Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento area regional technology alliance"

SMUD-CSUS Agreement Ups Region's Clean Tech Presence

2011-06-14T20:23:08Z

The Green Capital Alliance presented “Road Map to 3,000 Jobs” at the Sacramento State University Alumni Center Thursday June 9th.

The Green Capital Alliance describes itself as “a broad partnership of people and organizations aiming to make the clean technology sector a defining feature of Sacramento’s economy.”

The centerpiece of the meeting was the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and the Californis State University Sacramento (CSUS). The MOA formally regonies work started last year between the two institutions. The MOA basically ties together the smart meter progran at SMUD and he California Smart Grid Center work at Sacramento State. For specific details of the agreement click here.

Dr. Emir Macari, dean of the Sacramento State College of Engineering and Computer Science and member of the California Smart Grid Center, introduced the two principals for the major event of the day. SMUD general manager and CEO John DiStasio represented SMUD in the partnership. He said $127 million was being spent on smart-meter transition for all SMUD customers that will be completed in 2013. Smart meters will be a major component and source of information that will lead to new technologies in managing energy usage and the management of the smart grid that will allow implementation of these technologies. The ability to have widespread use of electric vehicles is dependent on this.

Sacramento State President Dr. Alexander Gonzales was the other principal for the partnership. He said 85 percent of the students at Sac State come from the region. He went on to stress the long relationship between SMUD and Sac State.

“Both SMUD and us are essential for the economy,” he said.

They then formalized the relationship by signing a formal memorandum of understanding.

“Students will be the greatest beneficiaries of this agreement,” Gonzales said. “This is already a living document. We have been working together for three to four years.”

While the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement was the major event of the meeting, there was a great deal of more information prestented at “Road Map to 3,000 Jobs.'

Jack Crawford of Velocity Venture Capital was the keynote speaker at the presentation. Crawford presented a quick picture of the state of the creation of green economy companies and jobs in the greater Sacramento region. He said his venture capital company has 13 companies in its profile, with seven generating income and four that are cash-positive.

Crawford lamented that, while teaching as a guest in the MBA program at the University of the Pacific, he learned that the MBA graduates leave the area because of the perception that there are no “cool” companies to work for in the region.

He talked about the uphill battle after Forbes declared Sacramento the fifth worst city in the country and the difficulty of retaining start-up companies that do succeed. They leave for the glamor and climate of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.

Crawford does not see everything as bleak in regard to clean technology in the region. He cited Click Nation as one successful company that chose to stay. He cited a figure of 100-plus clean tech companies in the region. Entrepreneurs that were big on the Internet are now moving to clean tech. The Sacramento region is rated 10th in job activity and fifth in percent of LEED buildings in the country.

He sees a need for public-private partnership for clean tech to succeed here. Crawford believes that there is a poor tolerance for risk in the Sacramento region, and that there needs to be a change in culture to attract risk-takers. He cited the typical pattern of fail, fail, succeed for entrepreneurial companies.

Crawford ended by saying that with a growth of clean technology companies, philanthropic contributions would grow.

Following a short break, Julia Burrows with Valley Vision spoke of some of the different organizations studying green technology in the region. These included Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance, Center for Strategic Economic Research (CSER), Centers of Excellence at Los Rios Community College District, Valley Vision and Green Capital Alliance. They are helping to create the clean energy sector strategy, and what followed was an overview of the RICO (regional industry clusters of opportunity) process.

Burrows introduced Ryan Sharpe from CSER. CSER was formed in 2001 to gather data on clean tech in the region. They now have a database for the region. They group the data into four groups: clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transport and green building.

Sharp doubled Crawford’s estimate to over 200 companies in the region. Most of them are small with one to 19 employees and averaging $1.1 million in sales. Most deal with clean energy or energy efficiency. He said the Sacramento region competes mostly with Austin, Denver, Portland and the greater Bay Area.

He was followed by Theresa Milan from the Centers of Excellence at Los Rios CCD. This is one of several COEs set up and funded by the state of California.

Milan said state policy drives growth such as the CA Solar Initiative and New Solar Homes Partnership. The COE looks at expanded industry growth and workforce needs. They are seeing an employment increase from 700 in 2007 to over 1,300 today, plus a 60 percent increase in the number of clean tech firms.

