Neal Bloom

Founder - Fresh Brewed Tech

THOUGHT

Leader

AN INNOVATOR OF INDUSTRY

As Featured:

Neal Bloom

Founder – Fresh Brewed Tech

In San Diego many different industry clusters are contributing to and benefiting from force multiplying through collaboration. That is one of San Diego’s great strengths – collaboration. In a community that is commonly described as having a ‘give before you get’ mentality, we are thriving by building bridges.

In terms of domain expertise, San Diego has deep histories in defense and aerospace, life sciences, sports and active lifestyle, and telecom. These clusters have spun off whole new industries, like drone and anti drone development, cybersecurity, connected (medical) devices, transportation and mobility technology, web analytics, brewing sciences, artificial intelligence, food tech and agriculture tech.

The underlying backbone of San Diego’s diverse ecosystem are entrepreneurs that find success in one industry and keep building new technologies in new fields. One example is EcoATM building connected kiosks to recycle cell phones, whose founders went on to start other companies that produce genetic microchip manufacturing or bloodanalyzing kiosks. Or take a look at the many spin outs from Qualcomm making internal cell phone components that went on to create connected devices in the logistics, medical, automobile, and space industries to name a few. Another great example has its own phrase coined by the late great San Diego tech and business journalist Bruce Bigelow, “Big Bio Meets Big Data.” The robust and mature biotech industry in San Diego is finding growth and collaboration through the proliferation of data science and software.

When genomic code begins to look like another codebase like Javascript or Python, it has brought a whole new group of software talent that can now find applications in medical and healthcare fields. This will continue to be a spotlight in San Diego.

These blurring of the lines of industries is also seen as an ecosystem movement catapulted by non profit organizations. Organizations that fuel startups, like Startup San Diego, help entrepreneurs find the resources they need next, which is where organizations like CONNECT with San Diego Venture Group, Evonexus, and Tech Coast Angels lean in to help companies move along their path. This symphony of the entrepreneurs’ journey is proving that we are better together and is very much a San Diego ethos.

Another aspect of “better together” is a talent-base inclusion. San Diego is learning how to multiple its workforce development of veterans, underserved communities, women in tech, students, and even cross border Mexicans and build resources that help grow our companies more robustly. Talent is the lifeblood to any successful company and in San Diego, we are learning how to train and advance opportunities to those who previously haven’t had the access.

These are the seeds that are being planted through collaboration and we are seeing many fruits forming that will continue to bring success to the greater San Diego region.

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