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What is San Diego’s innovation DNA?" by Roxana Popescu,
San Diego Union-Tribune 4/12/2013
Excerpt
San Diego is known for being on the cutting edge of life science, wireless technology and, increasingly, wireless health — and that’s not an accident.
Imagine if French software companies started dominating the Internet and fashion designers from Silicon Valley started dictating next year’s trends. Impossible? No, but it’s certainly unlikely. Some very specific elements came together in Silicon Valley to enable that region to nurture Facebook, Intel and Apple, just like Paris evolved over the last century to become the world’s fashion capital.
The same goes for San Diego. What fuels this region’s unique innovation personality — what people focus on and how they do it? The region’s size, its many research and educational institutions, the infrastructure and urban planning decisions, a critical mass of talent and capital, the booms and busts of certain industries and even the sunshine helped transform this region into a vortex of creative energy and action, says Mary Walshok, an innovation expert at UC San Diego and co-founder of CONNECT, a nonprofit that fosters local entrepreneurship. Her new book, out later this year, is called “Invention and Reinvention: The Evolution of San Diego’s Entrepreneurial Economy.”
People involved in the region’s “entrepreneurial economy” — from experienced CEOs to aspiring startup founders to venture capitalists to academics — say three features characterize San Diego’s unique innovation DNA; it is collaborative between individuals and organizations, it does not scare away newcomers, and it embraces risk and perseverance with that beach-meets-frontier West Coast swagger.
A culture of collaboration
Collaborative, open to dialogue: that’s how people describe the local life science and technology innovation landscape in San Diego.
“What’s interesting about San Diego is how open it is, how permeable it is,” Walshok said. Countless others seconded her, as if they’d all received the same “we play nice together” memo.
One reason is that many startups are spin offs from larger employers that shed workers during economic downturns. It feels like everyone knows everyone else, many said. A second reason are the trade and nonprofit groups that were created to bring together entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and anyone who can support their goals. These include BIOCOM, the local chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, CommNexus, the San Diego Venture Group, StartupCircle and CONNECT.
Other cities where science and technology are thriving have networking groups. Boston is a smorgasbord of schmoozing opportunities for the entrepreneurially inclined. But people in Boston may be somewhat less inclined to team up, share resources or help each other out, various people who’ve experienced the startup scene in both cities said.
“Nobody is under any false impressions about the degree to which companies are in competition with each other. But at the same time, we found a very collaborative environment,” said Eric David, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Organovo, a 3D tissue bioprinting company. David moved to San Diego about a year ago from San Francisco. He is also familiar with the biotech scenes in New York and Cambridge, Mass. Companies, academics and investors come together “in a much more open dialogue here than occurs in either San Francisco or Boston,” and that makes a difference, especially for startups, he said.
'My kind of town, San Diego is'....
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Obama gives official U.S. blessing to new Windsor-Detroit bridge" by STEVEN CHASE,
The Globe and Mail (
Canada) 4/12/2013
U.S. President Barack Obama has given the official green light to build a second bridge between Windsor and Detroit – the final political approval needed for a span that will broaden Canada’s most vital trade conduit with the United States.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will officially announce the granting of a presidential permit at 2 p.m. ET in Detroit Friday along with Canadian Labor Minister Lisa Raitt and Canadian diplomats.
The U.S. State Department on Friday morning confirmed news reports in The Globe and Mail and other media that Washington has given its long-awaited seal of approval to the international crossing.
“Today the Department of State issued a Presidential Permit to the State of Michigan for the construction, connection, operation and maintenance of a bridge linking Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
“This permit contributes to ensuring that our border infrastructure supports increased competitiveness, job creation, and broad-based prosperity in the United States and Canada,” the department said. The bridge “will help to meet future capacity requirements in a critical travel corridor, promote cross-border trade and commerce, and advance our vital bilateral relationship with Canada.”
The owner of the existing Ambassador Bridge – who has fought a new span – isn’t giving up though. Matty Moroun has reportedly filed a lawsuit against several U.S. government departments as well as the Canadian government. In the lawsuit, Mr. Moroun claims a “perpetual and exclusive franchise right” to operate the crossing free of competition from another span. It says the proposed new crossing would “destroy” the value of the bridge’s franchise, according to the Detroit News.
Last spring the Harper government and the Michigan Governor’s office announced a deal to build a second bridge between Windsor and Detroit – a historic accord aimed at unclogging North America’s most important trade artery after decades of setbacks.
The bridge deal created an authority to oversee the construction, operation and financing of the project, which is forecast to cost as much as $4-billion and take up to five years to build.
The new bridge, currently known as the Detroit River International Crossing or the New International Trade Crossing, will offer an alternative route for trucks at Canada’s busiest commercial border conduit – one that carries one-quarter of the goods traded between Canada and the United States each year.
The bridge is a victory for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has championed efforts to ease trade with the United States through his perimeter security accord with Mr. Obama.
But it is also a feat for Mr. Snyder, who struck a deal over the opposition of the Michigan legislature, which has refused to make any money available to finance the project.
Mr. Moroun, the Detroit owner of the existing Ambassador Bridge, has fought against a second span with political manoeuvres and public-relations campaigns.
