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| Interview with Greg Meffert, August 16, 2005 Bayou Buzz VIEW ORIGINAL ARTICLE Yesterday, Governor Blanco held a ceremonial signing of movie, music and Digital Media legislation. One of the individuals who has been instrumental in conceptualizing the Louisiana Digital Media legislation is Greg Meffert, the Chief Technology Officer of the City of New Orleans. Here is an Bayoubuzz interview discussing his involvment and what the legislation means to the city and to the state. What does the digital media mean to the City of New Orleans in terms of future opportunities? The powerful thing is that this really means three things at once. It allows for the city to go after big name companies that might grow or transplant technical development that otherwise is headed overseas or other more remote development areas. Additionally, it leverages the fact that many movies now also spin-off a video game at this same time, so a credit for both industries shores up the film credit, which is no longer as uniquely competitive to this state. Finally, it encourages outside investment and growth in our local tech companies to become a more competitive place to invest and do business with. I know that you personally and the City of New Orleans were very involved in the Digital Media legislation from the very beginning and are still very involved in making certain the legislation works, so, how did you personally get involved in the Digital Media Legislation? What do you think you personally and the City brought to the table? I first got involved when the mayor and I discussed the idea and he decided this should be a priority for the city. Every year, the city has to pick out a handful of "must-have" priorities from all its legislative priorities. Those are the priorities that will have the support behind them critical to push through this complex process and all of its many pitfalls. That and the subsequent push by our legislative team of Brenda Hatfield and Kenya Smith, along with other local organizations, was the critical first step in engaging the elected officials to pick up this bill. As far as my specific office, we worked very hard on securing the language that would be broad enough to attract the large companies, and fought for the bill as it was indefinitely deferred twice in committees . Finally I went up to Baton Rouge to speak both in private meetings with senators, and in subsequent public forums, as both a city official and former entrepreneur to help ensure the bill didn´t die in committee, or get amended to the point of being to weak to be truly useful in attracting industry to the state. Mayor Nagin has made video games and digital media an important part of the economy of the future. How role can a person like a CIO or CTO of a city or town play to make certain that the deals come to the table? In the deals we have struck with companies like Microsoft and others, we have found one thing that makes the most significant difference from a role inside the city. That is to make it much easier for those company ideas that make sense actually move from paper to reality, and make them truly grow and happen here. This sounds very easy to say, but it is much rarer than one would think. These companies have the goals of their shareholders first and foremost in their minds, and we must have the city´s priorities in ours. Lining up truly innovative ideas and projects that match both sets of priorities is what I probably spend most of time on to help make these kinds of deals happen. |
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