Tim Kaine: A Great VP Pick for the Innovation Economy

I have met Senator Tim Kaine multiple times since he was elected to the Senate. He is a man of great character, a terrific public servant, and someone with a track record of bipartisanship as Mayor of Richmond, Governor, and U.S. Senator representing Virginia. Last October, I spent a couple hours with Senator Kaine as he graciously agreed to kick off the opening of 1776’s Crystal City, Virginia office. As we spoke about the innovation economy, I was struck by his passion to utilize technology to dig in and solve everyday problems for people.

Senator Kaine told me he was determined to make the entire Commonwealth of Virginia a hotbed for innovation. Kaine said that he was determined to get key stakeholders across Virginia collaborating to strengthen startup communities. He told me that as a former mayor and governor he was excited by the way cities were becoming early adopters of new technologies civic tech startups were developing.

While Senator Mark Warner is the high profile champion in Virginia when it comes to supporting the innovation economy, Senator Kaine has been an equally strong supporter despite not serving on committees with jurisdiction over major innovation policy. Paired with Secretary Clinton, who last month released her technology and innovation agenda, they form a strong duo for growing startup communities across the country. Here are some of Senator Kaine’s greatest hits:

Startup Act

In 2015, Kaine co-sponsored the bipartisan Startup Act. The bill calls for the creation of an Entrepreneur’s Visa for legal immigrants, capital gains exemption for startups, regulatory reform, and a report on best practices for local startup community growth. “First-generation Americans have always found a home for their ideas and entrepreneurial spirit in America.” “By providing entrepreneurs and foreign students who are educated in American universities with the ability to pursue career opportunities here, the Startup Act will…fill STEM vacancies in American companies and create employment opportunities in new business ventures for American workers.”

Cyber

The security sector is big in Virginia and Kaine has taken a balanced approach on cyber security issues as a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. He has sought middle ground on issues such as privacy and encryption. Kaine supported last year’s Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which provides incentives for technology and manufacturing companies to share data with the government.

Education

As Governor and Senator, Kaine has been a strong advocate for investing in new education programs, especially STEM education and Career and Technical Education (CTE), where he has sought to link the two closer together. In the Senate he co-founded the CTE Caucus with Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) to promote initiatives aimed at growing the 21st Century workforce, and fill jobs in sectors such as computer science and information technology. While serving as Governor, he introduced the Governor’s STEM Academies, programs in high schools that provided critical skills training and academic preparation for students to acquire the knowledge to succeed in at least one STEM field regardless if they attend college.

Just days ago, Senator Kaine announced $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and implement training courses that focus on drone technology at Virginia colleges.“Virginia has already seen the remarkable impacts of UAS technology, such as delivering critical medical supplies to communities in remote areas of the Commonwealth.” “Today’s funding will fuel breakthrough research and innovation that will position Virginia as a leader and innovator in UAS technology for the future.”

Immigration

Kaine has expressed support for immigration reform to grow our technology sector. He co-sponsored the I-Squared Act (S.169), to increase the number of H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000 for high skilled foreign workers that have advanced degrees from U.S. universities. Kaine has said that “Immigration is fundamentally a talent issue.”

These are critical issues that affects the technology industry. With the digital revolution permeating every part of our lives we need a candidate who is experienced with an actual record of understanding the problems and actively working to solve them.