NEWS & UPDATES

RJI Documents
At A Glance

Annual Meeting 03.28.08

Making Sense of Clusters - Brookings Institution Report

(PDF, 827.15 KB)

Annual Meeting 03.02.07

Final RJI Implementation Plan

Annual Meeting 02.21.06

RJI Fact Sheet

(PDF, 144.53 KB)

Fact Sheet on the San Joaquin Valley

(PDF, 153.52 KB)

Mid-Year Meeting 07.21.05

Annual Meeting 01.27.05

Proposed Action Plan for the Economic Recovery of the Valley

(PPT [Powerpoint Show] 1.96 MB)

The Arts & Culture Cluster has a monthly cultural arts exchange on the second Tuesday of each month. The cluster is charged with convening, promoting and advocating the cultural sector. The A&C cluster is lead by Cynthia Cooper, executive director for Fresno Coalition for Art, Science & History, and meets at Arte Americas, 1630 Van Ness Avenue. For more information, visit www.fcash.org.

The 2007 Annual Report and presentation from the RJI Annual Meeting on March 28, 2008, is now available.

2007 Annual Report

Meeting Presentation

The Center for Construction Excellence, a project of the RJI’s Construction Industry Partnership and the College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno, is featured in print and radio advertisements as part of the university’s marketing campaign. The print ad ran in the Feb. 4 edition of the Fresno Bee while the radio spots are running on local stations in February.

In the ads, Dr. Suzanne Kehde, a lecturer in the College of Engineering, says that in the next decade, 85 percent of California’s growth will happen in the San Joaquin Valley. That makes Fresno State’s Center for Construction Excellence a vital resource.

Dr. Kehde trains students to join management staff on a number of important building projects in the San Joaquin Valley and the state, including hospitals, schools, and rapid transit and water treatment facilities. Ninety-five percent of construction management students are offered jobs before graduating, Dr. Kehde adds.

The Center is a place where students and construction businesses can learn about cutting-edge construction processes and industry best practices, a critical component in helping local construction companies grow and obtain a workforce available to support that growth.

The Center was identified by industry leaders as a priority project in RJI’s implementation plan. For more information, visit www.csufresno.edu/engineering.

Construction 101 not only links to current weather conditions for the Central Valley and to road conditions throughout California; it also links to career and construction education sites. The Web site was created to make construction industry information readily accessible. It also was created to augment the construction industry partnership in Fresno, Calif. By providing relevant reference information to the construction industry as a whole, it helps to improve day-to-day operations and productivity of construction industry in the Central Valley.

Visit www.construction101.net to find current Central Valley weather conditions, road conditions and links to construction careers and education.

Over the next four weeks, K-Jewel will air updates on the RJI. Topics will include the RJI in general; the construction, software, water, manufacturing and innovative energy clusters; as well as information on TreeTOPs, SCCCD's career tech ed efforts, Technopolis Clovis Core Committee, the Human Investment Initiative, Fresno Unified's career tech ed grant, and Fresno State.

Visit www.KJWL.com to listen or tune your radio to 99.3 FM.

By Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee

Scott McNealy, founder of technology giant Sun Microsystems, said Tuesday that the San Joaquin Valley should not abandon its agricultural roots but rather work to capture new and growing technologies.

"You have a solid economic base," McNealy told an audience of more than 400 people at Pardini's restaurant in Fresno. "But there is also the opportunity for online services, call centers ... build your technological expertise."

McNealy, who stepped down as Sun Microsystems CEO last year after more than two decades, appeared before members of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum's business and professional partners and the general public.

"You can't take farming away, like they did with the auto industry," McNealy said. "It is hard to replace the soil and take that somewhere else."

McNealy urged business and city leaders to invest in technology infrastructure, including fiber networks and broadband capabilities.

And he championed investing in education.

To that end, McNealy spoke about his latest venture: Curriki, a Web site of educational materials for students, teachers and parents that people anywhere in the world can access for free.

