May 5—New Mexico isn’t just the Land of Enchantment in the mind of venture capitalist Abhi Mukherjee — it’s also the Land of Ingenuity.
Mukherjee was a panelist speaking on how New Mexico can develop its innovation ecosystem as part of a two-day event in Santa Fe focused on competitiveness.
The conference, hosted by Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Council on Competitiveness, is part of a broader conversation happening across the U.S. about the unique benefits and challenges states can offer and overcome to attract businesses.
The economic experts gathered on the Monday afternoon panel touted New Mexico’s benefits, from state incentives like the Local Economic Development Act to its close-knit community that fosters strong partnerships.
But the state needs to overcome its struggles with workforce participation, panelists said. Earlier, Chad Evans, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Council on Competitiveness, cited New Mexico’s workforce participation rate — one of the lowest in the nation — as a barrier.
That’s an issue Robey Clark, director of strategic initiatives at Kairos Power, knows all too well.
Kairos Power has 32 acres of land in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol and employs 150 full-time employees, about 70% of whom are local, Clark said. He said the California-based nuclear power company still wants to expand in New Mexico.
“But it can be a challenge to find that labor,” Clark said. “We want to hire more people. We want to bring them on board. We want to give them these good manufacturing jobs.”
Yeri Lopez, director of partnerships at J2 Ventures, said New Mexico needs to pull in more entrepreneurs.
“Just trying to make the state better known outside of New Mexico, so that everybody knows that ‘Hey, there are these resources here; there are these companies that could be potentially founded there,'” Lopez said.
He also acknowledged the state doesn’t lack capital or science.
Mukherjee, operating partner with California-based CerraCap Ventures, urged venture capitalists to be intentional in their investments and take into account how unique New Mexico is compared to other states. What works in a place like Silicon Valley, he said, may not work in New Mexico.
“The fact remains that the conversation has to change from securing innovation to enabling commercialization,” Mukherjee said.