SACTO Partners with UC Davis CONNECT
January 4, 2006, Sacramento, Calif. – The Sacramento Area Commerce & Trade Organization (SACTO) will partner with UC Davis CONNECT, the university’s program in technology and entrepreneurship, as the Title Competition Sponsor of the Little Bang competition, funding five awards given to student-entrepreneurs. The awards are being supported as part of SACTO’s new five-year business attraction and marketing plan entitled Building a First-Tier Economy, that establishes aggressive goals for the creation of “high-value and headquarter” jobs for the Sacramento Region, in an effort to bring the region to a new level on the global stage. To accomplish the established goals, SACTO will continue to engage in business attraction activities, but will also support the development of home-grown headquarter and high-value companies.“There are only two ways to create ‘high value and headquarter’ jobs for the Sacramento Region,” said SACTO Chair and Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Gary Orr. “You either recruit companies into the region that will create those jobs or you grow those companies from within. SACTO will continue to aggressively recruit companies into the region resulting in jobs and investment, and moving forward will also support the development of some of our own, home-grown headquarter and high-value companies.”
With assets such as renowned research institution UC Davis, a medical community that serves as leaders in various fields, and invaluable technology giants like Intel, GenCorp and Hewlett-Packard, coupled with the sophisticated legal and accountancy services that now exist, the Sacramento Region has reached a level of economic maturity that many feel can support the successful emergence of start-up high-value, headquarter companies.
“For 30 years, SACTO has worked to recruit more than 250 companies to the region, resulting in the creation of more than 110,000 jobs and billions of dollars in investment for area residents, businesses and local jurisdictions,” said SACTO Chair-Elect and award sponsor, Jeff Koewler, Downey Brand Attorneys LLP. “The time is right for SACTO to also do what we can to support the development and success of home-grown headquarter and high-value companies.”
The Little Bang is a competition in which teams of Graduate, post-doctoral, or undergraduate students in the sciences gain exposure to entrepreneurism by exploring commercial market opportunities represented by scientific research in which they are already engaged. Mentors from the industry and the investor communities, or from the Graduate School of Management, work with the teams as they develop their analysis of commercial potential. Teams compete in five different technology sectors, with one winner announced in each sector: 1) Clean Energy / Environmental Sciences, 2) Foods for Health and Wellness, 3) Computational Science and Information Technology, 4) Medical and Biotech Innovations, and 5) Nanotechnology. Winners are determined by a panel of judges from both academia and the private sector. “The Little Bang is in its third year,” said Meg Arnold, Director of UC Davis CONNECT, “It’s one way in which we’re encouraging entrepreneurship across campus, and is supported by a wide range of faculty members and academic units, particularly the Graduate School of Management.”
The Little Bang awards will be presented to winners when they are announced on February 7, 2006 at the SARTA Tech Index Celebration, and are made possible through the generosity of the following SACTO board members and their companies: Jeff Koewler, Downey Brand Attorneys LLP and SACTO Chair Elect; Larry Carr, SMUD Director and SACTO Director-At-Large ;Gary Bradus, Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Law Corporation and SACTO Legal Counsel ;Steve Nichols, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and SACTO Director-At-Large; and John Frisch, Cornish & Carey Commercial and SACTO Director-At-Large.
In addition to the cash awards, Little Bang winners also automatically qualify as semi-finalists in the Graduate School of Management’s Big Bang! Business Plan Competition, which offers a total prize pool in excess of $15,000.
“We are delighted to have the support of SACTO for the Little Bang program. We share SACTO’s goal of creating and sustaining a vibrant entrepreneurial environment in the Sacramento Region, and the Little Bang is one component of the work we are doing at UC Davis in support of that goal,” said Barry Klein, Vice Chancellor for Research at UC Davis. “Entrepreneurship will be a very important component of the region’s future prosperity.”
About SACTO
SACTO is the Sacramento Region’s leading facilitator of economic development. It brings together the organizations, information and resources in the pursuit of jobs, talent and investment needed to ensure regional prosperity and global competitiveness.
About UC Davis CONNECT
UC Davis CONNECT is the UC Davis program in technology and entrepreneurship, founded in 1999, and works to support the economic development and diversification of the Sacramento region, primarily by supporting university-generated entrepreneurs and start-up companies. Part of the Technology and Industry Alliances unit in the Office of Research, UC Davis CONNECT offers a range of services to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across the campus and in the region. This is the third year that the Little Bang poster competition has been held on campus, and is coordinated with the Graduate School of Management’s Big Bang! Business Plan Competition.