McNealy said the nonprofit Curriki is a direct response to the billions spent by schools on textbooks, tests and curriculum. He said schools should not have to buy updated textbooks if the basic lessons, such as math, haven't changed.

"How do we even know if the books are the right ones?" he asked. "And is the new version any better than the old one?"

McNealy, who is known for his frankness, took aim at the federal government's limit on the number of H-1B visas for foreign workers such as engineers and computer programers. The U.S. government offers the H-1B visa to give skilled workers and students from other countries the opportunity to legally live and work in the country.

McNealy said putting limits on those tech workers has the potential to shut out the next Silicon Valley startup. McNealy said two of Sun's co-founders are from foreign countries: Vinod Khosla is from India and Andreas Von Bechtolsheim is from Germany.

A self-described "raging capitalist," McNealy drew applause for calling taxpayers the real heroes of the American economy and for society's alleged decline in teaching personal responsibility.

"It doesn't take a village, it takes two parents," McNealy said.

He also faulted investors who lost money in the collapse of Enron for not doing their homework about the former energy company that went bankrupt in 2001.

Although McNealy may be among the highest profile leaders in the technology industry, he also is a regular guy. So say his friends in the Valley: Sam and Betsy Reeves of Fresno.

Sam Reeves is founder and president of Pinnacle Trading.

Reeves complimented McNealy for his vision, competitiveness and dedication to his family.

"He will fly all night long just to spend a few extra hours with his boys," Reeves said.

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6327.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

Four years ago, a group of business, community and government leaders formed Fresno's Regional Jobs Initiative, a mostly volunteer partnership with a lofty goal -- help to bring 30,000 good-paying jobs in key growth industries to the region by 2008.

On Wednesday, RJI leaders acknowledged that job growth in Fresno and Madera counties was not likely to reach that goal.

Still, they said the group's efforts at diversifying the region's economy, helping existing businesses retain and expand their work forces, and forming partnerships between businesses and educational institutions to train workers are worth continuing.

That's because they could help solve a key problem plaguing Valley employers, RJI co-chairman Pete Weber said at a Wednesday meeting in Fresno -- a lack of qualified applicants for unfilled jobs.

Over the past four years, state data show 14,665 new jobs in the key industry "clusters" of manufacturing, construction, tourism, information processing, health care and logistics and distribution have come to the region -- about half what RJI leaders had hoped for by the end of next year, according to the group's midyear report on job growth through June.

Construction employment, which has declined slightly during the housing slowdown of the past year, still remains one of the strongest industries for job growth, said Ashley Swearengin, RJI chief operating officer. Tourism employment has also grown faster than hoped, she said.

But despite high demand and a fairly strong economy over the past four years, job growth has lagged in the information processing, logistics and distribution and health care sectors, she said.

And while the region has added jobs and lowered unemployment since 2003, overall job growth has slowed and unemployment increased since last year, and the region still lags behind the state as a whole in employment rates and per capita income, she said.

While parts of the jobs picture made sense -- construction jobs have declined slightly since last year because of the slowdown of the housing market and home building -- others, like the lagging growth in health care and distribution, were harder to understand given the expected demand for such jobs, Weber said.

But one explanation could be that "we just don't have the right skills available in the work force," he said.

That's a premise RJI leaders have cited before to explain lagging job growth, based on evidence from frustrated business owners and government agencies, Weber said.

A Fresno County Workforce Investment Board 2006 survey of employers showed about 4,000 high-paying job openings were going unfilled in the county, largely because of a lack of qualified applicants, said Blake Konczal, the board's director.

"There are thousands of unfilled positions in our county because there's either a lack of human capital, or employers don't know how to find the human capital," Konczal said.

Anecdotal reports of employers frustrated by a lack of job seekers with relevant training, or even basic reading and math skills, have also trickled down to RJI members, Weber said.

