Just like that, we’re already nearing the end of 2022. You might be wondering where the time went, but we’re happy to report the Tennessee technology field has seen that time well spent. However, for all the success stories and new developments celebrated, we’ve seen a fair share of growing pains and errors. We will always have much to learn from, so let’s take the time to reflect on what we’ve seen so far. To commemorate 2022’s year in tech, we’ve curated a list of:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good
- Lenoir City Utilities’ Board approved new plan for a fiber-optic network in East TN.
- Tennessee emerges as the top state for tech job growth, post-pandemic.
- The Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory was ranked fastest in the world on the 60th TOP 500 list, with one quintillion calculations per second.
- The University of Tennessee – Knoxville, officially ranked 7th on the 2022 TCU Global University Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings, which observes a commitment to evidence-based research and integrity. The list contains over 220 placements.
- Tennessee Tech officially opened the Aviagen Poultry Science Research Laboratory, the newest addition to the College of Agriculture and Human Ecology.
The Bad
- East Tennesse Children’s Hospital was a victim of a major cybersecurity attack.
- The Tennessee and North Carolina Attorney General investigate TicketMaster for business malpractice and technical errors during the Taylor Swift concert tour presale.
- Tennessee Department of Safety suspended production of new navy-blue license plates after they were found to be causing interference with traffic cameras.
- MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center was forced to close down access to E-Health records after becoming the latest victim of an IT attack which also effected a Chattanooga facility.
- Targeted cyberattacks delayed unemployment benefits for thousands of Tennessee residents, and compromised the Tennessee unemployment fund.
The Ugly
- Supply chain interruptions for Intel microchips will last from 2023 onwards, extending the global microchip shortage.
- 12 Meta employees and security guards were fired after being caught hijacking user accounts and extracting data.
- Five former or current IRS employees were charged with stealing from the national COVID-19 relief fund, using the extra funding for personal expenses.
- Carbon emissions linked to cloud computing weren’t honestly reported on by big tech companies, negatively impacting environmental efforts.
- The technology industry is currently facing a massive talent shortage, resulting in a hiring freeze.
As we advance into 2023, we should take a moment to look back on what we did right, and what we did wrong. Technology has evolved and been developed by millions of brilliant minds with the purpose of helping humankind achieve what we never have before. But as we’ve learned, with tech in the wrong hands and the wrong intentions, there will be consequences. Cybersecurity threats, bad human choices, and carbon emissions continue to be significant threats, all of which are preventable if we put our heads together.
Are you prepared for the technology world of 2023? If you answered “no,” or you hesitated, it’s time to partner up with Centriworks. Contact us today and we’ll increase “The Good” for your business in 2023!