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N3RD Street Changes the Local Tech Scene in Philadelphia


You could walk past Bluecadet’s office space without even noticing it, but the unassuming building on the 1500 block of Frankford Avenue is carving out a new niche in the economy of the River Wards. Bluecadet, along with other companies like O3 World, Jarvus Innovations and SEER Interactive is redefining the types of products for which Philly is known.

Bluecadet is a digital agency. They work on everything from designing websites for universities to installing large, multiuser participatory media in museums. A walk around the office shows their employees at different stages of development with a mélange of different products. One person sits with their head down and headphones on composing music for an app. Another works on perfecting a digital interactive chemistry set. A third is perched on a stool looking down at a giant touchscreen laid out like a table. All of them are hard at work creating products that will be used all over the city and country.

Josh Goldblum started Bluecadet in Washington D.C. after leaving a job at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After growing and relocating a few times, they decided to move to their current location in Fishtown. Goldblum, originally from the Abington area, says there were many factors which influenced his move to the neighborhood. He mentions things like potential and architecture, but it comes down to something more simple.

“It’s not as frenetic as downtown Philadelphia,” said Goldblum. “I just like the family environment of the neighborhood. I like the fact that this is like a real neighborhood. I like the mix of these businesses with the community and we’re really hoping we can really serve both.”

It is not just the mix of business and community that makes the River Wards prime location for these companies. Chris Wink from Technically Philly has been following Philadelphia’s burgeoning tech sector since 2009. He says neighborhoods like Northern Liberties and Fishtown are well suited for this new outcrop of tech-focused business particularly since the demographics have changed.

“I think we’re in a moment where the new people moving to those communities are the kind of creative class people who have design, marketing, social web and similar backgrounds. So if you’re a firm, it’s a really sensible place to be,” said Wink.

So many of these companies have taken root, particularly along North Third Street, that the city has officially nicknamed the street N3RD Street. The moniker stretches from Market Street to Girard Avenue. In that area, companies like Jarvus, SEER Interactive, Indy Hall and i-Site all call North Third Street home. That doesn’t mean N3RD Street is the only place these companies can flourish. Like Bluecadet, the interactive agency O3 World have found themselves situated on the Frankford Corridor.

The work O3 World does is amorphous. They do not provide a particular product, but instead a variety of solutions by concentrating on enterprise web design and development. In other words, they help companies leverage technology to solve problems.

“We’re more of an agency for clients. So, rarely are they coming to us with just ‘here’s a brochure. We’re a website with ten pages, can you do it’” said Keith Scandone, Partner at O3 World.

It is part marketing, part web development and a lot of understanding how people interact with technology. They create things like the online shop for the White House Historical Association’s website and the famous Di Bruno Bros. They make interactive infographics for Thomson Reuters. The work they do is integral to how you experience brands online.

The work created by O3 World is, in a lot of ways, complex, but at the same time it is very familiar. They create ways for companies to communicate with their clients and customers. Before the ubiquity of the internet, this was accomplished with advertisements and store fronts. It was largely the realm of advertising agencies. Today, companies need to find new ways to interact with the public and those solutions can be found through technology with the help of companies like O3 World. As it becomes more important for companies to communicate in the digital space, tech companies like the ones sprouting up in Philadelphia will become more important.

“If you’re a restaurant and you have a CRM you want a technologist on staff to help, said Chris Wink. “If you’re a bakery or a gas station or whatever you want to be, if you want to build a business you need technology talent to create the efficiencies to make it work”.

With all of the tech companies thriving in Philadelphia this could be a positive sign for the future economy of the city and neighborhoods like Fishtown and Northern Liberties. Economics aside companies like O3 World and Bluecadet are already contributing in a lot of other ways. Both companies have worked hard to help out other local businesses and events and help build a sense of community amongst other tech companies and the neighbors who live here.

“We did a site for Parlour downstairs,” said Scandone. “We did a site for the Kinetic Sculpture derby that recently took place. We helped the Lutheran House across the street on their website. We’re kind of looked at as, almost, in some ways, a leader in this community and try to help out the community and host community events here”.

Goldblum believes that while offering their skills and services to the community is an essential part of their business, what the community can do to give back is much easier.

“Just show up and be part of it,” he said. “Some of it is just bringing the right energy that will just keep this thing going and build momentum. And I think people want to be out there socializing and sharing and I think the more energy you can bring to that and the more positive energy you can bring to that, the more it will thrive.”

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