One example is the Fresno Air National Guard base, where a recently announced push to add 22 full-time and 250 part-time jobs has run into trouble finding people qualified to take them, Weber said.

Tracewell Hanrahan, Central Valley services manager for the San Francisco-based venture capital group Pacific Community Ventures, said small-business owners in the region have reported similar problems to her, and are desperate for help.

That's why RJI members hope to concentrate on building more and better job training programs in the region, Weber said.

So far, RJI support has helped State Center and West Hills community college districts land nearly $4 million in federal grants for new job training programs in advanced manufacturing, food processing, logistics and nursing.

State Center held an October 2006 meeting with business leaders to ask them how the community college district could adjust its programs to meet employer needs, said Tom Crow, chancellor of the college district. Allowing flexible class schedules for working students and including remedial language and math in some job-training courses are among the steps the district is seeking to incorporate in its curriculum, he said.

Swearengin also noted a list of other accomplishments that could help boost job growth.

At Fresno State, the $4 million Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology Incubator, a testing center that can also house up to five startup water technology businesses, opened this spring with support from water technology companies involved with RJI.

And Fresno State's Craig School of Business started offering courses in distribution and warehousing this fall, largely because of interest from RJI logistics cluster members.

RJI's manufacturing cluster has completed a survey of hundreds of Valley manufacturers that could help the group's goal of raising about $2.5 million to build an advanced manufacturing center, she said.

The group has also launched a Web site, centralcalmfg.org, where regional manufacturers can find each other to make deals and share resources, she said.

All these efforts won't change the region's job situation overnight, but they still represent important partnerships that could lead to future job growth, Swearengin said.

"It's going to take some time," she said.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637.

FresnoStateNews.com

Consumer demand for conveniently packaged vegetables, fruit, meat and other foods has created a need for more people to work in food processing.

And in the most productive agricultural region in the world, the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno State is developing courses that will train those people using the latest in automated equipment and encourage development of more food processing businesses closer to where the food is harvested.

A new processing and packaging technology emphasis in the Industrial Technology Department is filling that need.

"Economically, this brings more employment opportunities for businesses in the Central Valley, because students now don't have to leave the Valley to be educated in this specific field," said Dr. Sandra Witte, associate dean for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (CAST). "Furthermore, this gives the agricultural industry a faster response time, while exposing our students to packaging related issues."

Due to its rich and diverse landscape, California is the top agricultural producing state and as a result, it is also the largest food processing employer in the United States, said Dr. N. Premchand Mahalik, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Technology. The state generates $50 billion a year, while encompassing more than 3,000 companies, he said.

Mahalik said that aiming to address the issue of technology, while providing a reliable and trained workforce, the new Fresno State emphasis will offer research activities and classroom instruction, and will give students the opportunity to learn about processing and packaging automation, technology and systems.

"We have both the cultivation and harvesting aspects on the school farm, along with the marketing of our products through the Farm Market and the development of new products through our food science program," Witte said.

"This program completes other aspects that are crucial to the agricultural industry and fills in the pieces we were missing. This is an example of how our college is completing the farm to fork continuum," she said.

The original seed grant funding for the development of the program was made available by the California Agricultural Technology Institute and CAST. An additional $50,000 worth of "in-kind" support was obtained from the Echelon Corporation for the purchase of equipment and tools for the classroom needed for the design and development of distributed control systems, which is used in most food processing and packaging plants.

"This university was seeking to fill the gap of expertise between processing and packaging automation technology," said Mahalik. "By setting up laboratories and obtaining research facilities and infrastructure, we will engage our students in scholarly activities and oriented hands-on projects that will ultimately help move us all a step forward," he said.

The RJI's 2007 Mid-Year Report on Job Creation in Fresno and Madera Counties may be downloaded from the About the RJI page of this Web site.

The Fresno Bee

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell met with local school officials and community members Monday at Deborah Williams Elementary School in west-central Fresno to find solutions on how to close the achievement gap between white and minority students.

