Riverside, Calif. (PRWEB) October 08, 2013 -- California state economic development director Kish Rajan and deputy director Louis Stewart today joined state and local elected officials in Riverside to announce the designation of four new Innovation Hubs (i-Hub), further expanding the largest network of state sponsored innovation clusters in the U.S. This announcement comes just days after Governor Brown signed legislation – AB 250 – to formally recognize the i-Hub program in statute and establish the Innovation Accelerator Account.
“Today’s announcement of four new i-Hubs further cements California as the world leader in innovation,” said GO-Biz director Kish Rajan. “These new initiatives bring together key resources to support manufacturing, aerospace, defense, energy, healthcare, agribusiness, and more. This allows regions all over the state to better capitalize on new technologies and support homegrown start-up businesses that create the bulk of California’s new jobs.”
VIDEO: Director Rajan speaking to the crowd of attendees. (LINK)
Over 120 local business owners and representatives participated in the announcement, held at the Riverside County Administrative Center. The GO-Biz team was joined by Senator Richard D. Roth, Assemblymembers Jose Medina, Cheryl Brown, Chris Holden and V. Manuel Pérez, Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit and more.
“The i-Hub program has helped launch start-ups that are making advancements in tech, science, venture capital and more” said Deputy Director Stewart. “California has set a standard for advancing innovation that is being emulated around the world and GO-Biz is looking for ways to facilitate new opportunities through expanding the i-Hub program.”
A complete list of California’s nation leading network of state sponsored innovation hubs can be found here. GO-Biz developed a mobile application for the Innovation Hub network which can be found here.
The new i-Hub designations include:
1) San Joaquin Area: i-Hub San Joaquin is dedicated to advancing emerging technologies and businesses in the core areas of Health Care, Sustainable Construction Technologies and Agribusiness. Coordination of i-Hub SJ is shared by the San Joaquin County Administrator’s Office and the Business Incubator and Innovation Center at the Preserve (BIIC). (Read More)
2) Kern and Ventura Counties: iDEA Hub is dedicated to growing the Defense, Energy and Aerospace technology and business in Kern and Ventura counties. With the Naval Air Warfare Center and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center as featured Federal laboratories, technology partners can benefit from the combined expertise of over 7,000 scientists, engineers, logisticians, prime government contractors, acquisition professionals and military operators. (Read More)
3) Statewide Manufacturing: The California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI) is designed as a state-wide collaborative of National Research Laboratories, MEPs, academic institutions, Economic Development organizations, manufacturers and equipment suppliers to support and foster advanced manufacturing in California. CNMI is designed as a one stop organization for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers (SMMs) to secure workforce development, technology transfer, and improvement services throughout California. CNMI will have operations in Torrance and the Bay Area. (Read More)
4) Inland SoCal Link: The County of Riverside and the Port of Los Angeles have joined forces to maximize opportunities within the transportation corridor linking the Los Angeles port with the Inland Southern California region. This partnership is the foundation for a collaborative effort that will extend to the county of San Bernardino. (Read More)
The four new i-Hubs build upon an already robust program. This year i-Hubs have received over $2.9 million in funding, including:
- $1 million in i6 Challenge Grants for a partnership between SARTA and UC Davis to create a Sacramento area AgTech Innovation Center that will help farmers and ranchers grow their businesses.
- $1 million from the City of Palm Springs for the Coachella Valley Accelerator Campus.
- $500,000 from the Desert Regional Healthcare Commission for a Health and Medical Innovation Center at the Coachella Valley Accelerator Campus.
- $200,000 for the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership of Palm Springs to develop an implementation-ready strategy to enhance the region’s capacity to attract and expand private investment in manufacturing and increase international trade and exports.
- $100,000 for China Lake Technologies to develop a strategy to create new jobs in the Kern County region in the emerging bio-products industry.
- $100,000 from Wells Fargo for operational expenses at the Accelerator Campus in Palm Springs.
Meanwhile, GO-Biz has worked to expand California’s advanced manufacturing base by hosting the first ever California Advanced Manufacturing Summit (CAMS) designed to align the state’s efforts to compete for a new federal advanced manufacturing institute.
Earlier this week, director Rajan announced that Governor Brown had signed a package of legislation designed to support California businesses and bolster the state’s economy.
“This package of bills represents the kind of aggressive pro-business approach that is contributing to California’s continued recovery,” said GO-Biz director Rajan. “Governor Brown is sending a clear message to California’s competitors that the Golden State is more concerned with sound policy and results than rhetoric. This further supports the commitment GO-Biz has made to help California’s businesses succeed and accelerate the economy.”
The bills the Governor signed included measures to increase small business lending, stop retroactive taxation of entrepreneurs, streamline foreign exports, and formalize the nation’s largest network of state sponsored Innovation Hubs (iHubs). The complete list of bills can be here, including GO-Biz highlights below:
- AB 250 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) – Codifies and expands the California Innovation Hub (iHub) Program at GO-Biz for the purpose of stimulating economic development and job creation through the coordination of federal, state, and local innovation-supporting resources.
- AB 1067 by Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) – Establishes the California Foreign Investment Program within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development as the lead entity for overseeing the state's participation in the United States Citizenship Immigration Services' EB-5 Investment Program.
- AB 1247 by Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) – Places administration of the small business financial development corporation (FDC) managed programs in the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank), within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).
- AB 1400 by the Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy – Permits a person requesting an export document from the Department of Public Health (DPH) to make the request in electronic format, and requires DPH to accept requests submitted by email or other electronic methods, including electronic copies of labels or advertising. This bill also increases the term of the export document from six months to one year after its issue date.
- AB 1412 by Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra (D-Los Angeles) – Temporarily reinstates the income exclusion and deferral provisions for gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock , as defined, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2008, and before January 1, 2013.
GO-Biz serves as California’s office for economic development and offers a range of services to business owners. Those services include attraction, retention and expansion services, site selection, permit streamlining, clearing of regulatory hurdles, small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with state government, important informational briefings and much more. For more information visit: http://www.business.ca.gov.
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Brook Taylor, CA Governor's Office of Business & Econ Development (GO-Biz), http://www.business.ca.gov, (916) 322-0667, [email protected]
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