Yesterday, I participated in a roundtable discussion on Big Data, led by Greg Bialiecki. He is on the Governor’s team.  Wade Roush calls him the “Business Czar” in an article here.

I’ve been investing in Big Data, before there was such a label, since 2003: StreamBase, Vertica (sold to HP), Goby (sold to Telenav), VoltDB and Paradigm4.  All of these projects have been with database pioneer Mike Stonebraker.  So, I feel up to speed on the sector.

But, I’m not at all politically active.  I’m a registered Independent and try to focus on each issue on its own rather than on “party lines.”  I’m also cynical about government in general.

So, I was curious about what to expect.

I was surprised to find that the discussion was very interesting and relevant.  There were a few very successful entrepreneurs there, EMC CTO Jeff Nick, 1 VC, and people from various state entities.  It was a cross-pollination discussion between the private and public sectors.

We walked away with some new ideas.  More important, I think the two groups walked away with greater respect for each other.

I was intrigued.  I’m eager to learn more.