Silicon Valley, meet Silicon Prairie.

That was the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s focus during a mid-September trip to California that included two events in San Francisco and one in Palo Alto. The message: There are good, affordable opportunities for business expansion in Central Iowa, and there are opportunities for workers in technology-related fields.

“If you look at the business side and the people side, we have a whole new message to get out there,” said Mary Bontrager, executive vice president for workforce development and education at the Partnership. She points to things such as StartupCity Des Moines and what has been coined as “Silicon Sixth Avenue” downtown, an area that houses StartupCity and dozens of other tech-related start-ups. The growing technology start-up scene provides a new element that the Partnership couldn’t market in the past.

“We didn’t have that message to share two and three years ago,” Bontrager said. “Now when we’re talking both from the talent side and the business side, we can talk about an environment of options for people.”

Ten years ago, people in California “really didn’t know where Iowa was at,” said Mike Swesey, the Partnership’s business recruitment director for economic development. Since then, Wells Fargo & Co., Aviva USA and ING Groep NV have had significant growth, Microsoft Corp. has built a data center and IBM Corp. and Google Inc. now have a presence here, Swesey said.

There is a need for tech workers here, Bontrager said, in information technology jobs in large finance and insurance companies such as Principal Financial Group Inc. and Wells Fargo, in jobs in advanced manufacturing and biosciences, and in the growing entrepreneurial scene.

The start-up scene, especially, provides a new point of conversation for attracting tech workers. The Midwest offers more opportunities similar to those in Silicon Valley, with a lower cost of living and shorter commutes.

The Partnership has focused on business development opportunities in Silicon Valley for about 10 years, said Swesey. To recruit tech workers to Greater Des Moines, the Partnership has sent local rock band The Nadas around the country to play music and talk about Greater Des Moines for about four years. This was their second California tour.

The Palo Alto event, which attracted 40 to 50 people, was the first time the Partnership promoted both workforce development and business development, Bontrager said. The event worked as a way to bring together tech workers who could be interested in relocating to Central Iowa with representatives from two Silicon Valley businesses that already have a presence in this area.

The two businesses, WebFilings LLC and Solum Inc., both have operations in Ames.

Partnership officials say businesses want to know they can attract workers, and workers want to know that there are other options here in case things don’t work out for them with the first Iowa company that hires them.

Swesey and the Partnership sell the fact that it is 30 to 40 percent cheaper to run a business in Iowa compared with California.

The Partnership anticipates doing more combined events, both in Silicon Valley and in other parts of the country for other industries. Technology will continue to be a focus.

“Our role is to get out and talk about the ecosystem, and that it’s here and growing,” Bontrager said.