The final speaker was Congresswoman Doris Matsui.

“It is important to get our stories out about what we are doing about clean technologies,” Matsui said, adding that housing and governmental sectors are imploding in the region.

Matsui is working on a bill in Congress to boost the competitiveness of clean-energy manufacturing. She pledged to keep working with this segment and echoed the need to keep the knowledge and jobs here. She is part of a bi-partisan congressional high-tech caucus. Matsui emphasized that we need to “learn from the past so that we do not get stuck in the past.”

She talked about the advantages in the Sacramento region of progressive utilities, educational institutions, infrastructure and investors.

“Federal investment is absolutely necessary,” she said.

Matsui concluded saying that her grandchildren Anna and Robbie are her touchstones for the future.

Speaking with Matsui after the meeting, she railed against "the stupidity of continuing the oil company subsidies while cutting funds for clean energy research," among other problems with congress.

The Clean Energy Sector Strategy: Sacramento Region, presentation materials and more infromation from each speaker is available on the Green Capital Alliance webesite here.

Social Media for the Social Good—Non-profits Explore New Methods of Outreach

2009-11-20T04:17:59Z

Three local non-profit organizations were featured in a Sacramento Social Media Club panel on Tuesday evening hosted by the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. The panel included Celia Cortez, Projects and Event Manager for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Jordan Blair, Board Member for River City Food Bank; and Jon Benorden, Program Coordinator for the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Service (CARES). Lesley Miller, Media Director for 3Fold Communication, also sat on the panel. Moderator Josh Morgan, principal at Morgan/Dorado and program director for the Sacramento Social Media Club, focused the discussion on how non-profits are using social media to educate, engage, and build lasting relationships with their communities.

Facebook was the unanimous point of entry into social media for all three organizations. Cortez said the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber selected Facebook because it was the most popular platform among their member organizations; Blair choose Facebook for River City Food Bank because it is the platform upon which he spends the most time. “Facebook provides an easy way for people to connect with causes and non-profits thanks to its one-click ‘become a fan’ feature, “commented Morgan. River City Food Bank, where many of their long-term contributors are past retirement age, is finding that Facebook helps them to engage with the next generation of donors. However some of their loyal supporters are stepping out into social media as well; an 85 year old volunteer joined Facebook just so he could “friend” the River city Food Bank. Benorden said that their “old school” supporters are beginning to mesh with the new people they’ve engaged through their group & page on Facebook but that CARES still has a long way to go.

Both the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and CARES are also using Twitter to promote their organizations and causes. Miller said 3Fold encourages their clients to cross post on multiple social media platforms to increase the traffic among all the sites. For example, use Twitter to remind people the organization is on Facebook or create an event on Yelp and ask people to write a review. I frequently use Twitter to drive traffic to SARTA.org’s website or LinkedIn group where more detailed membership and event information is available.

CARES created both a group page and a fan page for its campaign “Are You the Difference” which strives to eliminate new cases of HIV in the Sacramento region by 2015. Benorden plans to expand the campaign to include other platforms like Flickr and YouTube. On YouTube, CARES wants to personalize and promote their campaign by featuring user generated videos about how individuals can be or are the difference in eliminating new cases of HIV.

The biggest challenge for all of the organizations is finding the time to manage and maintain their social media accounts. Cortez shared that she uses cross posting tools to lessen the amount of time she spends managing each platform the Hispanic Chamber employs. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic were mentioned as free services for managing multiple accounts and platforms and Radian6 was recommended as a new professional service for this purpose. Benorden prefers to uniquely post to Facebook and Twitter to keep variety in the CARES messages, but he sticks to a common theme. Blair, who in addition to his responsibilities as a board member of the River City Food Bank works a full time job, schedules time on his weekly calendar to tend to his social media chores. When asked if a volunteer could handle the job, the general consensus among the panelists was that most volunteers and interns do not have enough depth or experience with the organization or its causes to determine social media platform content or to respond to questions and remarks received by followers and friends on the sites. For CARES, sensitivity to and experience with HIV/AIDS is a must for anyone representing the organization on its social media platforms.

