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ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Life Down Under Word Power Doggone Helpful Greetings from Costa Rica Taking Technology into Account(ing) Lucky Fall CurricuNet Chancellor's Column Development News Factoids Newsmakers Accomplishments
by faculty and staff… |
CHANCELLOR'S PAGE San Diego is Leader in “Clusters” San Diego has been under the microscope of state and community leaders from around the nation who want to emulate the San Diego region’s success in developing industry “clusters of innovation” that make the area more competitive in a global economy. SDCCD Chancellor Augie Gallego, Qualcomm Chairman and CEO Irwin Jacobs and Julie Meier Wright, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, represented the region at the National Governors’ Association (NGA) winter meeting in Washington, D.C., where they were panelists discussing the key elements that can strengthen a region’s economic competitiveness. “This National Governors’ Association forum focuses on state economic competitiveness in a global economy, and one of the keys to competitiveness for the San Diego region has been collaboration,” Chancellor Gallego said at the NGA meeting. Collaboration is central to the development of industry clusters. A cluster, as defined by Michael Porter, Harvard Business School professor and leading expert on industry clusters, is a geographic concentration of competing and cooperating companies, suppliers, service providers and associated institutions. Clusters thrive in regions where industry, higher education and government work together to build a skilled workforce and supportive infrastructure. Porter, who co-chairs the Council on Competitiveness’ national Clusters of Innovation project, released a report in April on the San Diego region, particularly focusing on the biotechnology/pharmaceutical and communications industry clusters. Within these industry clusters, the University of California, San Diego continues to play the most important role in assisting the industries and creating companies through innovative research and development. The report notes that industry cluster companies frequently interact with community colleges at the idea-generation stage of product development. Community colleges also play an important role in training technicians for industry clusters. All three SDCCD colleges — City, Mesa and Miramar — offer bioscience programs to prepare students for biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies, and electronics and engineering courses that provide skills needed in communications. Qualcomm Chairman Jacobs told the gathering of governors in the nation’s capital that a key component to the development of new products is “first to have the right atmosphere in the community, and that is set by the college systems, and having a very strong research university present. The employee situation is always the limiting factor. One can grow only as fast as [a company has] very good people and well-trained people.” Both Qualcomm Chairman Jacobs and Chancellor Gallego were appointed to a taskforce on competitiveness by NGA Chairman, Michigan Gov. John Engler. Gov. Engler stated at the NGA winter meeting that Chancellor Gallego “has been able to forge incredibly creative partnerships” and that the San Diego Community College District has been “important to the growth of San Diego’s economy.”
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