Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Reflections on 2018: Andy Wilson, Alliance for SoCal Innovation
Editor's note: All this week, and into the start of next year, we'll be featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here. Our first is with Andy Wilson of the Alliance for SoCal Innovation. Happy Holidays!
What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?
In my new role as the first executive director for the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, I spent a lot of time outside of my home turf of Pasadena -- visiting innovation nodes such as San Diego, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Venice, Santa Monica, and others. What was most striking was the diversity and breadth of the node-network that defines the region--so complex and at times, overwhelming. I met with many deeply talented entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, community organizers and professionals who are thriving in these separate yet overlapping (and interdependent) ecosystems. To more fully realize the abundant innovation potential of the region, we must not only thrive as individual communities but also collaborate/strengthen our cross-community connectivity.What was the biggest news for your organization in 2018?
In the Spring we publicly released the Boston Consulting Group's extremely thoughtful strategic assessment of the SoCal region. Their report crystallized the opportunity and pathways to moving SoCal forward as one of the leading global innovation ecosystem. Their recommendations served as the foundation for our 2019 work plan that includes: 1) continuing to collaborate with BCG to more fully map out and better develop the SoCal innovation network 2) partnering with the Milken Institute to bring together node leadership to address regional issues and policy advocacy 3) matching sources of capital to the best startups across the region by taking SDVG’s wildly successful venture pipeline program to other communities across SoCal (more details on our blog).Are there any technology innovations, gadgets, devices, software, that you found most interesting in 2018?
Finally, what's your prediction on what will be most important thing for the technology industry in the coming year?
Of course, I’d like to believe the important community building work we’ll be doing at the Alliance will be transformational to SoCal. But at a higher level, I think we are going to see a continuing reconciliation of the “move fast and break things” attitude that has historically fueled hyper growth of tech companies with the growing need to both anticipate and mitigate societal impacts of new technologies. Just as entrepreneurs need to have thoughtful answers about business models and customer acquisition, I think they now will also need to be prepared to address issues on community impacts and equity. The tech industry has become too important and policymakers and regulators are paying attention. The era of unfettered growth and figure out on the fly is coming to an end.
Andy Wilson is Executive Director for the Alliance for SoCal Innovation (www.alliancesocal.org). Andy is a leader in the Southern Californian innovation ecosystem and has started, led or invested in more than two dozen tech start-ups. In addition to leading the Alliance as Executive Director, he serves on the City Council for the City of Pasadena and he is a founder of Innovate Pasadena (www.innovatepasadena.org), which is dedicated to advancing the Eastside of Los Angeles as a vibrant innovation center for deep tech.