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About
Organization:
The San Diego East County Economic Development Council (ECEDC) is an alliance of key representatives from business, government, and education working together to promote successful business activity in the cities of El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove and Santee, and in the unincorporated communities of Alpine, Lakeside and Spring Valley. The Connectory.com contains detailed profiles of California primary industry companies across all industries at every level of the supply chain. The goal is to link California businesses to each other and to provide information about the industrial/technology base of the U.S. largest economy. ECEDC and the Connectory are partners on three WIRED projects, listed below Tasks:
Project 1.1 - Economic Development Innovation Toolkit:
- In coordination with other partners, develop an economic development toolkit in the first 18 months of the project, incorporating effective economic development roadmaps, integrating resources and innovative tools to reach the targeted entrepreneurial audience.
- Complete annual benchmarking report and index in order to determine how each of three venture communities has grown its innovation sector network.
Project 1.3 - Inventory of Key Innovation Assets:
- Identification and profiling of a minimum of 140 Innovation Assets (Federal and private Research and Development labs, military installations, college/university research centers and private companies).
- Add the 140 profiles to Connectory.com. Design an economic development resource database tool (California Innovation Corridor Innovative Asset Portal) to house the 140 profiles, as a Corridor Portal.
Project 1.4 - Innovation-Based Entrepreneurial Ventures:
- As project lead, develop selection criteria for Innovation All-Stars and coordinate with 1.4 partners on application of criteria to All-Star identification.
- Develop benchmarks and metrics to track All-Stars through the first 24-month period and report their economic development impact.
Partnerships With Other Relevant Organizations: California Space Authority
San Diego Defense and Space Consortium, California Pathway Assessment for Student Success(CalPASS), San Diego Association of Governments(SANDAG), County of San Diego, Lending Institutions, Utilities, and other Economic Development Stakeholders in San Diego County, California, and the U.S.
K-16 Educational Organizations including but not limited to: K-8 School Districts in San Diego's East County, Grossmont Union High School District, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, San Diego State University (including specific efforts with the Geography Department and the School of Engineering, University of California San Diego
Experience/core competencies:
Connectory.com Network - the California Network. Connectory.com, our flagship project, began as an East San Diego County resource and has expanded to become the premier business-to-business information tool for California. The Connectory focuses on primary industry/technology companies and their suppliers of goods and services. It combines the unparalleled speed and navigation capability of the Internet with a high quality company database that focuses on company capabilities and capacities at every level of the supply chain -- all at no cost to the company. Expansion from the San Diego region to the State of California began in 2002 and continues as we develop regional economic development partnerships throughout the state.
In 2004, the Connectory gained attention from federal agencies - including the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and the Department of Homeland Security - interested in tapping technologies and suppliers resident in small companies, those located in historically underserved communities, and those that do not typically consider the government market. Starting in July 2004 and continuing through at least 2009, three federal government contracts using Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) funding have been issued. The DLA Connectory Project will determine how the Connectory's dense content on company capabilities can best identify much needed sources of specialty products, technologies, and services to DoD and to foster business opportunities with companies. Targeted focus over the next year includes working more closely with government intermediaries that can identify clear, specific government needs and providing technical support to small businesses to increase their ability to meet government requirements. Because the Connectory is cross-referenced against the Central Contractor Registry, in which the SBA includes its small/disadvantaged business and HUBZone certifications, other institutions with supplier diversity programs have come increasingly to the Connectory for sources.
In February 2006, Connectory.com was named as the "virtual platform" on which the California Space Authority (CSA) will implement its economic development model as part of the Department of Labor's Workforce Investment in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative. The CIC Portal hosted on Connectory.com will be a resource for mapping the State's innovation assets in order to foster innovation entrepreneurship, transform California suppliers to be competitive in a global marketplace, and develop the talent in the workforce to meet the needs of innovation companies.
San Diego DEFCOMM. Under East County EDC leadership, San Diego DEFCOMM - a Defense and Space Consortium, was established in 1998 to promote the growth and competitiveness of San Diego's emerging and small technology-based businesses through the creation of innovative Government-Industry-Academia R&D partnerships. The DEFCOMM model allows small and emerging companies to form teams to compete more effectively for defense, aerospace, and homeland security contracts. Starting in 2004 and continuing through the multi-year Seaport-e Multiple Award Contract (received in 2005), DEFCOMM allows small companies to develop business with government customers without the typical large pass through "tax" that other prime contractors demand. In the last four years, the Consortium won multiple full and open competitive solicitations to bring $18.3 M in appropriated funds for the JIST-NET satellite communications program to the regional economy.
The SEED Collaborative The East County EDC Foundation leads this effort to foster partnerships that connect and support high academic standards and the needs of the workplace. Because the East County EDC recognizes that developing a well-educated and well-trained workforce requires deliberate and continuous effort, we bring high schools, community colleges, universities, and business communities together to build a vital workforce by sharing information and resources. Cooperation and collaboration help identify required workplace skills, link students with the appropriate educational programs, and streamline the entire process from education to employment. The Foundation's partnership, Supporting Education and Economic Development or SEED, specifically addresses the linkages across the educational spectrum and inclusion of the business community.
Through the Foundation, the SEED Collaborative has also made commitments to those students that might otherwise "fall through the cracks" by developing and funding programs to continue career technical education (aka shop) classes in East County high schools. The Foundation spearheaded implementation of guitar making classes in East County high schools with Taylor Guitars and is expanding this model through the industrial community. Once a year, the Foundation hosts a fundraiser to benefit shop classes. Since 2004, we have provided over $230,000 in small awards/grants directly to shop kids and their teachers. In addition, we continue the annual awards to the best shop students in East County high schools and community colleges.
Opportunities for collaboration: Assessments; Cluster Analysis; Community College; Economic Development; Economic Impact Analysis; GIS; Innovation Support; Project Partnering; Surveys.
Related Records: Projects
1) Economic Development Innovation Toolkit
2) Innovation Asset Mapping Inventory
3) Innovation-Based Entrepreneurial Ventures
Related Records: Accomplishments
1) Economic Toolkit Participants Mobilize to Foster Innovation
2) Fresh Templates - New Ways For Collecting Data Promise Success
3) Fifteen Companies Hit Homerun as "All-Star" Tech Companies at Conference
4) Entrepreneurship Project Gears Up for California Tech 100
5) Positive Groundswell Toward "Asset Inventory" From Media And Business
6) Two Events Double Entrepreneurial Possibilities
7) Resources Leveraged to Facilitate Development of Corridor Portal
8) Asset Inventory Project Reaches Completion, Surpasses Goals
9) Model Defined for Identifying Entrepreneurial Best Practices
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