You know, you don’t see with your eyes
KRS-One
You see with your brain
And the more words your brain has
The more things you can see
From growing up abroad to basketball to politics my life has been a continuously amazing voyage that I’ve just had the honor to take part in. From where I sit today as a Chief Innovation Officer focused on economic and workforce development, I realize that now more than ever Sacramento stands at an interesting crossroads. If we are to be what we say we are — the Capital of the world’s 5th largest economy — we have to truly begin speaking, thinking and behaving like an international hub of policy, education and commerce.
From growing up abroad to playing basketball to working in politics, my life has been a continuously amazing voyage I’ve just had the honor to take part in. Today, as a Chief Innovation Officer focused on economic and workforce development, I realize that now more than ever Sacramento stands at an interesting crossroads. If we are to be what we say we are — the Capital of the world’s 5th largest economy — we must truly begin speaking, thinking, and behaving like an international hub of policy, education, and commerce.
California was built on innovation. Sacramento was a large part of it, from the railroad to refrigeration to craft beer. As time has progressed, we have ceded our pole position by being risk averse and failing to embrace what should come naturally. During my 10 years as an executive appointee under two gubernatorial administrations, I learned how dedicated state employees are when properly respected. I heard legislators ask, “What other state is already doing this?” The question was used as a way to vet whether or not to take a chance on innovation. As part of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GoBiz), I saw how, in spite of the business environment, innovation persists across multiple sectors. I also grew to understand the innovation world still looks at California as a proving ground because if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere.
At GoBiz, I served as the Deputy Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Since I had no budget, I made it my mission to build a reputation allowing me act as a statewide innovation evangelist, using the moral authority of the State to establish partnerships, build coalitions, and be a credible thought leader across verticals. This was crucial since as I had oversight of one of the state’s most cutting-edge programs. The program was the iHub program. It was created during the Schwarzenegger administration under the guidance of Brian P. McGowen and others who went on to work for the Obama administration.
At full strength, this program was the nation’s largest collection of innovation. It boasted 16 innovation clusters spanning the state from San Diego to the Inland Empire to Sacramento to Chico. I knew Stanford University had researched the concept of government, industry, and academia coming together to shape an ecosystem, so I began to develop the program around this Triple Helix of Innovation in order to give it international relevance. I received inquiries about the program from Florida, North Carolina, the Netherlands, France, and others.
From Sacramento, I turned into the promoter and chief for innovations across the state. I promoted LACI (LA Cleantech Incubator) in Los Angeles. I promoted the water incubator in Fresno. I promoted the biotech at Mission Bay in San Francisco and SCRIPPS in San Diego. I promoted UCLA’s water project in Firebaugh and medical devices in the OC (Orange County). I was even at the ground level of the SF Fashion Incubator. I led drone, advanced manufacturing, and cyber security collaboration efforts with teams out of UC Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and UC Davis. There was a lot I was involved in which put the iHubs front and center. The iHubs were even included in a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with China signed by Governor Brown.
One day though, I was talking innovation with a delegation from Guangzhou. I was in the process of doing my “thing” explaining the diversity of innovation represented by the iHubs. I began promoting the emerging transportation corridor and autonomous car project at GoMentum Station in Contra Costa, when from the side of the room, I heard a voice ask, “Why not in Sacramento? Why isn’t that here?” I knew who the guy was because he had brought the delegation but wasn’t part of it. He had helped pull together a couple trade missions and also helped open the State’s China trade office, but I didn’t really know Tony Yung. We talked some more at the end of the visit after I had done my “song and dance” about how Sacramento could be included down the line.
I explained the iHub program to him. I spoke to Tony about my vision for the state when it came to autonomous vehicles and other innovations. He told me as soon as we had something concrete to come and talk to him about foreign direct investment because self driving cars and smart city technologies were taking off in China. I didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of the conversation, partially because I hadn’t ever been to China. The difference was, I understood enough to identify a focus. Over the next few years, I zeroed in on building up California’s autonomous future while simultaneously working in Sacramento to gauge whether the city was ready.
