The Slater Technology Fund celebrated its 25th birthday last night, and it has grown into Rhode Island’s largest venture capital fund.

The organization also just released its 25-year impact report, which includes a call to action to policy makers and private investors to further build the state’s innovation economy.

I asked Thorne Sparkman, Slater’s managing director and winner of Rhode Map’s Best Name in Rhode Island Award, to tell us more about the organization and outline his vision for the future.

Q: The report makes a pretty strong case that venture capital can be one of the most effective economic development tools Rhode Island has. Why hasn’t the state leaned into this model more aggressively?

Sparkman: Rhode Island has been a supportive ally for Slater by investing permanent capital twice over a decade. But what is the optimal amount? And what is the state’s capacity? The richness of local opportunities in life sciences and AI merits investment, but there are always competing priorities in state budgets. The opportunity is now in focus: Rhode Island is targeting life sciences and placing prescient bets on infrastructure and translational research. But the data is saying that seed capital is the catalyst, and modest investments at the seed stage are a dependable catalyst. It’s time to make that investment.

Q: The fund is now largely self-sustaining and no longer reliant on state funding. Why should taxpayers or policymakers double down on it now?

Sparkman: While the fund’s returns support its operation, which creates an efficient path for further investment, the total level of investment remains too low by an order of magnitude overall. Since an accelerating innovation economy has an enormous payoff, taxpayers and policymakers should leap at the opportunity to invest, especially where modest public investment can catalyze private co-investment locally and immediately.

Q: The report says Slater-backed companies have generated over $900 million in wages. How much of that economic impact is actually staying in Rhode Island today?

Sparkman: Companies do occasionally relocate some operations to where they find the best talent or other resources, but the days of all employees working in headquarters are gone, and the best companies will always employ some workers locally and some remotely. Ecosystems should compete to retain the best companies on a variety of fronts, but the best way to win the battle is to cultivate them locally first. The payoff of a single new, large, successful company nurtured locally to success—and the follow-on momentum it creates—dwarfs the occasional emigration of a seed-stage company.

Q: What’s the No. 1 thing that keeps you up at night about Rhode Island’s economy?

Sparkman: The potential is so high here, but the world is a highly competitive place. I worry that the training ground locally for team members is better in other places than in Rhode Island, and our teams are at a disadvantage because of a lack of experience. How do you overcome that? Use opportunity to attract and import talent in the short term. In the long term, success breeds success. APC trained energy executives. Ximedica trained medical device founders. So too will our existing high-growth companies: RxVantage, Voltserver, MindImmune. This generation of companies will beget the next generation of founders, but we need to double or triple that pace to compete vigorously.

Q: Finally, give us a prediction for Rhode Island’s venture capital landscape 25 years from now.

Sparkman: I’m bullish if we double down on the innovation economy. We need new big successes in this decade, and our bets are in the right direction currently, but we’ll need some big wins. Healthcare and technology are the right places to focus. I see creativity and innovation that is off the charts, and our data says seed investment is the catalyst. The next decade will produce new, large incumbent winners that will be game changers over the next 25 years—but the clock is ticking.