About CONNECT

• About CONNECT
• Our Objectives
• The CONNECT Team
• Board of Directors

Twenty years ago, San Diego was in serious trouble due to simultaneous challenges in several key sectors of the local economy. Major cuts were underway in defense spending as a result of the thawing of the Cold War. Savings and loans banks, many of which were based in San Diego, were over-extended in their loan portfolios and were downsizing. Light manufacturing companies were consolidating in the face of stiff global competition.

In 1985, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Chancellor Richard Atkinson and Daniel Pegg, Chairman of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC), invited a few community leaders to discuss how San Diego could prepare to participate in the “knowledge economy.” Included in the meeting were the founder of QUALCOMM, Inc., Irwin Jacobs, David Hale, at that time CEO of Hybritech, Buzz Woolley of Girard Capital, and Bob Weaver of Deloitte.

With the support of these business leaders, Atkinson asked Dr. Mary Walshok, Dean of UCSD Extension, to organize a program to educate the San Diego community on entrepreneurship and starting new technology- based companies. This initiative led to the establishment of CONNECT as a regional non-profit organization with member support from the research community, the private sector and government. CONNECT’s purpose was to educate the San Diego region on how to commercialize local research-based discoveries.

To lead the implementation of this initiative, the advisory board and founders hired Bill Otterson as the Executive Director. Through their support and his exceptional leadership, CONNECT grew into one of the most successful organizations of its kind in the world. Today, the Otterson legacy is the well-known San Diego “culture of collaboration” that he initiated as a way to quickly spread expertise in the region.

Why did our region move so far, so fast?

It begins with excellent research capacity in the region. Approximately 50 institutions attract in excess of a billion dollars in funding each year. Due to San Diego’s desirable quality of life, the region attracts some of the best and brightest researchers and they in turn attract funding, which leads to more discoveries with commercial potential. The quality of life also attracts entrepreneurs to the region. Thanks to our great teaching institutes like UCSD, San Diego State University (SDSU), California State San Marcos, University of San Diego (USD) and our community colleges, we have a talented and well-trained work force. Finally, these assets attract capital investment. While many locations throughout the world have similar assets, San Diego’s culture of collaboration (sharing, partnering, supporting) has set us apart.

As clusters of innovative companies have emerged in San Diego, industry-specific trade organizations have been launched to offer assistance to the start-up companies as they mature. Today these include BIOCOM, CommNexus, AeA San Diego Council, the San Diego Software Industry Council and CleanTECH San Diego. Another future trade association is now incubating at CONNECT called Action and Sports Innovators (ASI).

Our future success in the innovation economy will be derived from the significant asset base that we have leveraged and grown over the past 25 years, including the research institutions, a talented workforce and investment capital, all wrapped inside our collaborative culture. We will need all of these and more as we prepare for the next 25 years in an increasingly competitive global innovation economy.

CEO

CONNECT