At that point, some of the Sacramento iHub team introduced me to this other bald dude with glasses (like me) who worked for my eye care insurance provider. His name was Jay Sales. Jay started talking about Sacramento’s NASA moment. He talked about the Sacramento protocol and mentioned other stuff about a grid downtown. He said enough to make me believe this was going to be the next innovation out of the sleepy government town known as Sacramento. This was around the same time everyone had seen the city fight for and win the Kings. I realized the city was ready to stop being a town and become a city.
Fast forward a bit, a group of us began to focus on making autonomous a reality in Sacramento not only because of the grid downtown, but because Sacramento was a Triple Helix case study lying in wait. Sacramento had all the makings of actualizing the Triple Helix with a little … okay, a big nudge. (Sorry was about to go off in a different direction but let’s save it for the Sacramento Urban Technology Lab (SUTL) post.) Okay, where was I? We began working on what has become known as ATOS (Autonomous Transportation Open Standards). It was a way for Sacramento to embrace autonomous innovation like it embraced the railroad back in the day. Jay put together “The Press Release.” I left GoBiz and joined the city to work as my hometown’s first Chief Innovation Officer.
Thus, began my 20 month journey to China. Once I took my position at the city. We established an innovation framework called SUTL that built upon the recently established Innovation Growth Fund, Demonstration Partnership Policy, and City Hall Tech Fund. These innovation embracing programs began to create a new narrative for the city. The narrative centered around Sacramento’s strength as a government town and its ability to affect evidenced based policy as well as the city’s ability to work on applied research with Sac State, UC Davis, and UOP. It showcased Sacramento’s ability to create a living lab environment to work with startups to demonstrate the viability of their products or services. I believe the city has the ability to do all of this with an eye on inclusive workforce development.
I reconnected with Tony and began strategizing about a trade mission to China led by Mayor Steinberg. It took nearly 11 months to plan and execute with a couple false starts along the way. The foundation of the trade mission would be built on the new narrative under the Smart City umbrella. We established that we would go to Beijing, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. Sacramento’s talking points would represent agricultural, transportation, energy, life sciences, and biotech, with a sprinkle of 5G global standards and cybersecurity on top.
I landed in Beijing for the first time at the end of March 2019 and Whoa!!! I was blown away. What I had pictured and heard about China didn’t do the country justice. There was no way I could have understood what Tony meant those many months ago unless I made the trip. This eight day visit was the catalyst for this post and the next wave of my work. The inescapable history and culture, cities with populations the size of California, and a palpable hunger, invisible to the average tourist. Our Chongqing Office put together a real experience – complete (albeit curated) with facility tours, business match-making, and, of course, the best Chinese food I have ever had.
China embraces innovation as a mandate. Sure, there are parts of the big cities that still don’t have flushable toilets. I am not addressing the systemic issue in China. I can say when you are there you can feel change is coming, and it is coming soon. Areas of traditional farmland are being urbanized, but the farm worker is not being displaced just repurposed. They are now tending to the landscapes. Let me pause for a moment and make something clear. I’m not saying everyone is thriving and happy or being made to do for the sake of change is the right approach … but it is the approach there. China is intent on being number one … PERIOD!!!
Now, let’s go back to the beginning of this post. Sacramento stands at an interesting crossroads. If we are to be what we say we are — the Capital of the world’s 5th largest economy — we have to truly begin speaking, thinking, and behaving like an international hub of policy, education, and commerce. We are not competing with China, but in my humble opinion, we should be working closely with them.
Think about this, what if your city decided as part of your climate efforts to mandate by 2023 all garbage trucks, utility vehicles, and buses were 100 percent electric and by 2025 all taxis, Uber, and Lyft vehicles were too? As a way to change the fortune of citizens, what if we began acting on transforming cities into research cities that worked to influence state, national, and global economies?
Sacramento … what would happen if we actually tried to bring the Kings All-Star vision to fruition and had dedicated autonomous or remote operated transportation from SMF (Sacramento International Airport) to downtown? What if we worked with UC Davis and Aggie Square to create the 3rd largest life science outpost in the State? Would it be bad? What if we really embraced innovation again? What would it look like? Are we capable? Why not us?
If you don’t live in Sacramento, is your city ready? What is your city doing to embrace the future?