Montana State University hosted its first bi-annual Montana High-Tech Jobs Summit Monday. High-tech leaders and innovators met to discuss the future of business and technology.
Montana’s high-tech jobs are growing faster than the statewide job growth rate, and 40 percent of the state’s job growth occurred in Gallatin County.
Speakers from the Federal Communications Commission spoke about the government’s role in encouraging innovation. They say it’s important to encourage new technology even it replaces existing technology.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said, “Consumers will be better off, entrepreneurs will be better off, business will be better off, more jobs will be created. Sure, there are going to be losers whenever there’s disruptive innovation, but by and large, we need to keep America at the cutting edge and the goal should be to be flexible and understanding that this is part of the process.”
The summit featured a series of topics ranging from internet economy, NASA innovation and cybersecurity. Guest speakers included representatives from Facebook, Microsoft and Verizon.