by Rob White
Over the last few weeks I have spent much of my time talking with Davis businesses and community leaders about their views on the City, the university, and the role that each of these play in the region. It has been informative and interesting, especially as a relative newcomer.
Some of the thoughts expressed appear to be based on activities that occurred years (and sometimes decades) ago. Some of the impressions are from more recent examples. But in the midst of almost every discussion was a common theme that Davis should receive more recognition for the leadership it has provided in such areas as sustainability, technology research, agricultural conservation, and community involvement. Digging a little deeper in to the conversation, you also hear themes about Davis that clearly set it apart from most communities due to its quality of life.
- Davis has a world class research university – how many California, let alone national, cities can make this claim? 10 in California? Not just a university, but a ‘research’ university that works at a global scale. This distinction is important because it brings with it significant research funding and international diversity. This means many more dollars being spent in the community and it translates in to the opportunity for global investment in our educational and community infrastructure.
- Davis originates more business starts per capita than anywhere in the region – One proof point was highlighted at yesterday’s MedStart Program (put on by SARTA) where it was noted that 20 of the 126 identified medical technology businesses are located in Davis. And a good amount more are as a result of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. If we broaden this out to all business starts, we are easily one of the hot spots of innovation and entrepreneurial activity. And these are the businesses we can count – there are significant numbers of businesses that do not show up on any list because they are working from a kitchen table, a garage or are still inside the labs at the university. And I suspect that this is not just technology businesses, but I would need to do more research to validate if this is true (which we are working on at the City and plan to have data by the end of summer).
- Davis sits in a unique geography – there are no other cities in the Sacramento Region that sit at a fulcrum point between the Capital Area and the Bay Area. Because of UC Davis’ long history with institutions like the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Labs, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University, we are better connected with the Bay Area than we sometimes realize. While I was working in Livermore, I learned that the functional UC Davis service area actually reaches from Modesto to Livermore/San Ramon to Walnut Creek to Santa Rosa/Napa. Specific examples of this are the Graduate School of Management campus in San Ramon and the jointly founded cybersecurity research lab in Livermore. These areas are not functionally served by the closer Bay Area research universities, which was an astonishing revelation. That means that the UC Davis service footprint takes in one of the largest geographies and one of the highest population counts in the State.
- We have incredible human talent in Davis – Because UC Davis functionally serves such a broad geography, we have many researchers working with organizations throughout the Bay Area on a consistent basis. There are also many people who live in Davis and work in the Bay Area, some of which I suspect is because of the university, but also because of our unique link by mass transit (Amtrak to BART) and our geographic location as the Sacramento region’s closest city to the Bay. This gives us a rich and diverse perspective should we choose to use it. It also means we have some incredible talent with strong ties to the Bay Area living in Davis – for example, did you know we have one of the original founders of Silicon Valley Bank as a resident? Or that we have many people running non-technology businesses in town that are active Stanford and Cal alums in engineering and other technology fields? These self-identified individuals have offered assistance with developing the innovation ecosystem and they bring considerable networks and talent to the discussion.
- Catalogue the known – Because Davis has such a unique position geographically and institutionally, it is important to look at this in context to other places nationally and globally. We know we have one of the highest rated agricultural research universities in the world. We also know that Davis in uniquely positioned in the middle of significant (and productive) agricultural lands that are perfect for research. We also know that Davis has unique access to transportation that connects easily to global markets. And we know that many agtech businesses have operations in Davis or are making plans to move close to Davis. But, do we know how these factors stack up against other localities in California? The nation? The world? And if we are one of the only places globally that these factors occur together, does our community know this and can they talk about this with thorough understanding and a sense of pride? We need to make these kind of unique circumstances more widely understood so that everyone in Davis can be an ambassador of the incredible value proposition we offer to the world.
So, does Davis have a role as a regional leader? Hopefully these few proof points move you closer to a ‘yes’ answer if you were skeptical. But what will move us most rapidly as a unified community is if we can take our own internal criticism and turn it in to a dialogue of success by identifying ways to solve issues. Recognizing problems is important, but even more valuable is finding a community-level solution to overcome obstacles. This is the mentality that actually turns the proof points from just data in to an actual leadership position.
I continue to invite you to get involved and put your good ideas to work. Some options include joining us at an upcoming DSIDE meeting (www.dside.org), follow and post your successes on twitter (#DavisCA and #InnovateDavis), emailing Kemble Pope at the Davis Chamber of Commerce (director@davischamber.org), or emailing me (rwhite@cityofdavis.org). This work needs direct involvement to succeed – innovation-based efforts require many minds and hands to be implemented with real impact. Plan on being part of the conversation but also plan on being part of the work to make Davis a better place for all of our community members. I continue to look forward to hearing from you and working with you on innovative approaches to creating a vibrant economy.
Rob White is the City of Davis’ Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), he and the city of Davis have a weekly column on the Vanguard discussing issues involving economic development and innovation.
Photo caption: SARTA’s Med Tech Showcase at the Red Lion Hotel on Tuesday was one of the largest medical technology gatherings in the Sacramento region in 2013.
[i]Some options include joining us at an upcoming DSIDE meeting (www.dside.org),[/i]
Is there an upcoming meeting? There are no events listed at the website.
Cool! Thanks for the report, Rob.
Michael Bisch
Enjoying your reports Rob. Look forward seeing the community turning these opportunities into realities!
Rob told me that the upcoming meetings will be posted by tomorrow.
Thanks. These columns are an excellent feature. Thanks to Rob for doing this.
i appreciate them too. i wish we would discuss them a bit more however.
My answer to the question posed in the article title is, “Yes, but with tact.” As Rob has pointed out, Davis has a regional reputation for arrogance.
If Davis is going to be a regional leader, we need to show that we know how to be good collaborative partners with the other jurisdictions in the region. We may want to follow a variant of the mantra [b][i]”Support, support, support, and earn the right to do additional business.”[/i][/b]
Thank you all for the comments.
UPDATE – We are transitioning the admin of the DSIDE effort over the to City staff for the next term. As many of you know, DSIDE is made up of Chamber, City and UCD partners, but all are welcome!
For future posts… if there are topics you would like to see discussed in the future, let me know. I am committed to communicate as effectively as possible so that you know what we are up to and that the information gets out.
[i]if there are topics you would like to see discussed in the future, let me know[/i]
I am curious if there is any formal or ad hoc process in place to try to move Nishi forward. It will take collaboration between city staff, the landowner, and the university, and probably business leaders as well. Has anything moved to the planning stage? Is there a vision for the site? Has anyone started to identify and strategize for the design and access obstacles on that site?