Connect is a non-profit serving the San Diego and Southern California region. Connect elevates innovators and entrepreneurs throughout their growth journey by providing educational programming, mentorship, networking events, and access to capital. The current CEO is Mike Krenn.
Background
Founded at the
University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), Connect spun out of the university in 2005. Connect was founded in 1985 by
Irwin M. Jacobs
Irwin Mark Jacobs (born October 18, 1933) is an American electrical engineer and businessman. He is a co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute. As of 2019, Jacobs has an estimated net ...
, co-founder and board member of Qualcomm Incorporated; Richard Atkinson, president emeritus, University of California (and former chancellor, UC San Diego); Lea Rudee, founding dean, UC San Diego School of Engineering;
Mary Lindenstein Walshok, associate vice chancellor of extended studies and public programs at UC San Diego; Buzz Woolley, president of Girard Capital/Girard Foundation; David Hale, chairman of Hale BioPharma Ventures LLC; Dan Pegg, former president and CEO of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation; and Bob Weaver of Deloitte & Touche.
In 1986 UC San Diego recruited William (Bill) Otterson, chairman and CEO of Cipher Data Products, to head Connect.
Over the following 13 years, Otterson built Connect by bringing together local entrepreneurs, academics and out of area venture capitalists through a variety of programs centered on innovation. Today CONNECT is an internationally renowned program that has now been modeled in almost 40 regions around the world including New York City,
the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Australia.
In May 2019, Connect merged with San Diego Venture Group (SDVG), led by then SDVG President, Mike Krenn.
Programs
Connect offers programs in the areas of research institution support, access to capital, entrepreneur mentorship, business development, and education on capital structure. Connect's lead program is Springboard, which offers free hands-on mentoring by veterans for innovators at the innovation, technology transfer, commercialization, transition and international expansion stages. Springboard has been recognized as a model by the ''New York Times'',
and ''Entrepreneur Magazine''.
Founder credentials
In 2005 CONNECT was a co-founder of the Wireless Life Sciences Alliance,
in 2008 CONNECT founded CleanTECH San Diego,
and in 2009 founded San Diego Sport Innovators, now headed by
Bill Walton.
San Diego Sport Innovators was created in 2008 by Camille Sobrian and Marco Thompson by partnering with sponsor Dick Kintz from Shepard Mulin law firm. Sports industry veterans, Peter "PT" Townsend, Ludo Boinnard and Jim Stroesser were added as the founding boarding members. Other board members include: Dana Shertz, Michael Brower, Bob Rief, Tony Finn, Mark Schmid, John Sarkisian, Brian Enge, Dave Nash, John Wilson, Dave Down, Jeff Kearl, and Kevin Flanagan. Former NBA great, Bill Walton, was brought in as the chairman in 2009.
Awards
The highest award CONNECT gives entrepreneurs is the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award. This award is given to those Connect deems community leaders through influence in life science and technology based businesses in San Diego. These businesses are viewed by Connect as significant contributions to San Diego's economy and quality of life, relying on the "Hall of Fame" entrepreneurs for their success.
Those given the award include: Irwin Jacobs, co-founder, board member and former chairman and CEO,
Qualcomm Incorporated;
Walter Zable, co-founder, chairman and CEO of
Cubic Corporation;
Robert Beyster, founder and former chairman and CEO of
SAIC and chairman of The Foundation for Enterprise Development; Ivor Royston, co-founder of
Hybritech
Beckman Coulter Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing. It operates in two industries: Diagnostics and Life Sciences. For more than ...
(San Diego's first biotechnology company) and managing member of Forward Ventures;
William Rastetter
William H. (aka Bill) Rastetter (born 1948), a scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, is the chair of Neurocrine Biosciences, of Fate Therapeutics, and of Daré Bioscience, Inc. in San Diego, California. He is a founding board member an ...
, former president and CEO of
IDEC Pharmaceuticals IDEC may refer to:
*Biogen Idec, a biotechnology company
* IDEC Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of automation and control products
*International Democratic Education Conference, an annual academic and youth conference
* Toralizumab (IDEC 131 ...
(merged with
Biogen to become
Biogen Idec, the third largest biotechnology company in the world); and Neal Blue, chairman and CEO of
General Atomics (GA), Linden Blue, vice chairman of GA and chairman of
Spectrum Aeronautical,
and Peter Preuss, founder of
ISSCO.
Notes
External links
* {{Official website
Biotechnology