to July`s Regional Report

Regional News for Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties
View this email in your browser
INNOVATION, COLLABORATION
RECOGNIZED AT SUMMIT
Software and artificial intelligence faced off
with lettuce and strawberries at the AgTech
Summit in Salinas, where two industries
seemed to play well together. Part of Forbes
Media’s “Reinventing America” series, the
summit put grower-shippers in the same
room — a tent next to Taylor Farms
headquarters – with big data, automation
and science companies. Taylor Farms CEO
Bruce Taylor saw the result as a milestone
for agriculture. “One of the roadblocks to innovation has been that our industry is
very competitive,” he said. “It’s a paradigm shift ... Because these tech companies
need more than one company to adopt their technology. They need the
industry.” Taylor, an MBEP board member, was honored with the Forbes Impact
Award for leadership. Taylor Farms’ mostly completed new headquarters building will
house Western Growers Association’s Center for Innovation and Technology. Also
honored was Tanimura & Antle Harvest Manager, Brian Antle, for the
company’s Plant Tape automated transplanting system, receiving the Forbes Impact
Award for innovation, and winners of the Thrive Accelerator awards. Read more...
Pictured above: Salinas City Manager Ray Corpuz with Taylor Farms CEO Bruce Taylor, both members of the
MBEP Board of Directors. Photo by Salinas Californian
FORBES AGTECH SUMMIT: WHERE THE
MONEY IS FLOWING
It’s an admitted problem that Silicon Valley
doesn’t really understand agriculture, even
though it’s a big source of funding for
technology to improve the farm. Despite that
knowledge gap, the money is flowing in: $4.2
billion in agtech investments projected this
year, compared to $2.4 billion invested in the
sector in 2014, according to Rob Leclerc,
cofounder and CEO of AgFunder, a platform
that matches agtech companies with
investors. Leclerc was among those speaking at this week's Forbes Reinventing
America Agtech Summit in Salinas about the state of agtech funding as well
as opportunities for the future. Read more...
Photo credit: Forbes
INNOVATIVE PROGRAM AIMS TO
DIVERSIFY TECH INDUSTRY
While driving to work one morning, Vanita
Nemali, VP of Engineering at Salesforce,
was moved by a radio program about an
innovative Cal State Monterey Bay-Hartnell
College CS program that provides full
scholarships to children of farm workers as a
path to a future in the tech world. When it
came time to hire Salesforce interns, she
reached out to Dr. Sathya Narayanan,
director of CSUMB’s computer science
program. So began a partnership that continues to develop. This spring, Salesforce
joined nearly a dozen other firms in supporting the CSUMB Capstone Project, a
course that invites students to tackle real-world challenges. Business partners
commit to at least one hour of mentoring per week during the semester-long course.
Read more...
Photo credit: Santa Cruz Tech Beat
BUSINESS MICRO-LENDING GETS
MACRO BOOST
A local small-business micro-lender has
partnered with the world’s largest online
marketplace connecting borrowers and
investors — one that was recently
highlighted by the Clinton Global
Initiative. Opportunity Fund is a nonprofit that
makes micro-loans for businesses who
either don’t need the minimum amount that a
bank will loan or who have had credit
problems. In the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the
fund made 1,550 loans totaling $37.1 million. “Our mission is lending to folks who
don’t have access to conventional loans,” said Eric Weaver, Chief Executive of
Opportunity Fund. Lending Club's “huge marketing footprint” and technology which
allows it to make online loans at lower costs will be a boon to Opportunity Fund. As
of March of this year, the Lending Club platform has enabled $9.3 billion in
loans. Griselda Gil-Solis is our region's loan consultant for Monterey and Santa Cruz
counties. Read more...
Photo: Griselda Gil-Solis, provided
CHOOSESANTACRUZ.COM TAKES A
GOOD LOOK AT LOOKER
In an eye-catching new video, Santa
Cruz Economic Development takes a look at
Looker. It's the first in an "In-Depth" series
highlighting key businesses, a feature of its
newly unveiled ChooseSantaCruz.com. The
website, designed by local creative
agency Design by Cosmic, showcases the
industries and culture of Santa Cruz and its
valuable resources to new and existing
businesses. "The interesting thing about the
new tech centers are that they are all in places people want to live," said Looker
founder and Chief Technology Officer, Lloyd Tabb, on his segment. "...Santa Cruz is
one of those places, so I think we have an opportunity to be a fantastic tech
hub.” Looker, which helps other businesses look at their data, launched less than two
years ago out of Cruzioworks' coworking space and now has offices in San
Francisco, New York and London. Watch the video..
Photo: ChooseSantaCruz.com
GO-BIZ HOSTS CALIFORNIA COMPETES
TAX CREDIT TALKS
Come learn how your business can apply for
millions in available tax credits at a California
Competes Tax Credit workshop, sponsored
by the Governor’s Office of Business and
Economic Development (GO-Biz). The
California Competes Program has
approximately $200 million in tax credits
available during the 2015-16 fiscal year for
businesses that want to expand in or
relocate to California. Scotts Valleybased Fox Shox is one local company benefitting from the incentive: At MBEP's
Monterey Bay Economic Summit in January, the company, which designs highperformance shock absorbers and racing suspension products, announced that it
would receive a $1.7 million California Competes tax credit from the state over four
years as incentive to keep the company -- and 600 jobs -- in the state. Workshops
for the tax credit will take place on Wednesday, July 22 in Seaside and Santa Cruz,
and again onThursday, Aug. 6 in Salinas. A free workshop sponsored by Covered
California on upcoming changes in the health insurance marketplace follows the
Santa Cruz meeting.
SOLVING THE SOCIAL MEDIA PUZZLE
The advent of mobile devices and the
infiltration of social media into everyday life
has significantly changed how people expect
to engage with businesses online, both on
websites and on social media. Get the big
picture of how customers are engaging
online, what customers expect from websites
today and how to make informed decisions
on which social media sites to utilize for your
business -- put all the pieces of the online
puzzle together to grow your business. Social media strategist Lydia Snider leads
a Central Coast Small Business Development Center course on "Solving the Social
Media Puzzle: Helping You Put the Pieces Together," from 2-4:30 p.m., Tuesday July
28 at Cruzio, 877 Cedar St., #150 in Santa Cruz. Register here..
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Copyright © 2015 Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP), All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list
update subscription preferences