The Sacramento region, even more than most of the U.S., is facing a great deal of uncertainty.
There's reason to believe that our regional economy is already getting less equitable, as recent wage growth has failed to keep pace with inflation and the size of our homeless population has surpassed San Francisco's.
Business leaders, on top of a slowing economy and rising prices, are grappling with what's needed to retain a post-pandemic workforce; no one knows yet how much work in the future will be done from home, and what other concessions employers will need to make to keep employees content.
And in the years ahead, we'll be facing a disruptive transition in our economy, with California having set firm deadlines to transition to zero-carbon energy.
But with all of the cause for concern, there is also reason for hope and even optimism. Where there are problems, there is opportunity to be found in solving them. And the Sacramento region is relatively well positioned to produce innovations that can address some of the world's biggest challenges.
Each year we present the Sacramento Region Innovation Awards to recognize the most promising locally produced innovations. We celebrated those honored this year in an event last week at The Sofia, Home of B Street Theatre.
Learn more about our honorees and runners-up this year with the links below, and click here to see our digital special section for the awards.
- Advanced Farm Technologies Inc. and California Cultured in the category of Food and Agribusiness.
- Streamline Software Inc. and a collaboration between Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento and Mutual Housing California in the category of Government, Civic & Mobility.
- Blaize and Rhombus Systems Inc. in the category of Hardware and Electronics.
- Ravata Solutions and ARIZ Precision Medicine in the category of Medical and Health.
- EyeRate and Engage3 in the category of Software.
- FloraPulse and e-Mission Control in the category of Sustainability.
- And battery technology developer LiCAP Technologies Inc. for our Innovation of the Year.
For the Sacramento Region Innovation Awards, we solicit nominations from the public for innovations worthy of recognition and impanel a committee of local innovation leaders to help us select the nominations that are most promising.
The selection is often particularly competitive in categories such as sustainability and food and agriculture, as institutions like University of California Davis and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District have positioned our region as a leader in developing technology for a world without carbon emissions and less impact on the environment.
Tech companies with big local operations like Intel Corp. have helped spawn an environment of entrepreneurs who are creating hardware and software for more efficient communication and data analysis.
And UC Davis health care research is at the center of what is currently the region's most important economic development, the university's Aggie Square innovation center.
Innovations developed in the Sacramento region have the potential not only to help us through the major transitions we'll be dealing with in the coming years, but also to bring more economic opportunity and prosperity to the region.
Sacramento's historic dependence on government and real estate as economic drivers has made its economy less equitable than many other regions, and therefore more vulnerable to the disruptions we're now dealing with.
So take note of the innovations we're recognizing with these awards. Their continuing success offers hope for a more prosperous region.
