San Francisco Tech Leaders Launch sf.citi

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee today joined tech industry leaders to announce the launch of San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology & Innovation (sf.citi), an organization that will leverage the collective power of the tech sector into a force for civic action in San Francisco. This new initiative will bring together city government and San Francisco’s tech community with a collective mission to improve the cityand the technology sector.

“The tech industry is growing and creating jobs in San Francisco, and we have a vested interest in helping make San Francisco the ‘Innovation Capital of the World,’” said Ron Conway, Chairman of sf.citi. “The Mayor and Board of Supervisors understand the value that the tech sector brings to San Francisco and has a jobs agenda that the industry supports.”

“Embracing innovation and the growth of technology companies is key to creating good jobs for San Franciscans today and securing our economic future,” said Mayor Lee. “I’m thrilled to partner with sf.citi and technology leaders to work together towards our shared priorities of job creation, government innovation and smart economic growth for all our neighborhoods.” 

With over 1,500 tech companies employing more than 30,000 people, the city’s tech industry will soon eclipse the record number of jobs reached during the last tech boom a decade ago.

Working with local service organizations and elected officials, Zynga has identified a skills and experience gap that it will address with a training and placement program led by and tailored toward employment with local tech companies.  Mark Pincus, Zynga and sf.citi are committed to programs that help the City and Mayor Lee address the challenge of jobs.

sf.citi also is working with Code for America (CFA) to partner with the City on an accelerator for startups that focus on civic issues, funded by Google and the Kauffman Foundation. CFA will provide a platform for civic hackers to maintain and adapt open source code for the city, establish a fellowship assigning three bright minds to city government for a year to solve specific problems, and create a Civic Commons Marketplace for cities to share technology and collaborate on new technologies and applications.

Former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde will partner with Ron Conway to serve as the Vice Chairman of sf.citi. At TechCrunch, Harde worked to support the Silicon Valley technology ecosystem by spotlighting startup innovation with hackathons, conferences, data services and marketing platforms as well as business-development initiatives. Prior to TechCrunch, where she left December 2011, Harde held a variety of corporate development, strategy and operating roles at News Corporation. Heather is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Harvard Business School.

Many of San Francisco’s top tech companies and organizations have already agreed to be on the Advisory Board of sf.citi including: