A full house greeted Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and a panel of public-private partnership specialists Wednesday at the P3 Strategy Series during Glendale Tech Week.
The event on Sept. 3 was part of three days packed with workshops, panel discussions, mixers, startup showcases and more. Jayro Sandoval, Sunstone’s economic development manager and managing member at Sunstone Cities, moderated the P3 panel. Panelists were Glendale Director of Community Development Bradley Calvert, Alliance for SoCal Innovation Managing Director Eric Eide, and founder and CEO of Seatrec Dr. Yi Chao.
Mayor Najarian set the tone in his opening remarks, noting that public-private partnerships are at the heart of Glendale’s innovation strategy.
“There are just so many needs, and very limited funds,” the mayor said. “Our (elected) state reps are active in seeking out and securing grant funding. We decided several years ago we wanted to have an emphasis on tech, and that requires partnerships.”
In Glendale, the Community Development Department includes economic development, and Calvert said that the areas are interconnected.
“For economic development, you have to have the housing for the employees,” Calvert said. “You have to have the work spaces, and the amenities. Innovation can happen anywhere. The question we try to answer is ‘why in Glendale?’”
A public-private partnership in the form of a $1 million grant from the state helped launch Glendale’s Tech Strategy in 2017, and a second $1 million grant last fall has boosted the effort. Grants came from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The money is being used to expand tech accelerators, provide support to startups and more.
But the money is just the beginning, panelists agreed. Partnerships between public and private agencies for the benefit of new business startups is key.
“If the city tried to do it on their own, it would be very difficult,” Eide said. “By partnering, we are able to lean in and do a lot with the grant award. Resources are scarcer than ever now.”
Eide talked about how the Alliance for SoCal Innovation can use its reach across all of Southern California to connect entrepreneurs with potential venture capital investors. Bringing together resources from government grants, corporate philanthropy and private capital can result in the synergy it takes to make things happen, he said.
Efforts by the Alliance to interview startups or hear their pitches, then try to match them with potential venture capital investors, resulted in one of the larger ideas coming out of the panel discussion. An audience member asked if the city of Glendale would consider hearing pitches for goods or services that would benefit the community but were not on city staff’s radar. Calvert said he and his staff would definitely consider the idea.
Dr. Chou noted that his decision to locate Seatrec in San Diego was because there is a cluster of marine expertise he needs to advance his company, and suggested that Glendale could take the same approach of creating clusters, especially with the large number of higher education and research institutions in the area. Calvert agreed, adding that “people need to be near people.”
Going back to the public-private partnership theme of the session, Calvert said that Glendale is studying ways to not only attract tech innovation companies and startups, but to help them succeed. That might mean making vacant storefronts or offices available, working to make permitting for use of artificial intelligence easier and more.
“It comes down to marketing our city,” Calvert concluded. “What’s our pitch? What makes us cool?”
Sunstone Cities is sponsoring and participating in two more Southern California Tech Weeks – Long Beach Tech Week Sept. 23-25 and Los Angeles Tech Week Oct. 13-19. For more information, email info@longbeachaccelerator.org, visit tech-week.com or go to sunstonecities.com.
Upcoming Events
Missed our latest event? Find recordings and photo galleries on LinkedIn and Youtube. Follow us on Luma to RSVP for more community events.
September 3
P3 Strategy Series – Glendale Tech Week, registration
September 19
P3 Strategy Series 1-2 p.m. Sunstone Stage, with Bahram Solhjou, principal project manager at LA County Internal Services Department, registration
September 24
Queen Mary 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
September 24-26
Association of California Healthcare Districts Annual Conference
Sheraton San Diego Resort
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