Research shows that black and Hispanic students in grades 2 through 11 in California perform at levels below their white and Asian peers, O'Connell said.

Though poverty plays a role, O'Connell said several factors contribute to the wide divergence, such as California having a high number of children learning to speak English.

In the school's library, O'Connell asked the gathering for suggestions on how the state can improve access to education for all students, improve school culture and raise expectations. He also praised Superintendent Michael Hanson and the Fresno Unified School District for their commitment to increase student test scores.

Fresno was the first stop on a statewide tour in which O'Connell will gather suggestions and then present them at an Achievement Gap summit in Sacramento Nov. 13-14. For more information on the summit, visit www.sjcoe.org/summit/index.aspx.

The Claude Laval Water & Energy Technology Incubator is featured in this month's issue of the California Fresh Fruit & Raisin News. The printed version of the magazine is circulated to over 10,400 fruit growers, shippers, packinghouses and industry throughout California, with another 3,000 copies to be distributed at the California Pest Control Advisors conference at the end of the month. The article is also posted on their Web site at www.MyFreshFruit.com which receives several thousand visitors every month. To learn more about the WET Incubator, visit www.CVBI.org/WET_Incubator.html.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

People thinking of starting their own business now have an online tool to see how ready they are for the real world.

The Central Valley Business Incubator has launched its Business Readiness Assessment tool on its Web site -- a simple questionnaire that can help would-be entrepreneurs find the holes in their business plans.

"Some of the key mistakes we see when working with entrepreneurs is that they're focused only on a small portion of their business," said Travis Sheridan, member services director of the Fresno-based business support organization.

"They fail to look at how to build a business around their product or service."

In their quest to get their ideas off the ground, entrepreneurs can neglect planning for how to manage human resources, legal affairs and accounting needs, Sheridan said.

To counter that, the new Web tool asks entrepreneurs to honestly answer 40 questions, ranging from simple matters such as industry experience and startup funding to more complex issues such as inventory and distribution management, marketing and human resource management, he said.

Since its 1996 founding, the incubator has helped more than 3,000 entrepreneurs who have obtained more than $12.7 million in capital investment and created 1,900 jobs in the central San Joaquin Valley, Sheridan said.

"We really want to make this as interactive a tool as possible, with tangible action items," he said.

That's why people filling out the online survey will receive a response within 24 hours that not only assesses how ready they are to start their business but also offers advice on what incubator services they could use to better prepare themselves, he said.

To use the Web-based tool, visit the Web site www.cvbi.org, click on the "Thinking of starting your own business?" link, then click on the "Business Readiness Assessment" link.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637.

The Fresno Bee

The Fresno Unified School District is wisely expanding its offerings in its high schools, which will give students more opportunities to concentrate on specialized programs. The magnets will be funded by a $3.18 million federal grant, and have the added benefit of improving student diversity in four north Fresno schools.

Magnet programs, which draw students from the entire district, will be added at Ahwahnee and Tioga middle schools and Hoover and Bullard high schools. That will mean that all eight of the district's high schools soon will have magnet programs to attract students.

These programs will strengthen the district's curriculum, and give students more academic choices. Superintendent Michael Hanson said the magnets will provide "real-world experiences."

At a time of declining enrollment, the magnets can help keep students in the district and improve overall academic performance by offering classes and programs that interest them. Many students drop out of high school because of a lack of interest in basic subjects.

Hoover will get a magnet program that will focus on engineering and manufacturing. It will have strong ties to the Regional Jobs Initiative, a program aimed at creating thousands of well-paying jobs in our community. Bullard will add classes in law and public service. That will create partnerships with the legal, business and law-enforcement communities.

The federal grant also will help create an environmental-science program at Ahwahnee Middle School and a career-management program with an emphasis on marketing and entrepreneurship at Tioga Middle School.

This grant is the first of three federal grants the district expects to receive for its new magnet programs. Another $5 million in grants would help bolster the four magnet programs.

The district's other magnet programs include the School of Performing Arts at Roosevelt High, Fresno High's International Baccalaureate diploma program and Sunnyside High's Doctors Academy.

These programs are part of the recipe for improving student performance in a district that has seen declining test scores in recent years. More importantly, they will give students exposure to areas of interest that may become a career path.

Tell us what you think. Comment on this editorial by going to http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion, then click on the editorial.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

Members of Fresno's Regional Jobs Initiative on Thursday unveiled plans for a five-year, $15 million program aimed at expanding the array of social support services available in Fresno's poorest neighborhoods.

The "Human Investment Initiative" will seek to create a network through which government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools and private volunteers can coordinate their activities to better serve Fresno residents, Deborah Nankivell, chief executive of the Fresno Business Council, told about 40 people Thursday in a meeting at Fresno State.

"This plan is really aiming at vertical integration" of such efforts, from neighborhood organizations to large-scale institutions like Fresno Unified School District and city and county government agencies, Nankivell said.

But organizers offered few specifics such as when they intend to start and whether they can raise the necessary money.

The investment initiative, which was developed with initial funding from the Fresno Regional Foundation, calls for the foundation to lead efforts to raise money to help hire community outreach employees for neighborhood resource centers run by Fresno Unified School District, as well as other community gathering places like libraries, churches and community centers.

It also seeks to hire a director and staff for a network that can coordinate those centers' efforts, as well as study ways to provide high-quality translation and interpretation services for non-English-speaking residents and create a behavioral health center in Fresno.

Thursday's presentation was just the beginning of the effort, Nankivell said. The initiative has not yet selected members of its steering committee and has not set a timeline for its fundraising goals.

"We're at the early stages," said Kurt Madden, chief technology officer for Fresno Unified School District. "We still have the training wheels on."

Still, he and other supporters of the plan called it a logical next step in efforts to bring more economic prosperity to the region, including those of the Regional Jobs Initiative, a public-private partnership aimed at expanding and diversifying the region's jobs base.

"Many of the barriers that the RJI is running into, in relation to job readiness and preparing the work force, are being taken on by the Human Investment Initiative," said Ashley Swearengin, the RJI's chief operating officer.

RJI co-chairmen Ken Newby and Pete Weber are also involved in the investment initiative, which was outlined at the RJI's annual meeting in February as a new focus for the group's efforts to expand job training efforts in the region.

"You're never going to have a really robust economic environment when you've got this kind of concentrated poverty," Newby said Thursday, citing a well-known 2005 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution that found Fresno had more areas of concentrated poverty than any other large city in the nation.

Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Michael Hanson said the new initiative could help link the schools' efforts with other service providers.

"Our kids are struggling in a massive way because of the poverty they face," Hanson said.

Fresno Regional Foundation Chief Executive Dan DeSantis said that the foundation would soon be using the new plan to seek funding for a five-year budget that includes:

* About $10.6 million to strengthen the network of neighborhood resource centers.

* About $6.8 million to fund a steering committee, chief executive and staff to manage the network that will link those neighborhood resources centers with other service providers in the community.

* About $150,000 to fund planning for a proposed behavioral health center in partnership with the University of California at San Francisco's Fresno Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559)441-6637.

By Matt Leedy / The Fresno Bee

Local leaders are offering guided bus tours of downtown Fresno to remind the public about the area's past -- and sell them on its future.

City buses will meander through downtown, past new courthouses and historic buildings being renovated during free tours Saturday that will be offered from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Riders can board a bus at Chukchansi Park every five to 10 minutes.

The Fresno County Economic Development Corporation is hosting the event and has dubbed it the "Billion Dollar Tour."

The corporation estimates that $1 billion has been invested downtown in recent years in private and public development.

Some of the tour highlights will include Chukchansi Park, where this year the Fresno Grizzlies minor league baseball team recently wrapped up one of its most successful seasons; the Vagabond Lofts, which filled with renters shortly after opening last September; and the recently completed 5th District Court of Appeal courthouse.

Riders will be shown the Hotel Fresno, which is being renovated and turned into lofts, and the Virginia Hotel, which is being remodeled to include stores and offices.

Tour guides also will try to help bus riders imagine what downtown could look like in five years if various City Hall projects are realized.

Buses will cruise past the Selland Arena parking lot where there are plans to build apartments, shops and an ice rink.

Riders will see the six blocks of vacant buildings, family businesses, thrift stores and auto repair shops just south of Chukchansi Park that Fresno City Council members hope will be turned into town homes, apartments, cafes and coffee shops.

And guides will help people imagine electric streetcars that are being pitched by city officials, who propose spending about $60 million for a two-mile rail line that would connect downtown with the Tower District.

Said Steve Geil, who heads the Economic Development Corp.: "I want people to see the vision of the future of Fresno."

The reporter can be reached at mleedy@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6208.

Editorial / The Fresno Bee

Fresno airport officials and community leaders should continue their lobbying for a direct flight between Fresno and Sacramento. It makes sense to have air service to the state's capital, and we believe the Fresno area would support a flight as long as the schedule would allow passengers to do business in one day.

A flight leaving in the early morning and returning in the late afternoon or early evening would make economic sense for business and political leaders and others doing business in Sacramento. But a mid-day flight would force passengers to stay over night to attend a legislative hearing or business meeting. That would make flying less economically feasible than driving.

Fresno's airport officials have done a good job in attracting airlines that offer flights to a range of cities at reasonable prices. While there could be improvement in the fare structure and schedules in and out of Fresno, progress is being made with the addition of low-cost airlines such as ExpressJet.

One of Fresno's disadvantages in landing flights to Sacramento is its proximity to the capital. You can drive there in just under three hours, and airlines take that into consideration in designing their routes. Fresno civic leader Pete Weber said ExpressJet officials have said they generally don't consider routes that are within a three-hour drive.

Proximity shouldn't be the only consideration for the airlines. We agree with Russ Widmar, the city's aviation director. "This is a big city in a big state," Widmar said. "I know we can support Sacramento service."

The airlines need to continually hear that message from Fresno's leaders.

Tell us what you think. Comment on this editorial by going to http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion, then click on the editorial.

By Bethany Clough / The Fresno Bee

From his tiny Fresno office, Marc Raygoza helps online retailers sell their products -- everything from a $994 pair of shoes to wedding favors -- to millions of people around the world.

The 34-year-old Lemoore native and California State University, Fresno, graduate has created software that translates languages and converts prices on Web sites, helping online retailers sell and ship internationally.

Though his digs are far from any tech hub, Raygoza has landed customers like Shoes.com, eBags.com and American Bridal. More are in the works, and Raygoza is meeting with several major venture capitalists to grow his company.

His four-person startup, Vine Global, is based at the Central Valley Business Incubator on East Shaw Avenue in Fresno, behind the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.

Although Fresno and Clovis aren't known for being tech hot spots, both cities are trying to support the relatively few software and high-tech companies they have. The incubator's other three on-site members are all technology-related companies.

Raygoza started his company less than a year ago, naming it after Vine Street in Lemoore where he grew up.

After earning his graduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University in software engineering and working as "chief nerd" -- his words for chief technical architect -- at online retailer Buy.com in Aliso Viejo, Raygoza returned to Fresno to raise his family and start his business.

He recently closed a deal with Asian shipper Singapore Post and is in the early stages of partnering with FedEx and Mexican shipping company Estafeta.

"We're kind of this Krazy Glue between all these partners that can do this stuff," he said.

There are other companies that help retailers sell and ship internationally, including the mail-forwarding service Access USA.

