Since 1987, the CONNECT Most Innovative New Product (MIP) Awards have been San Diego’s “Oscars” for local technology innovation.  The 2011 finalists in the Clean Technology category include Genomatica for Process for High-Volume Chemicals from Renewable Feedstocks, Noble Environmental Technologies Corporation for ECOR and Wildcat Discovery Technologies for 5V Cathode (CM1) and Electrolyte (EM1).  Winners will be announced on Friday, December 9th before an audience of more than 800 of San Diego’s top executives, entrepreneurs, VCs and academics.  Click here to register for the MIP exhibition and awards luncheon. 

San Diego’s 18th Annual TechAmerica High Tech Awards finalists in the Clean Technology category include EcoATM, Hadronex, Juice Technologies and Sapphire Energy.  Click here to register for the October 28th event. 

The regional cleantech cluster in San Diego continues to receive national recognition.  On Wednesday the Global Cleantech Cluster Association announced the semifinalists for the 2011 Later Stage Award competition.  This best-of-the-best recognition includes four San Diego cleantech companies, Genomatica, PowerGenix, Achates Power and EcoATM.  In another forum Sapphire Energy was honored as a “Game Changer of the Year 2011” in Clean Technology by Grow-California for their impact on California’s green industry.

Since 1987, the CONNECT Most Innovative New Product (MIP) Awards have been San Diego’s “Oscars” for local technology innovation.  CONNECT is now accepting nominations for the 24th MIP Awards. Nominate your new product for an opportunity to compete in San Diego’s most prestigious competition honoring technology and life science innovation.  Of the 100+ companies that vie to be the Most Innovative New Product of the year, 24 make it through the rigorous judging process and only eight walk up to the podium to receive this prestigious honor. The MIP categories are:

Action and Sport Technologies
Aerospace and Security Technologies
Clean Technology
Communications and IT
Hardware and General Technology
Life Sciences – Diagnostics and Research Tools
Life Sciences – Medical Products
Software

To be considered for the 2011 MIP Awards, the product must have been developed in San Diego and introduced between March 2010 and September 2011 and never been nominated for this award before.  The product must have generated revenue from sales.

For scores of San Diego innovators the CONNECT MIP Awards have opened doors to investors, venture partners and customers.  If you are a San Diego innovator the products which you have recently introduced may qualify for the 2011 MIP Awards.  Click here to submit your nomination.  The nomination deadline is September 2nd.

Winners will be announced on Friday, December 9th before an audience of more than 800 of San Diego’s top executives, entrepreneurs, VCs and academics.  Click here to register for the MIP exhibition and awards luncheon. 

The Clean Technology winner in 2010 was Multispark, LLC for PowerSTAR Performance Spark Plug. 

Up and down the coast of San Diego July, August and much of September was the Bummer Summer.  Ocean temperatures in the very low 60s cast the coastal communities in a state of gray gloom.  It was a great surprise on September 9th when the skies turned crystal clear for an appreciation reception on the deck of my office overlooking the La Jolla Cove for 35 of the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) who contribute their time, talent and vast experience to CONNECT’s Springboard Program. 

Now in its 25th year, CONNECT is the globally recognized, non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by accelerating the growth of the most promising technology and life sciences businesses.  Springboard, CONNECT’s flagship program, is a business creation and development program.  Innovators at all stages receive hands-on mentoring by successful CEOs, CFOs and CMOs in Springboard’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Program.  The three to five month program includes comprehensive business coaching culminating in the Springboard Panel Presentation.  In the past five years over 180 local ventures have benefited from the contribution of Springboard.  It is remarkable that something of such value is free.  It is one of the reasons why the CONNECT model has been copied around the globe.

It is always a great end-of-summer afternoon when you can spend time with successful people who take pleasure from sharing with innovators and entrepreneurs.  A little wine, great conversation and a stunning sunset over blue water is a classic San Diego day.

Click here for the list of 554 Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Domain Experts who support Springboard. 

To learn more contact the Springboard Director Ruprecht von Buttlar rvonbuttlar@connect.org

Since 1987, the CONNECT Most Innovative New Product (MIP) Awards have been San Diego’s “Oscars” for local technology innovation.  This year semifinalists were selected from a record 105 entries in eight categories.  In the Clean Technology category the semifinalists are Airstream Innovations for Airstream Greenhouse; EDSA Micro Corporation for EDSA Micro’s Paladin SmartGrid and Viridity Energy’s VPower; Juice Technologies LLC for Plug Smart Go!; Malama Composites for AinaCore Building Panel; Multispark, LLC for PowerSTAR Performance Spark Plug; Numinus for SpectraDrive Multi-Channel LED Controller with Serial Interface; and Seacoast Science for Forston Mini GC. 

To be considered for the 2010 MIP Awards, the product must (more…)

There is no place in the world where more people are working to advance the science and commercialization of algae biofuel than in San Diego.  Three announcements this week underscore the region’s standing in the quest to develop practical alternatives to fossil fuels. 

