Mayor Bowser: Tech can help DC build a stronger, more self-sufficient economy

Despite looming threats to the district’s right to govern itself, its top political leader continues to boast the city’s advantages like its higher education system and talent pool. 

Mayor Muriel Bowser explored this theme during the recent Venture in the Capital summit at Georgetown University. The student-led event focused on public policy, investing and entrepreneurship, and brought in big names like journalist Kara Swisher and Khosla Ventures’ Keith Rabois.  

During her fireside chat with Georgetown student Drew Peterson, Bowser admitted that it’s been a “tumultuous time” for the federal workforce. Last Friday’s event took place as the Trump administration continues to lay off thousands of federal workers — about 70,000 of which live in DC proper.  

“It’s an interesting time that we’re in, when we’re especially talking about the federal workforce and the federal government’s place in the district,” Bowser said during a talk at the summit. 

But DC still has an advantage, and there’s more to the city than the federal government, she persisted. It’s a hub for founders to start businesses, mainly because of the job seekers coming out of the area’s universities.  

To help further convince startups to lay stakes in the city, DC launched its own venture capital fund at the end of 2024 with the help of the Department of Treasury. That fund is now accepting applications for fund managers.

The fund will also boost the narrative that DC has more to it than its federal proximity, she noted. 

“In a lot of ways, we are advantaged by the government town, and [in] other ways we’re not,” she said, adding: “We’ve been looking to diversify our economy in the district for a number of years, and we always thought [of] tech as a way to do it.”

The city’s leadership is also looking at how regulations play into all of this. Bowser has been looking at the rules for starting and running businesses, a ton of which she’s found to be outdated and unhelpful. 

She additionally noted DC can move quickly because it’s a “city-county-state.”

The venture fund isn’t the only new boon for DC. The city allocated $515 million to redo the Capital One Arena. That’s in addition to nearly $300 million from Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which previously owned the space. DC struck a deal to purchase the arena in 2024 and will lease it back to the company owned by entrepreneur and Georgetown graduate Ted Leonsis. 

In December of 2023, Monumental Sports attempted to relocate its programming including Capitals, Mystics and Wizards games to nearby Alexandria. But a few months later, the deal stalled. 

Bowser worked with Leonsis to come up with the current plan they have, which boosters believe will help downtown DC as many office buildings stand vacant.  

“Ted had an idea that maybe they could build someplace else,” Bowser said. “We didn’t like that idea that much.” 

The Bowser administration’s moves for economic vitality take place against the backdrop of private sector giants circling around DC. For instance, major tech companies are setting up offices in DC as they lobby the federal government. That influx can bring other tech-based innovations, like autonomous vehicles, which started testing in the city in 2024.

But Bowser remains hesitant about the tech. Even with these vehicles, the city failed to reach its goal of reaching zero traffic deaths by 2024, and 100 pedestrians were killed for the third year in a row in 2024. 

“While we’re supportive of that innovation,” Bowser said, “we have a very focused concern about that.”