But Raygoza said the minimal work required of retailers to use his product makes his company different. Retailers don't have to hire additional software code writers and translators or deal with the paperwork and normal hassle of shipping internationally.

San Francisco-based American Bridal will soon start selling its products using Vine Global, said Chief Executive Shirley Tan.

"Before, we turned down business all the time," she said. Vine Global is "opening up a market for us we otherwise would not even have access to."

The small company cannot easily ship to other countries on its own, stymied by import rules, tariffs and calculating prices in foreign currencies, she said.

Vine Global does this work for retailers in two ways.

The first is software that shoppers download onto their computers. The software translates and converts prices and adds on customs fees and taxes for customers shopping at participating international sites. A team of freelance translators hired by Vine Global keeps each translation updated, but the original Web site stays the same.

Retailers also can hire the company to offer their sites in different languages without making customers download software. Shoppers just click on their preferred language.

Programmers insert a line of code into the participating Web site that directs the site to an outside "library" that translates it.

For example, "mi cuenta" in Spanish is instantly changed to "my account."

When clicking on the Korean button, a portable hard drive for sale for $86 switches its price tag to 80,558 Korean won.

Both ways allow retailers to use U.S. consolidation hubs run by shippers where customs documents are printed and packages are shipped overseas in bulk.

The market is potentially quite large. About 40% of all American online retailers offer international shipping and 29% of apparel retailers do, according to eMarketer, a New York-based Internet market research company.

And the world is producing more potential customers who are Internet savvy and have the income to shop online, said Van Wood, the Philip Morris endowed chair in international business at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The growing economies of China, India, Brazil, Eastern Europe and Russia are particularly ripe with potential customers, he said.

However, selling overseas isn't easy, said Mark Brohan, director of research for Internet Retailer magazine.

The appeal for some retailers has waned in the past two or three years, because of difficulties such as marketing to a new audience. FedEx Services is working with Vine Global to help retailers get over the scary parts of selling overseas, said Katsia Treglazoff, a FedEx account executive in Fresno.

Despite his international presence, Raygoza said he plans to stay in Fresno.

Craig Scharton, CEO of the incubator, said Raygoza is talking to some big-name investors from around the country, as well as local people.

Raygoza said investors often ask him why he lives in Fresno and if he would move if offered enough money. He said he tells them no.

Said Scharton: "His desire is to stay here, so we want to make sure he has all the resources to stay here."

That has led the incubator to organize luncheons for potential investors for Vine Global and other member companies. The group is developing networks of local investors so tech companies aren't lost to the Bay Area, Scharton said.

Wood, from Virginia Commonwealth University, said companies like Vine Global can flourish in Fresno or anywhere else.

"You no longer need to immigrate to innovate," he said. "You can be anywhere in the world."

The reporter can be reached at bclough@fresnobee.com or(559)441-6431.

The Summer/Fall 2007 issue of Clovis Technopolis Times is now available for download at www.FresnoRJI.org/docs/ClovisTechTimes_SummerFall07.pdf.

This issue features articles on the recent TC³ trip to Barcelona, Spain, the current TC³ symposium series and "What is Technopolis?"

By Barbara Goodwin, Executive Director, Council of Fresno County Governments

When Bob Dylan, in his famous song, refers to the 1960s as "the times they are a-changin'," he was right on. Forty years ago, Fresno County was a mostly rural, agricultural region with a population of about 366,000. Who would have predicted that the population would more than double by 2007, reaching more than 900,000?

Even more impressive are the recent population projections that show Fresno County more than doubling again in the next 40 years, to reach nearly 2 million residents. The San Joaquin Valley will house nearly 9.5 million residents by 2050. During this same period, California's population will increase by 22 million people, 25% of whom will reside in the San Joaquin Valley.

As the population increases, Fresno County's demographic profile will change. In 1960, only 15% of Fresno County's population was 55 years of age or older. The number of seniors here has more than tripled since then, and is projected to increase another three-fold by 2050 when they will comprise 27% of the total population -- the largest this segment has ever been.

