Steve Orr, Director of Enterprise, Northern Ireland Science Park

1
WELCOME

• Steve Orr, Director of Enterprise, Northern
  Ireland Science Park

2
San Diego An Eco-System for Innovation

• Mary Lindenstein Walshok, Ph.D.
• Associate Vice Chancellor, Public Programs
• Dean, University Extension
• University of California, San Diego
• OECD Paris, France
• November 2007

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40 Years Ago

• Established
• Metropolitan regions such as Minneapolis,
  Pittsburgh and St. Louis were economic hubs
• Emerging
• Metropolitan regions such as Austin, San Diego
  and Raleigh Durham were still seen as
  backwaters

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San Diegos High Tech History
1985 UCSD CONNECT and
Qualcomm Founded
1990-93 63,000 Jobs Lost
1995 New Boom
1978 Hybritech
1968 - Linkabit
1963 - Salk Institute
1960 - UCSD Founded
1956 - Scripps Clinic Research Center
1955 - General Atomics
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San Diego Profile Prior to 1980

• Economy dominated by defense, tourism, and
  real estate
• Handful of biotech and high-tech companies
• 839 patents issued 1976 -1985 (10 years)
• Unemployment rate above 10

6
San Diegos Transformation

• Why with fewer assets to begin with have these
  regions been so successful in the new economy?
• To understand the economic transformation of San
  Diego over the last four decades, it is essential
  to understand five catalytic factors, each of
  which was necessary, none of which alone was
  sufficient
• The five factors were

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Factor One

• The role of regional land use decisions and of
  state infrastructure investments in the 1950s
  and 1960s.
• Examples Expansion of the University of
  California by conversion of Camp Matthews and
  free land incentives to research organizations
  such as General Atomics and the Salk Institute.

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Factor Two

• The focus on building globally competitive basic
  research institutions. General Atomics, TSRI,
  Salk, UCSD, Burnham, etc., were all start-ups
  in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Examples Ph.D.s first at UCSD people who
  brought big research with them and were magnets
  for talented world class scientists and
  research professionals

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Factor Three

• A major commitment of time and resources by the
  private sector to grow this capacity a
  collection of small and medium sized enterprises,
  business and professional services, as well as
  local philanthropy, all pooling assets in order
  to support new and uncertain ventures.
• Examples Early private support for SIO, venture
  realtors, CONNECT, pro bono services, private
  dollars to endow research positions, support
  buildings, etc.

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Factor Four

• A culture of collaboration which goes beyond
  networking and involves shared agenda setting,
  shared investment, shared risk and shared
  rewards. Supported by physical proximity ,
  informal relations, new networks
• Examples CONNECT, Center for Magnetic
  Recording, the Supercomputer Center, IT2 and the
  Stem Cell Collaborative.

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Factor Five

• A powerful sense of place, which binds people,
  if only for lifestyle, to the region and creates
  incentives for making things work, helping new
  initiatives and enterprises start and succeed,
  through a reinvestment of personal time,
  connections and cash.
• Example Talent stays, i.e. growth of world
  class researchers links between early
  entrepreneurs and multiple generations of
  companies time and dollars reinvested in new
  enterprises and growth in local philanthropy.

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San Diego Profile Present

• Highest concentration of biotech in U.S.
• 500 life sciences companies
• The wireless communications capital
• 525 companies in the region
• Global brands Qualcomm, Motorola, Nokia
• 1.1 billion annually in venture investment
• 3839 patents issued between 1995-1999 (5
  years)
• Unemployment rate 4 (well below national
  average)

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San Diego Today

• The region has all the obvious ingredients today
  whereas 40 years ago it had none
• What San Diego did have was
• A policy enabling platform
• A strategy to build excellence, fast through
  great science
• A major commitment of time and resources by the
  private sector
• A collaborative approach to creating and growing
  a special place, anchored by
• World class research institutions
• RD Talent
• Capital for innovation and start-ups
• Entrepreneurs with know-how
• Globally significant companies

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Principles of Practice

• Knowledge as a Resource for Innovation
• Science and Technology innovations are global
  from birth
• Growth and sustainability of new enterprise
  relies heavily on social infrastructure
• Community over Company

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Principles of Practice (continued)

• Relationships ? transactions
• Networks which serve to breakdown social and
  professional hierarchies drive lateral learning
  and knowledge transfer
• Diverse competencies that can be mobilized
  quickly
• Commercialization is a contact sport

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UCSD CONNECT, the Catalytic Agent in Moving
Promising Research and Innovation
to Commercialization

• Attracting and linking external resources and
  opportunities to regional capabilities and
  opportunities
• Linking researchers to early opportunities to
  experienced entrepreneurs and market savvy
  professionals who assess the social value or
  potential commercialization paths for specific
  work
• Recognizing and celebrating regional science and
  innovation
• Positively positioning the research institutions
  and the regions economy nationally and
  internationally as a place with a critical mass
  of world class research and commercialization
  opportunities
• Building the webs of competence essential to
  starting and growing globally competitive,
  regionally located innovative companies.
• Increasing technological literacy across
  professions, developing entrepreneurial skills,
  integrating knowledge and skills across fields
  and sectors science-focused, not just
  business-focused.
• Utilizing experienced entrepreneurs and
  professionals to qualify promising technology and
  business opportunities for potential investors
  and partners

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Collaboration
San Diego has a unique level of seamless
collaboration among public, private, and academic
institutions in the region...the transfer of
science and technology to entrepreneurial
companies.... -Michael Porter, Harvard
Business School
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Before wealth can be created, human beings have
to learn to work together and, if there is to be
subsequent progress, new forms of association
have to be developed. While we associate
economic growth with technological development,
organizational innovation has played an equal, if
not more important role since the beginning of
the industrial revolution. Economic
historians Douglass North and Robert Thomas (P47
of Trust)