On Tuesday the California Department of Labor awarded the San Diego region a $4 million grant to implement new workforce training programs for jobs in the emerging biofuels industry.  The San Diego Biofuels Initiative, a collaborative effort including CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM, San Diego Regional EDC, San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) and the (more…)

Nature or nurture?  There is no doubt that the innovation gene is prevalent in San Diego.  However, a strong case can be made for San Diego’s environment of collaboration as the dominant force for success in technological creation.  Two new resources announced within the last two weeks support that argument. 

Calit2 Federal Funding Portal @ CONNECT

The enormity of the funds originating from Federal programs and grants is both an opportunity and a problem.  The smart people of UCSD have automated the process and are collaborating with CONNECT to make the resource available to local innovators and entrepreneurs.  Working with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) CONNECT has developed a new set of tools to help member companies and local entrepreneurs identify federal research funding opportunities.  Click here to access Calit2 Federal Funding Portal @ CONNECT.

The X Lists

Last week Xconomy rolled out the X Lists, “the region’s best resource for innovators and entrepreneurs”.  Much of the entrepreneurial process is about accessing information and identifying people who have answers as efficiently and quickly as possible.  The X Lists are a great place to begin the journey from not-knowing to knowing.  Click here for Bruce Bigelow’s description of this valuable resource.

The overused words-of-wisdom about real estate are location, location, location.  Maybe the same should also be said about entrepreneurial innovation.  The cornucopia of resources available at the San Diego location provides a winning advantage to those who seek to grow their enterprise through innovation.

From the iconic Italian novel, The Leopard, comes the insight, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”  If innovation is to remain the fuel for the economic engine of the United States then the process of innovation will have to change.  Duane Roth, CEO of CONNECT, supports a new paradigm for innovation which emphasizes a “distributed partnering model” with a focus on advancing products rather than companies.  This parsed approach would concentrate talent, capital and intellectual property in a manner which would potentially have greater efficiency and less risk, and therefore be easier to finance.  The old model of huge, fully integrated companies would be replaced by entities distinctly concentrated in the product functions of discovery, definition, development and delivery.  Coincidentally, San Diego has scores of companies which would be very happy to see this innovative approach to innovation blossom. 

Recently Roth contributed an Insight & Opinion article for the Xconomist Forum.  Click here to read Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!

 You can also check out the paper authored by Roth and Pedro Cuatrecasas of UCSD presented by the Kauffman Foundation. 

 The press release from the Kauffman foundation is here.

Technology hubs like the San Diego’s clean tech cluster exist symbiotically with their legal communities.  An example of that interdependency was the full-day event last Wednesday sponsored by Foley & Lardner LLP.  The strong attendance at Foley’s Emerging Technologies Conference: Navigating a New World is evidence of the appetite for informed insights.  The panels on Alternative Energy and Accessing Government Funding were of greatest interest to me.  The Funding presentation was enhanced by the specific guidance of Tyler Orion and June Chocheles.  The Federal Technology Funding Guide was one recommendation.  Also recommended were the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) website and the Department of Defense SBIR website.  All government agencies offer periodic notification (more…)

For the last 22 years CONNECT has put the spotlight on Most Improved Products from local innovators.  This year the competition has drawn approximately 100 entries.  In the Clean Technology category this year’s finalists are On-Ramp Wireless for Ultra-Link Processing Wireless Communication System, ecoATM (formerly reMobile) for ecoATM and Ultraviolet Sciences for UVS Ultraviolet Water Purification Systems.  Two weeks ago On-Ramp Wireless was introduced as one of the founding members of the San Diego smart grid coalition.   

The MIP honor in the Clean Technology category last year went to Reaction Design for Energico.  You will have to wait until December 11^th to learn who gets the trophy in 2009.

Innovators in San Diego love to network. Connect with CleanTECH San Diego is your opportunity to get face to face with the captains of industry, futurists, venture capitalists and propeller heads who play in the clean tech space.  This should be the largest clean tech networking event in San Diego in 2009. A similar CONNECT networking event earlier this year drew over 600.  All you need to do is register and show up with a fistful of business cards.

Connect with CleanTECH San Diego

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Place: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
12235 El Camino Real,
San Diego, CA 92130

Event will take place in the outdoor courtyard.

Link to REGISTER

Yesterday I attended a luncheon in Qualcomm‘s boardroom which featured Rep. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment and the co-author of the Waxman-Markey Bill, “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” (H.R. 2454). The bill passed the house in June by a seven vote margin and is now in the Senate for consideration. Congressman Markey explained that the national discussion of this landmark legislation has been stalled by the emotional debate over health-care reform. The health-care rhetoric starves the political room of oxygen for all other discussions. When (and if) a health-care plan is finalized, the national debate over the historic energy bill will grab center stage.

As would be expected of a 33 year veteran of the House, the Congressman is both witty and articulate. He had a chance to demonstrate his listening skills when local business leaders told him what was needed to sustain the San Diego innovation economy. Duane Roth, CEO of CONNECT, stressed the need for effective intellectual property protection with enforcement home and abroad. A senior Qualcomm executive made the case for enlightened immigration regulations. He noted that over the years Qualcomm has recruited many of the “best and brightest” only to lose them when their legal right to remain in the US expired. In each case the U.S. lost a tax payer and Qualcomm lost a skilled, experienced employee who in many cases became employed by an overseas competitor to Qualcomm.

Link to H.R. 2454:   American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009