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Sixth Annual SoCal Ecosystem Leadership Forum
Brought to you by Alliance for SoCal Innovation
Driving economic development in our diverse SoCal communities through industry/sector selection and alignment, targeted program development, business incentives, and brand building.
November 15 @ 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Long Beach, CA
Event Sponsors
Event Overview
This annual strategic planning workshop is focused on uniting and catalyzing the leadership of Southern California’s diverse and compelling innovation nodes which define the SoCal innovation network. To accomplish this, we convene a diverse cross section of leaders from across the region for a facilitated workshop to generate a shared understanding of innovation-focused economic development opportunities, challenges, and best practices in the region.
This year’s focus
This year we will explore strategies and best practices for driving innovation-based economic development in our diverse SoCal communities through presentations, city-specific case studies and group discussions where we’ll identify and discuss best practices around industry/sector selection and alignment, targeted program development, business incentives, and brand building.
The primary audience will be representatives from SoCal ecosystem-focused organizations such as economic development agencies, accelerators, regional and industry-specific startup support organizations, and local and state government agencies.
Why are we doing this?
There are common challenges and opportunities that unite the often fragmented, geographically dispersed hubs of innovation throughout Southern California. Our analysis of the region, in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group, has revealed that there is little coordination among these compelling pockets of innovation to address common issues. However, the Alliance believes aligning best practices, external messaging, and delivery of services and resources are necessary to harness the collective potential of the region’s innovation assets to make Southern California the next great innovation ecosystem.
Forum Goals
- Connect the key people and organizations working to drive economic development and prosperity within SoCal’s innovation ecosystem
- Identify trends and best practices that drive innovation-based economic development initiatives
- Instigate and support deeper relationships between SoCal’s innovation ecosystem leaders to ensure improved coordination of effort and collaboration within the region
Forum Agenda
9:30 AM: Informal networking
Come early for coffee and refreshments while you (re)connect with colleagues.
10:00a: Welcome + State of the Region report
10:20a: Rapid Introductions. Let’s see who’s in the room.
10:50a: Conversation Round 1. Where We’re At – Current Landscape and Opportunities for the Region.
Let’s set the table for the rest of the day’s discussions by getting up to speed on regional economic development priorities and initiatives through presentations and discussion.
Speakers:
Moderator: Stacy Cumberbatch, Managing Director at Blended Impact
Chris Earl, Acting Deputy Director & So Cal Regional Advisor at Go-Biz CalOSBA
Matt Horton, VP of Policy and Research at LAEDC
Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, Chair at CALED and Director of Economic Development at City of Ontario
12:00p: Lunch Break
12:30p: Conversation Round 2. Going Vertical: Selecting and Developing Industry Specialization.
Presentations and interactive group discussion on best practices for industry/sector selection and alignment, effective stakeholder collaboration, targeted program development, business incentives, messaging and brand building.
Industry Deep Dives:
Moderated by John Keisler, CEO & Managing Partner at Sunstone Management
Cleantech/Bluetech: Jenny Krusoe, Chief Operations Officer and EVP at AltaSea + Michael Galvin, Director of Waterfront & Commercial Real Estate at Port of LA)
Life Science: Dan Gober, Executive Director, Los Angeles at Biocom + Howard Kozloff, Founder & CEO at Noblespace + Gunjan Siroya, Chief Solutions Officer at Larta Institute
Aerospace & Defense: Chris Pimentel, Mayor Pro Tem at City of El Segundo + Lucius Martin, Deputy Mayor at City of Long Beach + Drew “Murph” Busbee, COO at DTI
1:45p: Conversation Round 3. Getting it Done: How Cities Invest in Innovation
Moderated chats with city representatives who are driving innovation-based economic development initiatives that reflect a range of complex strategic decision making, collaboration and overcoming pragmatic challenges.
Glendale expands beyond Hollywood to support startup innovation: David Crawley Delgado, Senior Economic Development Coordinator at City of Glendale + Neal Bloom, Managing Partner at Rising Tide Partners and Interlock Capital
Pasadena’s path to build leading Biotech + Deep Tech hubs: Felicia Williams, Councilperson at City of Pasadena + Mike Schaffer, CEO at Echo Factory + Patrick Church, Managing Director at JLL Los Angeles + Andy Wilson, CEO at Alliance for SoCal Innovation and former Councilperson at City of Pasadena
2:30p: Wrap Up
3:00p: Networking and Refreshments