Cluster Development

Clusters are specific industry verticals or groupings that address a specific technological niche. While continuing to be open to new and emerging clusters, CONNECT undertakes the responsibility of supporting, developing, and accelerating a variety of clusters.

An industry cluster is a group who share common goals and also common needs. Clusters need open forums for debate and knowledge transfer, creation of bridges to access capital, one voices advocating on their behalf. These are all things that CONNECT does on a day to day basis, and as such it makes sense that CONNECT would leverage its educational and mentoring resources to address a specific niche industry community. Through CONNECT’s involvement, the clusters growth and development is greatly accelerated.

Below are the clusters CONNECT has undertook to grow, develop, and accelerate:

CONNECT SPORT INNOVATORS

CONNECT SI is dedicated to promoting San Diego's action & sport industry through the application of CONNECT's established education, business development, and networking practices. CONNECT SI connects entrepreneurs with access to capital, best in class service providers and industry networking opportunities. Mentors from well established, respected, and successful companies are brought in to share their business development and management experiences with the next generation of action and sport entrepreneurs.

UNMANNED SYSTEMS and INFORMATION SECURITY INITIATIVES

San Diego is a center of excellence for information security and is the global leader in the growing unmanned vehicle systems industry, with a wide variety of private and publicly held companies. CONNECT is presently incubating the Unmanned Systems (UxS, where the x represents undersea, air, ground, surface, etc.) and Information Security (IS) Initiatives for CEOs of emerging companies and senior executives of mature companies in these industries in San Diego. The invitation-only forum events are organized in exclusive and private venues, where members gather around experienced thought leaders to jointly explore initial approaches to common challenges and potential opportunities.

STEM CELL MEETING ON THE MESA

Each year the La Jolla Torrey Pines Mesa region, a powerhouse of stem cell research, host the Stem Cells Meeting on the Mesa. With this region leading California in grants and funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, this event draws researchers and decision makers from the entire nation.

WIRELESS-LIFE SCIENCES ALLIANCE

San Diego is simultaneously the world’s largest wireless business cluster while becoming an emerging hub for pharmaceutical research and development, and medical device and diagnostic start-ups. This makes our region a perfect focal point for discovery, collaboration, acceleration, and convergence for the wireless and life sciences.