He failed however last November in a public campaign to enshrine into Michigan’s constitution a rule requiring a statewide referendum before another bridge is built. Voters rejected the idea in a ballot.
The bridge will be financed and built by a private contractor – yet to be selected – but Canada is shouldering the majority of the upfront costs to build related infrastructure, such as extension roads approaching the bridge, on both sides.
This reflects the fact the deal is being conducted over the wishes of the Michigan legislature. Ambassador Bridge supporters in the legislature have repeatedly opposed the project and taken action to ensure the government of Michigan cannot spend money on the project or collect tolls.
To get around this, Ottawa stepped up with a cheque. The Canadian government will pay $550-million to build Michigan’s share of the road approaching the new bridge on the Detroit side – an amount to be repaid in toll revenue.
Plus, the toll collection booths for travelers heading either way will both be located on the Canadian side of the span because Michigan does not have the legislative authority to accept fees for bridge crossings.
Ms. Raitt thanked the U.S. government for granting the presidential permit.
It "represents an important step towards a new bridge which will be needed for growing trade and traffic at the busiest Canada-U.S. commercial border crossing with over 8,000 trucks crossing each day," she said.
The project will cost the Canadian government about $1.5-billion upfront, although in about 25 years it will be repaid the $550-million it advanced to Michigan.
Ontario and Canada are splitting the $1.4-billion cost of the extension of freeway from Highway 401 to the foot of the new bridge.
Ottawa will pay the cost of the Canada customs plaza, estimated at $250-million to $300-million. Washington will cover the U.S. customs plaza, expected to cost the same.
About $120-billion (U.S.) worth of goods cross the border at the Detroit-Windsor crossing annually, carried mainly by the 2.7 million trucks that cross the Ambassador Bridge every year. Truck crossings are expected to more than double by 2035.
The new span is planned to cross the Detroit River about three kilometers south of the Ambassador Bridge from the Brighton Beach neighborhood in Windsor to the Delray neighborhood in Detroit. Environmental assessments for the bridge were completed in 2009 and Ontario, Ottawa and the U.S. granted their approval.
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Cargo Continues Moving on the Mississippi River, but Perhaps Not for Long" by JOHN SCHWARTZ,
New York Times 12/23/2012
Excerpt
The Mississippi River is still open for business — for now. January is another story.
A Midwestern drought has brought the river, one of the world’s largest navigable inland waterways, to water levels so low that they threaten to shut down shipping. The Mississippi, which handles some $7 billion in trade in a typical December and January, is expected to be closed to navigation between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., when water levels dip toward the nine feet of depth that is necessary for most tugboats to clear the river bottom.
Those who ship goods up and down the river have asked the federal government to do two things: destroy rock formations known as pinnacles in Southern Illinois that hinder navigation when the water is shallow, and release more water from reservoirs along the upper Missouri River.
The Army Corps of Engineers has begun meeting the first request, using excavating equipment to break down the formations. Officials said the work should take 30 to 45 days.
Getting the corps to release the water has been more difficult. The corps has rejected requests for large-scale water releases from the upper Missouri, saying it does not have the authority to use that water to aid navigation on the Mississippi.
Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, applauded that decision and called it “unlawful” to release water that states like South Dakota need and use. He said that his region, too, has suffered “significant negative impact” because of the drought.
The Waterways Council, a group that lobbies on behalf of inland carriers, operators and ports, had initially warned that traffic would come to a halt by Monday. But so far, the water levels have dropped more slowly than expected, in part because of small water releases by the corps. A coalition of businesses involved in trade along the Mississippi and sympathetic lawmakers have asked President Obama to order the water released.
“It would cripple our national economy to shut down the Mississippi River,” said R. D. James, a Missouri farmer and a member of the Mississippi River Commission, which manages uses of the river with the corps.
But without action from the president, Congress or the courts, the water will stay behind the reservoirs of the upper Missouri.
“When they get a little water in those reservoirs,” Mr. James said, “they don’t want to give it up.”
It could soon be too late to prevent a partial closing. Water takes two weeks to make its way from the upper Missouri River reservoirs, and predictions released by the corps over the weekend suggest that without substantial rainfall, the water levels could dip below nine feet by Jan. 11.
With the threat of a shutdown ahead, farmers might decide to hold their grain instead of shipping it in a more expensive manner, said Gregory L. Guenther, a farmer and corporate consultant. Since farmers tend to pay for the coming year’s supplies like fertilizer with those sales, they will have to borrow instead, and “that means paying interest on it.”
Transporting goods by rail is a less attractive option, Mr. Guenther said, because shipping and storage facilities that use the river are not necessarily near rail lines, and rail capacity is limited. Altogether, shifting transportation modes would drive up prices, he said, adding, “Rail is not the answer.”
Rick Calhoun, the president of Cargo Carriers, a part of Cargill, noted that carriers were already loading barges to a lighter weight to deal with the water depth, which also ends up raising costs.
“We put less product in the barge, it takes longer to get there, and we use more fuel per barge,” Mr. Calhoun said, adding, “We’re going to be running into very difficult issues.”
Col. Christopher G. Hall, the commander of the St. Louis district of the corps, said, “We’re doing everything that we possibly can to keep that channel at the authorized depth so that they can continue to operate.”
