Minutes from the general meeting held on 2nd December 2021
DVTI Meeting
December 2, 2021
Present: Matt Alfano, Beth Arman, Bill Bankhead, Leigh Bender, Jim Blair, Ryan Buckley, Kevin Cabral, Robert Carrera, Sam Driggers, Vicki Gordon, Alyson Greenlee, Joellen Heaney, Jags Krishnamurthy, John Matthesen, Carlyn Obringer, Kwame Reed
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Ryan opened the meeting at 3:03 pm.
Approval of November 4, 2021 Minutes: Motion: Vickie Gordon; 2nd: Kevin Cabral; Unanimous
Public Comments: None
DVTI Social:
Possible Dates:
February 3rd June 2nd
March 3rd August 4th
April 7th September 1st
May 5th October 6th
November 3rd December 1st
John and Sam will coordinate the in-person meeting.
February Meeting:
Recap of 2021
Put milestones on the calendar
Plan for 2022
January 2022 DVTI Survey:
What should we do?
What will YOU help with?
iHub2 RFP Update:
The deadline was extended to December 15th, so we have done further work on the proposal.
iHub2 RFP Asks:
MOUs still needed (foundations and research institutes)
MOUs received: Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, Concord Chamber of Commerce, ESO Ventures, BayICT, EBLC, CCC Department of Conservation and Development
Letters of support received: Supervisor Andersen, Supervisor Mitchoff
We are weak with research institutions (public and private). Beth has talked to Robert Phelps from CSU East Bay Concord. He is eager to join the organization. UC Davis and Berkley are so big, it could be hard to get things going.
We are also weak with national laboratories. We pitched the idea for a partnership with Lawrence Livermore Lab. It might be difficult to get an MOU, but we should be able to get a letter of some sort.
Connections or ideas to beef up the areas where we are lacking?
Beth will follow up with Matt Gardner from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
Connected with Hispanic Chamber in Contra Costa county. They seemed to want to partner with us in a variety of ways, but not necessarily with this grant due to its high-tech nature, patents, etc.
New connections will be helpful even if the grant doesn’t work out.
We will hear in February about the status of the application.
iHub2 RFP Programs
Diablo Valley Business Plan Competition
Include all three 4CD colleges + CSU EB
Full business plan submission – not just a pitch
Possibly take over DVC Piranha Pool
Diablo Valley Speaker Bureau
Helps 4CD faculty get local guest speakers and forms a mentor network
Startup Incubator
Partnership with ESO Ventures will make this happen regardless of iHub funding.
Which of these programs should DVTI be involved in, and what will you do outside of our meetings to support these programs?
Build out a regional business plan. Expand Piranha Pool pitch competition to all community college districts to make it a full-blown business plan competition.
Leverage the chamber relationships we have and, through word of mouth or boots on the ground, build a speaker bureau. Put tech companies in a database and get them connected to DVC as well as LMC and CCC to get business owners into classrooms to talk about starting a business (Accounting, Science, Engineering, etc.).
Startup incubator will probably happen regardless of funding.
Beth suggested using Elena to build out the speaker’s bureau. That way we can just recruit business owners without building a whole new database.
Standing Items
Technical Sales Course Marketing
Technical Sales class is now live! Please share with your networks.
BUSMK-150A-5673: Introduction to Technical Sales
Wednesday, 7-9pm; 1/24/22 – 5/20/22
Format includes 16 lectures and guest speakers
Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiatives (Sam Driggers and Leigh Bender):
Sam introduced Leigh Bender, the new Economic Development Program Project Manager.
Target Industry Clusters: Advanced Manufacturing, Biomedical/Biotech, Agri-science and Food, Transportation Technology, Clean Technology. Some ally with DVTI.
Build Back Better Regional Challenge:
Proposals should include regional coalitions, industry support and high-impact projects with a shared vision for regional growth clusters.
One key coordinating entity per region
3-8 projects per regional cluster. Projects can include Planning, Infrastructure, Workforce, Entrepreneurship
Two-Phased Approach:
Phase 1: 50-60 regions awarded technical assistance grants to help prepare for Phase 2 and mature their clusters. $500,000 per region. Application Deadline: 10/19/21
Phase 2: 20-30 regions from Phase 1 awarded implementation grants from full project cluster applications. $25-$75M, up to $100M per region. Application Deadline: 3/15/22
32 applications in California; hundreds nationally
We were recommended to pursue a grant and focus on 3-5 clusters:
Advanced Manufacturing: requesting support for business development efforts (business intelligence, market research data)
Biosciences: incubator in west county
Advanced Transportation Technology: want to leverage facilities that work in tandem with DVTI such as GoMentum and Bay Area Testing Sites.
We will continue the development of the Northern Waterfront’s identity providing marketing materials to support communities and help jurisdictions bring users to the sites.
Formula for Success: Federal Money + Industry Sectors = Economic Growth.
Next Steps:
Catch up with all partner cities (meet staff, find out individual priorities)
Reconvene working group of Northern Waterfront partners (discuss joint priorities)
Add projects to work program and budget (focus on projects most important to the working group and those most within our span of control)
Carlyn will facilitate a discussion with the Master Developer, Sam, Robert and Amelia.
Sign up for updates on the DCD Northern Waterfront webpage:www.CoCoBiz.usSamuel.Driggers@dcdcounty.us
Adjourned: 4:04 pm
