In our Innovation Agenda podcast this week, we compared notes with the California Life Sciences Association on patent reform.
Clean Acres Tours Levi Stadium
First Pitch: Aerospace + Drones Flies High
Yield, Resources and Land Use: The Future in Ag Improved by Drones
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, or "drones" for some), are quickly finding applications in fields as diverse as entertainment, infrastructure and agriculture. Longitudinal data collection makes that image capture more valuable to agriculture and utilities over time. For agtech applications, the mashup of mapping to image collection holds tremendous promise.
Kauffman Index Shows Startups Rising
Connora Wins Best in Show
At our First Pitch: Renewables on May 7th, judges declared Connora Technologies to be “Best in Show”. The win for Connora reflects excitement over very promising technology which will enable manufacturing from composites based on recycled material. To mark the occasion, we spoke to Rey Banatao, CEO of Connora Technologies.
CTC: Rey, Connora Technologies talks about cradle-to-cradle manufacturing. Why is that going to be important?
REY: The simple answer will be cost. We currently deal in the world of composites, where valuable materials like carbon fiber currently are degraded and/or discarded at the end of life, and as manufacturing waste. We believe that is untapped value the industry can take advantage of.
Clean Acres Goes Inside Levi Stadium
Thomson Reuters 2015 State of Innovation Released
CTC Establishes MOU with Australia's ATP Innovations
Foley Partners with CTC on Unique Startup Service
CTC's First Pitch Series has a new partner in the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP. Foley joins the CTC and will now support the advancement of startups through First Pitch in several ways, including the provision of mentoring and coaching to those selected to present at First Pitch events. Learn more about First Pitch here.
CTC Board Meets at GhostBot
CBIA Meets at Illumina
Clean Acres Tours FLEXLAB
The CTC’s Clean Acres initiative met Wednesday, April 8th at the FLEXLAB at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Clean Acres participants used the meeting to discuss the CTC's upcoming First Pitch event in October, and explored a range of potential Clean Acres Tours, particularly of net-zero projects.
Smart Manufacturing Summit (Partner Event)
Manex and the the California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI) present the Smart Manufacturing Summit, May 8th at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. For more information on the Smart Manufacturing Summit and to register, visit the event page here.
Benevolent Investors: Institutional VCs Doing More to Propel Startups
The Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and the University of California have all increased the energy and resources they devote to nurturing new ventures. Over the last few years, each has refined or developed new strategies for direct, venture-style investment with varying degrees of structure and formality. Mayo Clinic Ventures, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) – which has access to capital via an independent venture firm, Mission Bay Capital – all seek to translate science from their parent institutions into commercial opportunities. In so doing, each institution also extends its support of technology development further into the proverbial "Valley of Death," improving survivability for more start-ups while also participating in more value creation.
Tumml Accepting Summer Applicants
Civic innovation accelerator Tumml wants to hear from civic entrepreneurs. Tumml is now accepting applicants for its summer program. For more information, visit Tumml here.
Nonprofit Accelerator Opens Next Class
Fast Forward is a different kind of accelerator - one that accelerates tech-based nonprofits. Fast Forward is now accepting applicants for its next class for a program starting in July. Better hurry! The deadline is April 15th. For information and to apply, visit Fast Forward here.
Tech Councils Convene in Washington
CTC Speaks With New Fellow, Brian McGowan
"Knowing that California is the most innovative and creative place on earth," Brian McGowan told the CTC, "I knew that we needed to mobilize and organize our efforts to ensure that our state would get its fair share of this funding. We also knew that we had to do something despite the fact that the state had a $20 billion budget hole."
CTC spoke with new Fellow Brian McGowan about his many leadership roles in state and federal service. As one of the top economic developers in the country, McGowan gave his perspective on how these experiences continue to inspire him today.
CTC Grows in Partnership with Tech Councils, TechAmerica
TechAmerica powered by CompTIA today announced a 35% increase in new strategic partnerships focused on increasing grassroots advocacy throughout the United States. The grassroots coalition now reaches more than 14,000 technology companies in more than 20 states. The new strategic partners: California Technology Council, Howard Technology Council, Metroplex Technology Business Council, Nashville Technology Council, OCTANe and the Wisconsin Technology Council will join 17 technology councils that already affiliate on public policy advocacy and other activities to educate their member companies on national policy issues affecting their IT businesses.