Irvine has always been a hotbed of innovation with the likes of Edwards Lifesciences, the global med-device company, to UC Irvine, where research in its labs typically evolves from IP to commercialization.
Now, there’s a whole Irvine Tech Week to celebrate and facilitate more innovation in the city. This inaugural event kicks off on Wednesday and goes through Sunday.
Tech week has been in the works since last October. It’s being presented by a collaborative partnership between the City of Irvine, Irvine Company, Sunstone Management, PeopleSpace and Okapi Ventures.
The goals are to promote the growth of Irvine’s tech ecosystem and foster an economy where entrepreneurs can thrive.
"Irvine Tech Week serves as a platform to showcase all of Irvine's resources to our startup entrepreneurs," Melinda Kim, head organizer of the week’s events, told L.A. Inno. “The City of Irvine is supporting our startup community so we can build a better future together, with a strong founder-based economy."
John Keisler, CEO and managing partner of Sunstone Management, is another advocate of making Irvine even more of an innovation hub.
That’s a big reason why he moved Sunstone’s headquarters from Long Beach to Irvine more than a year ago. As one of the presenting partners of tech week, he’s “incredibly happy to see what the city of Irvine is doing to support technology startups,” he told L.A. Inno.
“Early-stage entrepreneurs need investment and technical support to succeed, but they also need a strong community to support their growth,” he said. “The Irvine Tech Week sends a clear signal to startups everywhere that this community will support you.”
He believes a lot of the discussion during the tech week will revolve around the repercussions of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, including during a panel Sunstone is hosting on Wednesday afternoon.
Look for this panel of startup founders to talk about how the bank’s closure — and its effect on VC investments —may affect their businesses over the next 18 to 24 months.
A few of the panelists are expected to be Vivian Shimoyama, a member of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Program and a Long Beach Economic Development Commissioner; Chris Wagner, co-founder and CTO of Current Surgical; and Ethan Glass, founder and CEO of Ocra.
Other events will include an opening reception on Wednesday afternoon at the Irvine Civic Center with a fireside chat and networking opportunities.
“This event has exceeded our expectations and has grown into something much bigger than we could have imagined,” Kim said. “Our opening evening (reception) now has more than 200 RSVPs, with 100 on the wait list.”
The week's events also include an angel investor panel, face-to-face meetings with investors and a wrap-up celebration at the Great Park Gallery.
The entire event culminates with Techstars Startup Weekend, from March 24 to 26. This 54-hour event will be hosted by People Space, a tech hub and startup incubator in Irvine.
During this weekend, attendees will meet mentors, investors, co-founders and sponsors to learn how to start a business.
For a list of events throughout the week and general information, click here.
