News

The world as we all knew it changed earlier this year with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seemingly overnight, everything that we used to think was normal had changed, and things that once were deemed impossible for the workplace became the “new normal.” Now, seven months later, most o...Continue Reading

Before setting sail on your site selection voyage across the country or the globe in search of your project’s perfect location, it is imperative to first take an internal assessment of the current operations, needs, and industry trends influencing the project. Taking the time to perform a thorough internal assessmen...Continue Reading

It's not just Elon Musk who is moving to Texas, according to the media. Stories abound of techies, newly liberated from tiny, overpriced coastal apartments by remote work, fleeing to warmer, cheaper cities. If you believe the tech press and your social media feeds, about half of San Francisco is joining Musk in Texas.  Bu...Continue Reading

Many executives are increasingly weighing the impact of environmental changes and catastrophic weather — which already have devastated communities — on their businesses and future needs. Examples include the millions of acres that have been scorched in California and Colorado this year, and hurricane damage in the Gulf States. Louisiana...Continue Reading

In about a month I will celebrate my ten year anniversary with the Twin Cities. I moved to Minnesota from it’s southernmost neighbor fresh out of college and hungry for adventure. I immediately fell in love with my surroundings, and after I was able to invite myself past the infamou...Continue Reading

In recent years, geopolitical and economic trends have been encouraging pharmaceutical drug manufacturers to shift their active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) sourcing and physical manufacturing plants onto domestic soil or near-shore locations. This has been a gradually turning tide that accelerated this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in it...Continue Reading

  Jeff Bezos said, “In today’s era of volatility, there is no other way but to re-invent. The only sustainable advantage you can have over others is agility. That’s it.” The ability to pivot, to re-invent and to move forward has helped Amazon and other tech companies to maintain their competitiv...Continue Reading

Minnesota ranks first in the nation in its five-year business survival rate (2015-2020), based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s rate was 55.3%. In comparison, the national rate for the same period was 50.0%. “This ranking confirms something we know to be true – people wh...Continue Reading

There's no shortage of articles that will opine about how tumultuous 2020 was for the economy, jobs, and industry as the world grappled with the impact of COVID-19 on business and daily life. However, there's reason to be optimistic, especially in manufacturing.   Despite 60% of manufacturers feeling the impact of COVID on operations, ...Continue Reading

(MINNEAPOLIS) Nov. 18, 2020 – In a celebration of Minnesota’s thriving technology community, the Minnesota Technology Association honored many of the people and companies driving technology innovation in the State of Minnesota at its 23rd annual Tekne awards ceremony today. Held virtually for the first time, the on-line Tekne Awards highlighte...Continue Reading

Cities all over the world have attempted to replicate Silicon Valley with varying levels of success. Decades ago, so did we in Minnesota. VC-based software startups didn’t sprout. Over the years, several local venture capital firms left town for California and set up scouting stations here to encourage promising softwar...Continue Reading

?From interning at a small engineering firm in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota to leading a design team for NASA, SciTech Alumni Madilyn Fesenmaier has come a long way in her scientific career. It all began in 2018 when Fesenmaier secured a SciTech internship with Engel Metallurgical. She started there as a Metallurgical Engineering Intern, actin...Continue Reading

Billions are being spent on data centers to support the massive increase in internet usage and data storage. Minnesota and the Minnesota Tech Corridor are poised to receive some of these investment dollars as companies like Google choose to make the area home.  Google is building a $600 million data cente...Continue Reading

The stratospheric rise of the cloud over the past few years caught many off guard and created an arms race among the cloud providers, with data center development underpinning the effort. These cloud providers were anticipating ever-increasing demand for the cloud by globally creating a robust and redundant network of massiv...Continue Reading

The Ins and Outs of Data Centers I think one of the misconceptions about the data center business is that it’s a niche space. And the reality is it's become a very large industry and investment. And one of the things that we reference in talking to our clients is th...Continue Reading

The increased role of corporate social responsibility in site selection Corporate social responsibility is playing a major factor today in company's decisions on where they're locating their business. That's happening for a few reasons. I think companies are realizing that they need to be more conscious as to what's going o...Continue Reading

The past few months have been marked by uncertainty and unrest. Elected officials have done what they can to lead through a summer of civil unrest and continued pandemic fallout. But, more often than not, the burden of leadership has fallen on the business community. During these uncertain times, “employee...Continue Reading

About CITech: CITech Solutions Inc. is an information technology consulting firm, providing IT services to small-medium size organizations within the Twin Cities and around the world. For local needs their staff occasionally goes on site but most of their support is conducted online and over the phone. “March and April was absolutely crazy,&rdquo...Continue Reading

We live in a day and age of technology with devices that can do an immense range of tasks, allowing us to do things like work smarter and quicker as well as stay connected and communicate across physical boundaries or barriers.  Using a broad range of knowledge and skills i...Continue Reading

As Angie Dickison formally steps into her role as Executive Director of DEED's Office of Broadband Development, she is traveling across the state to boost awareness of initiatives designed to help Minnesota achieve its goal of border-to-border high-speed internet access. Angie was appointed to this position last month by Governor Tim Walz, but ha...Continue Reading

California tech companies have been faced with rising utility rates and grid uncertainty caused by record-breaking temperatures, horrific fires and blackouts. This uncertainty has led some tech companies to consider whether or not California is the right home for their growing companies.  According to the New York Times, in August o...Continue Reading