Popping OC’s Tech Kernels
VIEWPOINT
by Thomas Moebus
Back in 2000, a memorable Los Angeles Times article described Orange County as a technology backwater.
The article,based on some facts and a number of misunderstandings,made a big stir among businesspeople here. But it also led to a number of productive steps to change things.
The story led several local technology and business leaders,Dwight Decker, Matt Massengill, Mike Mussallem, Ralph Cicerone, Nick Yocca, Rick Shuttleworth, Bruce Hallett and myself,to create a new organization.
Called OCTANe, for the Orange County Technology Action Network, the group’s mission is to build technology business in the county.
Jim Mazzo, Henry Samueli, Clarence Barker, Don Milder, Randy Lunn, and Lee Roberts have joined us in our mission.
Orange County is not considered a leading technology area, though there are many technology-based companies (information, biomedical, aerospace, etc.) here. There are kernels of innovation in numerous small to large companies, and in the research labs at the University of California, Irvine.
But many other regions have done a lot more to get on the technology roadmap (think Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., San Diego).
Does it matter?
You bet! Science and technology jobs pay among the highest of all professions. They create new businesses, more jobs, and have a strong multiplier effect in other parts of the economy.
In an era of offshoring, our best plan for the future is economic diversity, with a strong innovation sector.
We believe our innovation sector can use some improvement. Orange County typically has many fewer technology startup companies than comparative regions (one-fourth of San Diego or one-twentieth of Silicon Valley in 2002-03).
Orange County also has less venture and other funding for innovation. It’s always hard to tell whether it is the chicken or the egg, but we need both,more innovation and more dollars to support it.
And we need more people thinking and acting entrepreneurially. Orange County has fewer serial entrepreneurs,those who move from company to company as markets and technologies change.
Moreover, the county only gets about an eighth what San Diego and Los Angeles counties land in annual federal research and development spending. Big difference.
And while many fruits of this spending don’t wind up in commercial products, it is the seed-corn for a new crop of products and companies. Most important, it provides a pool of innovative technical talent available for new companies.
In March, the OCTANe Board recruited Gary Augusta, a skilled new business builder and recently an officer at Fluor Corp., to lead the effort as OCTANe’s first executive director.
And the early signs are good for our effort. Last week, a sold-out crowd of 450 attended OCTANe’s kickoff event, a program on venture capital featuring Broadcom cofounder Samueli as the keynote speaker. I do believe that the venture and tech communities are going to be moving forward briskly here.
Here’s OCTANe’s plan of action:
n Network. Link innovators and entrepreneurs in a stronger local technology ecosystem. That means to help them succeed and grow by connecting them with the market, research community, university, larger companies and service providers.
n Build businesses. Through a program called LaunchPad, we will help to create and grow new technology businesses.
n Attract more venture capital. There is a strong correlation between the offices of venture capital companies and those of tech startups. Orange County has several important venture capital firms, but not as many as our innovation potential should demand.
n Attract more inventors and entrepreneurs. We need to build an ecosystem that will attract and retain seasoned and potentially serial entrepreneurs, those who start company after company.
n Grow federal R & D.; Our independent culture has shied away from federal funds. But Orange County has, in addition to its wonderful climate, superb knowledge assets in information technology, telecom, biomedical technology and aerospace. Attracting more R & D; is a matter of understanding the market, and collaborating among the universities, business and political leaders to create winning ideas.
n Promote ourselves as a technology friendly region. Many innovators, investors and individuals talented in managing growth enterprises could be attracted to Orange County for the weather and beauty alone,if they could be convinced that we have the goods to support their business success.
We do. We just need to communicate that better.
Moebus, previously vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of California, Irvine, is executive chairman of OCTANe. The group will hold its first annual forum Oct. 28. For details on the event and the group, go to www.octane.uci.edu.
