“Imagine an innovation ecosystem in the urban core of Sacramento. Imagine this hub as an extension of the UC Davis campus, one that links the world-renowned research, faculty, and students with local businesses.” These remarks by UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May at a recent innovation awards luncheon characterize the spirit of collaboration that has grown stronger in the Sacramento region to grow the innovation community. The transformation into an innovation ecosystem that May evoked is already well underway.
Though the startup and innovation ecosystem has been developing for years in Sacramento, community, business, and government leaders have collectively stepped up efforts over the past year to transform the Sacramento into an innovation hub. The opening of the Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball franchise, in October 2016 has ushered in a renaissance in the downtown core. Though most noticeable in the retail shops and restaurants popping up, the tech startup scene is also enjoying the renaissance.
Last Fall, just blocks away from the new arena, 1 Million Cups Sacramento launched and has already hosted over 100 startups presenting at the weekly Wednesday morning events. Just weeks later at the new arena, local VC firm Impact Venture Capital held their inaugural Impact Global Venture Summit in which over 700 people attended and 50 Northern California startups participated with the goal of providing local startups exposure to investors.
Earlier this year at the new arena, the Sacramento Kings partnered with local venture capital fund Moneta Ventures for the second annual Kings’ Capitalize startup competition in which 16 startups competed for a purse of $10,000.
Most recently, the long-awaited opening of I/O Labs, just blocks away from the Golden 1 Center, will soon result in a new accelerator program and space where Sacramento's innovators and investors collide.
Add to this the announcements of new venture funds coming, new coworking spaces, the launch of new accelerators like female founder focused FourthWave, as well as the launch of Founder Institute in Sacramento and it’s easy to understand the palpable excitement around Sacramento’s growing startup and innovation ecosystem.
All of these efforts by grassroots organizers and business leaders are bolstered by local government leaders painting a vision of Sacramento as a technology and innovation hub.
Since taking office in December 2016, Sacramento’s Mayor, Darrell Steinberg has articulated his vision to make Sacramento a hub of innovation and technology. As part of that vision, The City of Sacramento has outlined an idea to increase the innovation capacity of the city through their vision of the Sacramento Urban Technology Lab (SUTL) with the purpose of making Sacramento a living laboratory for urban technology and innovation.
In an effort to share that vision, the City, Sacramento State, and StartupSac have organized a capstone event for Global Entrepreneurship Week, Innovate Sac, to launch a shared vision of Sacramento’s innovation future. This event will invite the community to transform Sacramento into a living laboratory to develop, test, deploy, replicate, and scale new technologies, products, and services that will accelerate quality of life improvements for all residents.
Though there is still much to do, Sacramento is working to fulfill a challenge from the Greater Sacramento Economic Council - to become a top 20 startup city in the world.