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State Rolls Out Site for Struggling Businesses, Including Technology

The Governor's Office for Business and Economic Development is offering a wealth of free resources for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a specific section devoted to the IT sector.

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The state has rolled out a buy-local campaign and a website designed to help businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic – including companies in the tech sector. The rollout is in concert with a proclamation issued this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring July as “California for All Small Business Month.”

Running through July, the campaign – “Calling All Californians: #ShopSafeShopLocal” – was announced Wednesday and is spearheaded by the Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery, under the aegis of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The task force describes the initiative as “a call to action to help all California small businesses operate safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic and grow their digital footprints” and to “encourage Californians to support small businesses in their communities as they make modifications to protect public health and help our state’s diverse neighborhoods thrive.”

The GO-Biz website has verticals for numerous industries and sectors: aerospace and defense, film and TV, wood product and biomass, agriculture and ag tech, zero-emission vehicles, biotech, manufacturing, clean tech, tourism – and high tech.

The tech vertical opens with a by-the-numbers look at technology in California:

  • The state has 1.8 million jobs in technology
  • It leads all states in the number of tech business establishments
  • It had $43 billion in computer and electronics exports in 2017
  • There are four national laboratories in the state
  • There are 20,720 computer hardware engineers in California
“Technology-based businesses from custom software services to tech manufacturing call California home, more than anywhere else in the nation,” the site notes. “And no state’s tech industry is as productive as California’s, accounting for over a quarter of the national tech productivity alone. When it comes to developing the newest technologies, there is no better place than California. Most of the world’s top investors in artificial intelligence are based in California and nearly half of all AI investment deals in 2018 happened here.”

The “Calling All Californians” site also contains a checklist of help for businesses:

  • Free consulting, in 31 different languages, from California’s network of small-business centers
  • Resources and offers from our partners to help businesses operate safely and build a digital footprint
  • Latest state industry guidance and county variances
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) through SafelyMakingCA.org, California’s new PPE (personal protective equipment) marketplace
  • A free digital media toolkit for small businesses and partners
The page also contains links to information: the California Competes Tax Credit, the Research and Development Tax Credit, and the Employment Training Panel. Those links, in turn, lead to lists of databases, webinars, FAQs, guides to grants, video tutorials on how to use the programs, and other resources for businesses.

“The nation’s #1 rated university programs for computer science and the largest network of public universities are right here,” the tech site states. “With continued investments in integrated K-16 education and expanded broadband, California will stay at the forefront of emerging tech.”

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.