4 ms·

Reno is an awesome town. Most of the people I've talked to who have been to Reno have only ever seen the "trashy" casinos and run-down areas along S Virginia St

by hornd 12y ago

Reno is an awesome town. Most of the people I've talked to who have been to Reno have only ever seen the "trashy" casinos and run-down areas along S Virginia St., but if you dig deeper you'll find there's much more depth. They have an up and coming art scene, some great restaurants and bars, and perhaps most importantly a population of passionate and extremely friendly people who absolutely love their town and want it to succeed. Go Reno!

avelis 12y ago
When visiting Reno when I was living in San Francisco. I see huge potential for that city. But it would need to invest in incentivizing startups to grow out of Reno vs the bay area which is a 3hr drive. If UNR has a CS department then it needs to reach-out to it's current student body and make considerations for creating a market for tech in Reno.
- ktsmith 12y ago
  UNR has a tiny CS department. There is a small startup community in Reno but it's not very developed and there's not a ton of support for it. If you've been in a hackerspace in SF and then visit the one in Reno you'd be hard pressed to say they were the same thing. It's also hard to find any startups that are doing anything interesting here.
  - avelis 12y ago
    I appreciate the insight! The innovation sector is not limited to software/internet businesses. There is also digital entertainment, advanced machining/robotics, and bio pharmaceuticals. With the announcement of Tesla's gigafactory in the greater Reno area I would make this the best opportunity to create an intersection of innovation that Reno can be starting point for. Maybe Reno should host a tech conference. Or even the next formula-e race circuit. Just ideas. I see so much potential for Reno. :-D
    - ktsmith 11y ago
      Very late response to your comment here (sorry) so I doubt you'll see it but I wanted to respond anyway. There are VERY interesting things going on in Reno, especially at UNR. MEMS research, solar cell research, biology, biotech, computer vision etc. There's also Sierra Nevada Corp in Sparks which was founded by two former UNR graduate students and is a very successful aerospace company. They are working on their own re-usable space craft in the dream chaser project: http://www.sncspace.com/ss_space_exploration.php http://www.sncspace.com/ss_space_exploration.php Robocoin (bitcoin atm) is here but it's been rather disappointing. One of the big flaws with this area is that casino gaming and mining have been the biggest draws on the talent pools for engineering. Gaming isn't the big money maker for the state that it once was and innovation wasn't a huge part of the business in the first place.
ktsmith 12y ago
Downtown is trashy and rundown. The riverfront has been redeveloped and they make an effort to hide the homeless but the actual problems here aren't being addressed at all. Midtown has as many businesses (especially bars and restaurants) closing as it does opening. Those great commercial real estate rates aren't going to last and some business that make mid town what it is are already moving around/out because of increasing rates. Wages here are depressed and the median family income is low when compared to the cost of housing, transportation and food. There are also not many job opportunities should you need to change jobs. The recent sale of IGT has started another exodus of tech workers which are already in high demand and low supply. You won't see local businesses raising wages to attract or retain these people though.

by hornd 12y ago

avelis 12y ago

When visiting Reno when I was living in San Francisco. I see huge potential for that city. But it would need to invest in incentivizing startups to grow out of Reno vs the bay area which is a 3hr drive. If UNR has a CS department then it needs to reach-out to it's current student body and make considerations for creating a market for tech in Reno.

ktsmith 12y ago
UNR has a tiny CS department. There is a small startup community in Reno but it's not very developed and there's not a ton of support for it. If you've been in a hackerspace in SF and then visit the one in Reno you'd be hard pressed to say they were the same thing. It's also hard to find any startups that are doing anything interesting here.
- avelis 12y ago
  I appreciate the insight! The innovation sector is not limited to software/internet businesses. There is also digital entertainment, advanced machining/robotics, and bio pharmaceuticals. With the announcement of Tesla's gigafactory in the greater Reno area I would make this the best opportunity to create an intersection of innovation that Reno can be starting point for. Maybe Reno should host a tech conference. Or even the next formula-e race circuit. Just ideas. I see so much potential for Reno. :-D
  - ktsmith 11y ago
    Very late response to your comment here (sorry) so I doubt you'll see it but I wanted to respond anyway. There are VERY interesting things going on in Reno, especially at UNR. MEMS research, solar cell research, biology, biotech, computer vision etc. There's also Sierra Nevada Corp in Sparks which was founded by two former UNR graduate students and is a very successful aerospace company. They are working on their own re-usable space craft in the dream chaser project: http://www.sncspace.com/ss_space_exploration.php http://www.sncspace.com/ss_space_exploration.php Robocoin (bitcoin atm) is here but it's been rather disappointing. One of the big flaws with this area is that casino gaming and mining have been the biggest draws on the talent pools for engineering. Gaming isn't the big money maker for the state that it once was and innovation wasn't a huge part of the business in the first place.

ktsmith 12y ago

Downtown is trashy and rundown. The riverfront has been redeveloped and they make an effort to hide the homeless but the actual problems here aren't being addressed at all. Midtown has as many businesses (especially bars and restaurants) closing as it does opening. Those great commercial real estate rates aren't going to last and some business that make mid town what it is are already moving around/out because of increasing rates. Wages here are depressed and the median family income is low when compared to the cost of housing, transportation and food. There are also not many job opportunities should you need to change jobs. The recent sale of IGT has started another exodus of tech workers which are already in high demand and low supply. You won't see local businesses raising wages to attract or retain these people though.