As you probably know by now, our mission at NextSpace is (wait for it!) to catalyze local talent, local ideas, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace. A hugely important repository of talent and ideas and, indirectly, capital is right in our backyard and is, in my humble little opinion, completely underutilized as a community resource: the University of California Santa Cruz (http://ucsc NULL.edu/public/).
I won’t go into all of the recent and longstanding town-gown issues between the city and UCSC. Instead, I’ll simply assert that NextSpace cannot reach its full potential as an entrepreneurial catalyst and Santa Cruz cannot claim its rightful place as a world-class innovative community unless we take positive steps to access the wealth of talent and ideas resident in the faculty, students, and staff at UCSC. So, here are a few examples of what NextSpace and UCSC have done together to build some bridges:
UCSC Business Plan Competition
Last month, UCSC held its first-ever business plan competition (http://bizplancontest NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/). The inspiration of Steve Bourdow from the Baskin School of Engineering and a group of entrepreneurial undergrads, the competition was a huge success. Mostly, the competition proved that there is a nascent spirit of entrepreneurship at UCSC. I served on the competition’s advisory board and helped screen the semi-finalists. And NextSpace was proud to host the semi-final event. The energy at NextSpace shot up on the day of that event as we were flooded with enthusiastic, eager competitors. I’m not shy to say that I was incredibly impressed and deeply moved by the passion and the smarts that these kids displayed. A few of the finalists will be pitching for capital at an event at NextSpace next week, and a couple of the competitors have joined us a members. It’s safe to say that the competition exceeded everyone’s expectations, marking the beginning of a new era of entrepreneurship at UCSC. Yeah, that sounds kind of lofty. But I think it’s true.
Senior Design Competition
Twice a year, seniors in the Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering programs at UCSC participate in a Senior Design (http://www NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/news/event?ID=1662)capstone course. Students work in cross-disciplinary teams to complete a significant interdisciplinary design project. At the end of the course they compete for cash prizes and street cred. This year, NextSpace and the Soquel Group have partnered to offer a prize for the Most Commercializable project. You can read our fancy press release here (http://www NULL.nextspace NULL.us/files/NS-SG Most Commerical Prize_PR NULL.pdf). Last week, I spent some time with David Munday, who was the winner in 2007. He’s now a Ph.D. candidate and the TA for the Senior Design course. He gave me a quick rundown of the projects that the students are working on this year. I was blown away. The competition is tomorrow, June 12th, so stay tuned for results. I’m prepared to be amazed. So should you.
Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Now almost a year old, PPIE (http://www NULL.cruzbusiness NULL.com/category/programs/ppie) is a collaboration between the City of Santa Cruz and UCSC. And from what I can tell, it was one of the first positive steps between the two entities after the settlement of their mega-lawsuit. PPIE gives undergraduates an opportunity to put their classroom training in business and economics to practical use by working on projects in fields such as alternative energy, medical devices, and transportation systems. Many of the PPIE students also served as interns for companies at NextSpace such as Quiddities and Open Spectrum. And I had the honor of speaking to the students at their end-of-year wrap up. Make no mistake: the undergraduates at UCSC are smart, serious, and ready to contribute to the Santa Cruz economy.
NextSpace and Shakespeare Santa Cruz
We’ve had a special relationship with Shakespeare Santa Cruz (http://shakespearesantacruz NULL.org/) a world-class reparatory theater company resident at UCSC for a while now. A couple of SSC board members were among our very first NextSpace members and we’ve supported the organization by providing space for some of their staff and board meetings. But we’re most proud of the fact that SSC chose NextSpace to host the kickoff of their emergency fundraising campaign. At that event, I had the pleasure of meeting Marco Barricelli (http://www NULL.shakespearesantacruz NULL.org/about/marco_barricelli NULL.php), SSCs artistic director, who gave the simplest, most impassioned, most articulate defense of the arts and why the arts are a critical part of any community. Tonight, Marco will be our special guest at a roundtable discussion about the intersection of the arts and technology and how those two sectors overlap. Along the way, we hope the conversation will broaden into a discussion of the essential ingredients of a world-class creative and innovative community. But I’m sure of this: the world-class talent at SSC is an absolutely essential part of the creativity and innovation in Santa Cruz.
So that’s a quick snapshot of what NextSpace and UCSC have done together. What do you think? What opportunities might be ahead? I’ll say it again: NextSpace in specific, and Santa Cruz in general, cannot reach its full potential unless we work together to unleash the talent, ideas, and capital resident at UCSC. I’d love to hear your ideas.