In the heart of the American Southwest, New Mexico is not only renowned for its stunning landscapes but is also quietly emerging as a national tech hub. With a flourishing software development industry, the state is poised for sustainable economic growth that could shape its trajectory for decades.

As the product strategist and designer leading the team on this project, my focus was to harness the burgeoning tech potential in New Mexico through strategic collaboration and comprehensive survey initiatives. Partnering with the New Mexico Trade Alliance (NMTA) and key stakeholders, we embarked on a mission to gather insights, advocate for supportive policies, and forge strategic partnerships to bolster the state's tech sector. Our approach involved extensive facilitation, user research, and interviewing to identify critical challenges and opportunities. Through stakeholder mapping sessions and targeted surveys, we engaged with local software development and digital media businesses to understand their operations, challenges, and perceptions.

The survey, launched in October 2022, garnered significant participation, yielding 641 responses and uncovering key insights. We identified a gap in marketing tech opportunities and concerns about safety infrastructure, countered by a commitment to local hiring. Leveraging these findings, we advocated for supportive policies and collaborated with industry stakeholders to fuel New Mexico's tech ecosystem. The key insights gathered would inform New Mexico 2027 Five-year Strategic Plan, helping target policies and programs focusing on empowering student success, enriching engaged learning, fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) driven excellence, amplifying research, energizing community, and ensuring financial resilience.

Project Details

To address critical challenges and maximize this potential, collaborative efforts led by the New Mexico Trade Alliance (NMTA), which partners with local, state, and federal governments to assist local companies in exporting, pulled together a group to New Mexico Tech leaders to create a comprehensive survey initiative. By leveraging insights from the survey initiative, advocating for supportive policies, and fostering strategic partnerships.

Our strategic approach entailed crafting customized policies and programs to bolster the growth of New Mexico's tech sector, thereby fortifying the state's global competitiveness and connectivity while simultaneously nurturing talent and propelling economic development. After convening stakeholders and engaging in collaborative activities, we identified key survey requirements to meet individual stakeholder funding objectives, while comprehensively understanding the umbrella goal of identifying needs and obstacles faced by the local tech world. These identified long term goals acted as our foundation to build our focused questions upon.

Identifying who is getting the survey

We conducted a stakeholder mapping session to identify key survey participants within the industry, particularly focusing on businesses involved in software development and digital media. The survey aimed to collect insights on their operations, challenges, and perceptions of the industry in New Mexico. Below is a snapshot of the industries we connected with.The goal is to be able to build upon this list and use as a communication channel for future.

The questions we are asking?

The topics / questions were designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the software development landscape in the state, including challenges, opportunities, and areas for improvement. This data will inform potential policy and support measures tailored to the needs of these businesses.

What happens with the results?

Launched on October 24th, 2022, and running until November 4th, 2022, the survey garnered significant attention and participation. With 641 responses received serving as a testament to the enthusiasm and engagement within the local tech community. By following this structured survey synthesis process below, the project team effectively distilled insights from the collected data, identifed actionable findings, and successfully facilitated an informed decision-making workshop to drive positive outcomes for New Mexico's tech ecosystem.

Key Findings

By following this structured survey synthesis process, we effectively distilled insights from the collected data, revealing a gap in marketing the diverse opportunities within the tech sector and concerns regarding safety infrastructure, deterring relocation or expansion. However, amidst these challenges, there's a strong commitment within the tech community to hire locally, with tax incentives for in-state hiring emerging as a promising solution.

As survey findings are analyzed, opportunities for impactful action emerge. Advocacy for supportive policies and targeted programs will be crucial, with NMTC, Q Station, and the Economic Development Department collaborating to fuel New Mexico's software development ecosystem. Together, they are laying the foundation for a future where innovation flourishes, creating abundant opportunities and solidifying New Mexico's position as a tech powerhouse in the Southwest.

Insights & Actionable Steps

Stakeholders must prioritize strategic steps, guided by insights gleaned from the survey. With the goal of paving the way for a vibrant and resilient tech ecosystem in New Mexico. Together, they'll propel the state towards a future where innovation flourishes, opportunities abound, and New Mexico emerges as a formidable tech hub in the Southwest. Moving forward, actionable steps are imperative.