The panel wrapped up with a discussion on event promotion using Facebook ads and other tools. All of the organizations are considering using Facebook ads and River City Food Bank has budgeted money for this purpose next year. Benorden pointed out that even if no one clicks through an “Are You the Difference” ad, if enough information is included about the campaign, there is value in people seeing the ad multiple times. Miller said 3Fold advises their clients to put nearly as much energy into post event promotion as they do pre event. Blair followed this advice after a recent River City Food Bank fundraiser, uploading event photos long into the night. The post event promotion is a valuable investment in the success of future events and helps those who attend feel more part of the organization—especially if they are featured in a photo!

After the panel ended, participants informally exchanged ideas on how they are using social media and also had a chance to meet the panelists and ask more questions. The event was live tweeted by volunteer Ira Cohen on behalf of @SMCSac using the hashtag #smcsac. The venue provided by Sacramento State College of Continuing Education is well equipped for meetings and seminars and the Senior Program Coordinator, Toni Ramirez shared that the college is considering offering courses on social media in the future.

Social Media Club, an international non-profit organization, brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. The Sacramento chapter was founded in March of 2009 by local users of social media. Free events are normally held on the third Tuesday of each month, but in December, the group is planning a Holiday Party or “holitweetup” in partnership with SacTweetUp on December 10 at Hot Italian in midtown. In January, the normal schedule of monthly panels will resume. For information about the Sacramento Social Media Club and its events, join their groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.

Photgraphs by Marie Young Photography. For more photos of this event visit her Facebook Page

Sacramento Social Media Club Leadership Team:

Julie Berge, Angela D'Arcy, Laura Good, Suzanne Hopkins, Ronnie Ledesma, Jeff Marmins, Josh Morgan

Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase Announces Keynote Speaker Daniel Sperling

2009-10-03T01:39:34Z

The Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase keynote speaker Daniel Sperling is an internationally-renowned expert on transportation, energy and sustainability issues. In December he co-authored the book Two Billion Cars which projects that within 20 years the number of motor vehicles on the planet will double from its current total of one billion due primarily to growth in India and China.

Sperling is a Professor of Engineering and Environmental Science & Policy at the University of California, Davis, and Founding Director of the university's Institute of Transportation Studies. He also serves on the California Air Resources Board, chairs the Future of Mobility Council of the Davos World Economic Forum, and has authored 10 books and over 200 technical papers and reports on transportation and energy.

Recently, The Clean Tech staff sat down with Dan Sperling to discuss the future of green technologies in the Sacamento region and the upcoming Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase.

CleanTech: How important will green technologies be to the economic growth of the Sacramento region?

Dan Sperling: Green technologies could provide a large economic boost to the Sacramento area. UC Davis and Sacramento State provide the knowledge base and, very importantly, the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs needed to build green technology companies. Angel and venture capital investors are key to launching entrepreneurial start-ups, while larger biotech and IT companies have the resources to expand their Sacramento initiatives.

CleanTech: Can you give us a preview of your keynote address?

Dan Sperling: We need to transform our vehicles, fuels, and mobility systems if we are to significantly reduce oil use and greenhouse gases. It is less a question of cost than vision, leadership, and will. Most vehicles of the future will be powered by electricity, hydrogen and biofuels. Such a future transportation system would be very efficient and could be very low carbon.

The two places with the most troublesome emissions problems - California and China - are taking the lead in developing effective strategies that can help wean us from our reliance on conventional, petroleum-fueled cars.

California's embrace of eco-friendly policies, supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and China's willingness to confront the twin environmental and energy crises wrought by exponential growth in cars, suggest that if they can develop ingenious and effective solutions, there really is reason for hope.

The Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase features some of the nation's key thought leaders on green and clean technology. It is the ideal venue to network with experts, explore new technologies, navigate regulations and examine workforce concerns.

The Clean Tech Showcase will be held Friday, October 16 at Sacramento State University. For more information or to register, visit www.cleanstart.org.

The Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase is produced by CleanStart, an initiative of SARTA (Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance) designed to accelerate the development of clean technology ventures within the Greater Sacramento Region. SARTA is a non-profit organization founded to foster entrepreneurial growth and attract investment capital to the greater Sacramento region.

Join the Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase Facebook Page