marr The objective of this activity to build competitive SME: • Help small -medium businesses understand how to utilize their data for making strategic decisions to be more competitive and resilient. • Build workforce of skilled data analysts working with small -medium businesses. The Problem Small - medium businesses require expertise about how to utilize data to achieve strategic advantage, cost containment, analytics of future opportunities, etc to be competitive in the digital economy. Even with this expertise, there is an extreme shortage of workforce skilled appropriately to work with SME. The current curriculum is a lengthy process that requires academic elements that are not always required with the analytic tools available today. The more important element is to have a mutual understanding of both the business leader and the worker about the business problem to be solved. Key Elements Build and conduct a program with dual elements of (1) small -medium businesses with insights to utilize data and (2) establish a bootcamp approach to fast track the expansion of our workforce with skills in data analytics. • Building upon the pilot workshop conducted by NWIRC, develop a program to assist leaders and decision makers of startups and small -medium businesses to gain an understanding of how to utilize data for strategic purposes. • Provide a "business -driven" rather than "technology -driven" approach. • Emphasize how to use data science tools knowing "how, when and why" as opposed to deep -mathematics or building the algorithms —results -focused approach. • Provide opportunities for data -science education to a broader group of individuals, e.g. individuals building upon their IT expertise or post -baccalaureates. • Provide experience at small - medium businesses by identifying opportunities and providing assistance to the business for their initial projects regarding how to utilize the data analysts to address their business objectives. 2200 Rimland Drive, Suite 210, Bellingham, Washington, 98226 www. nwirc.com /August21, 2021