RALEIGH – Wednesday afternoon, investors and entrepreneurs from across the region will gather in downtown Raleigh for an investor-led tech policy meetup called Capital Coalition. The event is organized by Engine, a policy, advocacy, and research organization that touts itself as “the voice of startups in government” and supports startups as economic growth engines.

The Raleigh meetup is the first of a series of regional events hosted by the San Francisco-based organization. The region’s growing reputation as a leader in technology and entrepreneurship made it a good fit for Engine’s first Capital Coalition meetup, according to Engine’s top executive.

“The Raleigh-Durham area has proven able to attract and produce the talent necessary for such an ecosystem to thrive,” said Evan Engstrom, Engine’s executive director. “It has great universities and consistently sits near the top of quality of life rankings. Engine has longstanding relationships with the startup community here and many of our startups have been tremendously helpful as we work with the local investor community.”

The group also backs #StartupsEverywhere, which it describes as “a campaign celebrating the diverse, vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems that are taking root in every corner of the country. Through weekly profiles of startup ecosystem leaders, the project showcases exciting developments in a variety of rising startup communities.”

Evan Engstrom

Engine conducts research and advocacy on behalf of startups on issues ranging from data and security and net neutrality to infrastructure and tech diversity. For Engstrom, Raleigh and Durham are a perfect match for the organization’s goal of bringing venture capitalists and business and community leaders together to discuss policy.

“The investors and innovators that are turning Raleigh into a new hotbed for startup activity can make an incredible impact on public policies that will increase the success of Raleigh’s startups,” he said. “Policymakers are looking for guidance from the folks on the ground in emerging startup ecosystems, and we’re here to help amplify that voice. We want to hear what’s most pressing for the Raleigh ecosystem and want to provide investors the tools to fix those problems.”

The Raleigh Capital Coalition is the first in a series of summer meetups Engine will be holding across the country.

“We will use these visits to share our vision for the coalition and hear from folks on the ground to better understand key challenges and issues that investors in different regions are most interested in addressing,” said Engstrom.

The Capital Coalition will be held this afternoon from noon to 1:30 at HQ Raleigh located at 16 West Martin Street in downtown Raleigh.

Learn more online.

Issue priorities for Engine

  • TALENT

Building a pipeline of well-rounded and highly trained individuals is vital to retaining American leadership in technological innovation.

  • DATA & SECURITY

Considerations about how companies, governments and individuals interact with, build upon, and learn from aggregate data are increasingly important in policy and regulatory discussions.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE

Connecting more Americans to broadband is critical to growing our entrepreneurial economy. As many as 19 million Americans live in areas unserved by broadband internet providers.

  •  CAPITAL ACCESS

Limited access to capital can be one of the biggest challenges a startup faces. Seed stage venture capital investment in startups has dropped by more than 70 percent since its peak in 2000.

  • OPEN INTERNET

Internet-based commerce empowers consumers on every corner to build small businesses, trade in goods and services, and harness previously unattainable educational opportunities.

  • IP

Patents were developed to encourage openness in the innovation space and to protect inventors. Startups are increasingly facing legal pressure from “patent trolls”.

Source: Engine