Spokane Likes What It Sees In San Diego

Here is an idea worthy of note. It's ok to build your own model for growth, or learn from others who have had considerable success. The Inland Northwest Technology Education Center (Intec) believes that Spokane has something to learn from the San Diego "Innovative Economy" model.

The University of California at San Diego, with its Connect program, is doing things right, says Lewis Rumpler, Intec's new CEO. He says that means more than just recruiting companies. It means also recruiting talented people—or bringing them through schools here—then capitalizing on their innovations.

Launched in 1985, UCSD Connect guides people with marketable ideas through the commercialization process and connects them with possible funding sources. It has assisted in the formation of hundreds of companies, Rumpler says. He credits UCSD Connect with helping to drastically lower San Diego’s unemployment rate, and says that metro area now has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of biotech and wireless-communications companies.

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