Delaware boasts broadband, Black-owned business and ocean tech

2024 was a year of progress in Delaware. 

From high-speed internet to blue tech to equity, the stories that dominated shared themes of looking forward and maximizing resources in the second-smallest state. 

Often when people talk about the First State as a tech ecosystem, they mean Wilmington and Newark, but downstate is coming into its own now, with help from the establishment of a statewide Tech Council and near-universal broadband access. And upstate, part of the Greater Philadelphia region, continues to build its tech workforce.

Here are Technical.ly’s top Delaware stories of the year.

Tech Council’s first anniversary and spinoff from Rodel 

Ecosystem builder the Tech Council of Delaware celebrated its first year in March. 

Born in 2020 as the Delaware IT Council, education and workforce nonprofit the Rodel Foundation launched it as an LLC with the intention that it would be a standalone organization after a three-year incubation period.

It officially launched in March 2023 under the leadership of Executive Director Zakiyyah Ali with a trio of primary aims: Build and expand an inclusive tech talent pipeline in Delaware, create a strong tech ecosystem in Delaware and strengthen Delaware’s position and perception as a tech hub. 

Some of its successes in its first year include the Yes, We Tech! summer internship program, the American Dream Academy and Learner Support Initiative and the Tech Ecosystem Conference. As of July 1, the Tech Council spun off from Rodel and became a standalone nonprofit. 

Delaware leads in broadband connectivity

The Delaware Broadband Office, led by Executive Director Roddy Flynn, moved forward with its goal to make the state the first to achieve 100% high-speed internet access by 2030. 

With support from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and its $42.5 billion in funding for the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, the office identified under-served addresses, including in remote rural areas that have little to no internet. 

So far, it’s working. In October, an Ookla report found that Delaware ranked No. 4 by slim margins in high-speed internet access. 

In addition to infrastructure, Delaware is also addressing other causes of the digital divide, including lack of access to devices and low digital literacy through its Digital Equity Plan, federally approved in February. 

Delaware identifies 4.5K more Black-owned businesses 

The number of identified Black-owned businesses increased tenfold in 2024. Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce (DEBCC) successfully advocated for a demographics checkbox for businesses applying for or renewing their business licenses in the state.

The first set of data released after the checkboxes, which allowed business owners to share information about their race/ethnicity, gender, disability and veteran status, showed a huge increase in Black-owned businesses. 

Previously, the DEBCC had identified 583 Black-owned businesses in the state; after the checkboxes were added, they were able to identify over 5,000. The new data is being used to increase support for under-resourced businesses.

New in Delaware blue tech: Robot vessels and digital twins

Tech is not just an upstate thing. Project ABLE, a two-year, $1.3 million University of Delaware (UD) project aimed at advancing the state’s tech related to the ocean, or blue tech, economy in Sussex County, took off in 2024. 

The initiative, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and based at UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment in Lewes, aims to help create jobs and workforce training in blue technology, including autonomous vessels and wind farms. 

One of Project ABLE’s mandates is to spread the word that blue tech in Delaware — the robotic vessels, the turbines, the simulations — is not only happening but also becoming an economic force in a part of the state more commonly associated with tourism and agriculture. Projects this year included an autonomous systems bootcamp and a blue tech accelerator.