LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance
for Southern California Innovation [Alliance] today announced study
results from over 100 interviews with technology leaders and an
analysis of venture capital funding data to examine Southern California's potential to become the
next major global technology hub.
The Alliance, a nonprofit founded by Steve Poizner in 2017 to nurture and accelerate
the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, commissioned Boston
Consulting Group [BCG] to produce the study titled "How Southern
California Could Be the Next Great Tech Ecosystem" to evaluate
leading tech ecosystems in an effort to advance Southern California as a global technology and
innovation epicenter. The findings show that despite optimism that
Southern California is primed to
emerge as a tech hub as robust as Silicon Valley, there are key
factors that need to be addressed, including regional fragmentation
and the lack of a compelling geographic center.
According to Eric Schmidt, former
Chairman of Google, who serves on the Alliance's Advisory Council,
"Southern California has a
compelling opportunity for leading technology firms that are
looking beyond Silicon Valley to access top talent and a greater
diversity of ideas and perspectives."
By analyzing the correlation between venture funding, wages, and
both direct and indirect job creation the study finds that
Southern California can reach one
third of Silicon Valley's level of venture capital investment by
2025 by pulling six strategic levers to solidify the regional
ecosystem. The potential economic impact of this achievement
would lead to an additional 200,000 new, high-paying jobs, along
with nearly one million indirect service jobs. This growth would
represent $100 billion dollars in
increased economic value to the Southern
California region.
"Over the past several years we have observed a significant
decrease in startups leaving SoCal," said Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. "We've
also seen a substantial inflow of venture capital from all over the
world."
As a next step, the Alliance will hold two technology innovation
showcase events, sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Google, and Silicon
Valley Bank. The first event will take place on Thursday, May 24 in Silicon Valley at the
Computer History Museum, and the second on Wednesday, June 20 at the Luskin Center at
UCLA in Los
Angeles. Both events will feature Southern California's most prominent
thought-leaders and best technology and life sciences innovators
working to commercialize their latest discoveries in an effort to
connect them with over 200 top investors and serial entrepreneurs
from around the state and country.
Additionally, the report identified the following growth signals
for Southern California,
including:
- SoCal's talent advantage:
-
- The region produces more tech PhDs per year than any other
region in the country.
- Caltech generates more patents than any university in the U.S.
and UCLA more startups.
- UCSD has a renowned life sciences research program along with
the nearby Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine which
includes the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
(SBP), the Scripps Research Institute,
and the Salk Institute, all of them in San Diego.
- 54% of CalTech's 2017 alumni chose to stay in SoCal vs 31% of
grads from 2012.
- SoCal's demonstrated potential:
-
- Recent high-profile relocations to SoCal by Meg Whitman (eBay, HP) and Peter Thiel (PayPal, Founders Fund, Thiel
Capital).
- SpaceX, Snap (Snapchat) and Cornerstone OnDemand are among the
heavy hitters calling Southern
California home.
- Tech giants such as Google, Yahoo! and Facebook have expanded
their footprint in Silicon Beach, increasing the density of tech
employees and engineers in the area.
- SoCal's entrepreneurial density: Santa Monica and West Hollywood already have an
"entrepreneurial density" on par with many Silicon Valley cities,
including Palo Alto and
Menlo Park.
The BCG study provides six recommendations for strengthening the
region which are the centerpiece of the Alliance's strategic plan.
These include growing the amount of local venture capital;
diagnosing and strengthening SoCal's emerging innovation nodes;
increasing inter-node connectivity; raising the collective
ambitions of SoCal founders; marketing the region's commitment to
diversity and inclusion; and highlighting SoCal's strengths locally
and beyond.
"Southern California is a
region of extreme innovation; however, it is so spread-out, making
it hard to navigate," said Steve
Poizner founder and board chair of the Alliance. "We believe
by finding, filtering and aggregating exciting startups from top
universities, research institutes, and incubators/accelerators, we
can demonstrate the combined strength of SoCal in a compelling way
to top investors and thought leaders."
"Our comprehensive analysis of half a dozen global contenders
shows with the right influence applied strategically, SoCal can
become the next major global tech ecosystem resulting in
significant economic and societal impact," said Jody Foldesy, Boston Consulting Group [BCG]
Partner charged with leading the study.
For more information, a complete list of the Alliance board and
strategic partners, and Alliance invitation-only events, please
visit http://www.alliancesocal.org/.
About the Alliance for Southern California Innovation
(Alliance)
The Alliance for Southern California Innovation
(the "Alliance"), formed in 2017 by serial entrepreneur and public
servant Steve Poizner, has
successfully brought together the heft of Southern California's top research
institutions, local business leaders, and world-class advisors to
focus on bridging critical gaps in the SoCal ecosystem. The goal of
the Alliance is to nurture and accelerate the growth of
Southern California's technology
and life sciences innovation ecosystem. As a first step, the
Alliance will host two technology innovation showcase events: the
first on May 24th in the heart of
Silicon Valley and the second one on June
20th on the campus of UCLA in
SoCal. A complete list of the Alliance board and strategic partners
can be found at www.alliancesocal.org.
About the Boston Consulting Group
The Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and
the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with
clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all
regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address
their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises.
Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of
companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the
client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve
sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable
organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is
a private company with offices in more than 90 cities in 50
countries.
Media Contact:
Michelle Horn
Edelman
(323) 761-6541
michelle.horn@edelman.com
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SOURCE Alliance for SoCal Innovation