Southern Nevada is ready to remap its future through a refinement in focus on the opportunities that exist to pursue regional growth. Such was the bottom line of a 2017 Southern Nevada target industry validation study, and emerging technology is among those opportunities. In fact, it’s at the heart of the region’s push beyond its signature gaming, tourism and conventions industry.
The report explains: “Trends indicate Southern Nevada in particular is well positioned to leverage existing, foundational infrastructure and regional assets to accommodate additional growth as a western U.S. hub for technology, extending into sectors powering other high-growth categories such as autonomous systems, gaming, computer programming, and more. Additionally, research, development and investment activities from recent years in areas such as water management, renewables, and clean technologies have developed the underlying technologies to the point where these elements are now more fully integrated into consumer demand across a number of different high-growth sectors in the region. The region’s brand in technology-related innovation has been elevated from one that was previously under-marketed and unrecognized to one that now maintains a competitive position regarding new market entrants and workforce.”
“Vegas is great for its worldwide recognition and the fact that everyone knows Vegas.”
The world’s technology industry convenes in Las Vegas each year at the Consumer Electronics Show, so the metro is no stranger to tech companies. But there’s more to the region’s technology infrastructure than a trade show. Data center giant Switch is based in Las Vegas; its Core Campus will have capacity of 3.5 million square feet of data center space and up to 430 MW of power when complete. That’s lots of bandwidth for the region’s growing technology cluster.
Driving or Driven, Las Vegas Companies Are on the Right Track
Dozens of technology companies are taking advantage of Southern Nevada’s technology ecosystem in such areas as GPS, robotics, virtual systems for commercial and medical offices, artificial intelligence and others. The only U.S. office of Canada-based Geotab is in Las Vegas, for example. Geotab connects commercial vehicles to the Internet and provides web-based analytics to help customers better manage their fleets. According to the company, “Geotab leverages data analytics and machine learning to help customers improve productivity, optimize fleets through the reduction of fuel consumption, enhance driver safety and achieve strong compliance to regulatory changes.”
Las Vegas–based Haddington Dynamics open sources its core technology in the field of robotics. More specifically, it applies reconfigurable supercomputing technology to focus on low-cost, ultra-precision motion control for robotics, 3D printing and automation. Its website explains: “Haddington Dynamics was created to empower a growing user/community base with robotic solutions that simultaneously break cost and performance barriers. The company accelerates adoption and collaboration by open-sourcing its core technology.”
“We are 100% expanding in Las Vegas. We are in it for the long haul, and even though it’s a slow process to move engineers to Vegas, we will continue to make that push. ”
Emerging technology in the Las Vegas region hardly excludes the gaming industry. In June 2019, for example, Scientific Games Corporation, based in Las Vegas, received the Platform of the Year award at the EGR B2B Awards 2019 in London. The award recognizes service providers across the online gaming industry that have achieved exceptional commercial success and innovation during the previous 12 months. The company’s Open Gaming System (OGS) and Open Platform System (OPS) form one of the industry’s most reliable and scalable iGaming platforms, offering customer access to thousands of game titles and streamlined player and account management tools.
“Innovation and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do, and this award marks the success of our investment to bring world-class entertainment to players and help our partners enjoy business growth,” noted Jordan Levin, Group Chief Executive at Scientific Games.