What will this mean for the future of housing? What will the future residential landscape of Fresno County look like?

Another trend taking place is the growth in the minority population. The county's minority population has grown significantly in recent decades. In 1960, 32% of the population was considered minority, increasing to 65% today. By 2050, however, minority groups will comprise 81% of the population.

Housing professionals will need to understand the unique dynamics of minority groups within their cultural market in order to provide appropriate housing choices in the future.

The changing composition of the household is another dynamic that will need to be considered. In 1960, 76% of households consisted of married couples with or without children. By 2050, that percentage is projected to decrease to 44%, with 56% of the households in Fresno County headed by single persons with or without children. As the percentage of traditional married-couple households declines and the single-parent or one-person headed households increase, the demand for affordable housing will rise.

In 1996, a household earning the local median income could afford 59% of homes available, whereas in 2007 only 13% of homes available are considered affordable. Affordability is an important factor when considering how we want to grow as a region.

Growth comes with other challenges as well. Do we have adequate transportation infrastructure to meet the population demand? The demand for the automobile is on the rise. Without capital investment in other modes, it is projected that 96% of the county's population will commute by private auto, truck or van by the year 2050. Increased dependence on the auto will lead to increased congestion on the surface transportation system, longer commute times and related air quality problems.

Fortunately, voters passed the extension of Measure C, which will provide significant investments in transit and alternative modes over the next 20 years. However, it will be imperative that the transportation system continue to improve to meet future population demands.

The San Joaquin Valley's air quality is among the worst in the country. Valley residents rank in the top 5% nationwide for pollution-related health risks. Valley residents regularly suffer asthma attacks, acute bronchitis, lost work days, reduced activity, hospital admissions, school absences and even premature death because of exposure to air pollution. A 2006 study estimated health and problems related to air quality cost the Valley $3 billion per year, or $1,000 per resident per year.

Will growth and development mean paving over our vital agricultural land, natural habitats and open space to the point of no return? How our region addresses the relationship between growth and conservation will have a major impact on the future landscape and the quality of life for Valley residents.

Fortunately, we are engaged in a Valleywide planning process to respond to these issues. The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint provides an opportunity for the Valley's Councils of Governments (COG's) in coordination with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the Great Valley Center to work together to develop a regional vision of land use and transportation that will be used to guide growth in the San Joaquin Valley through 2050.

After extensive public outreach and technical processes, data provided to local decision makers will provide a tangible opportunity to ensure the San Joaquin Valley remains a desirable place to live.

Barbara Goodwin is the executive director of the Council of Fresno County Governments.

For more information, visit Council of Fresno County Governments.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

A subsidiary of one of the world's largest irrigation equipment makers is expanding its Fresno plant, with plans to add 100 jobs over the next year and a half and help beautify its corner of southeast Fresno.

Ontario-based Aquarius Brands Inc. announced Wednesday that it will be shifting its Southern California operations to Fresno to take advantage of the Central Valley's position as the heart of the California agricultural irrigation market.

Aquarius, a subsidiary of India-based drip irrigation equipment maker Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., will be expanding its 112,000-square-foot facility at 2851 E. Florence Ave. by leasing an additional 75,000 square feet in an adjoining building, said Dave Abrams, company president.

That move, expected to begin in September and cost about $1 million, will be followed by an expansion of jobs at the Fresno plant, he said.

"Of course, we plan on growing the business significantly," Abrams said.

By the end of 2008, the Fresno facility is expected to add about 100 jobs to its current roster of 49 full-time employees, with most of the new employees expected to be hired in the Fresno area, he said.

The presence of Fresno State's Center for Irrigation Technology and similar irrigation industry facilities was another reason for consolidating Aquarius' operations in Fresno, Abrams added.

"Having the opportunity to develop technologies and then go within a few miles and be able to test them is invaluable," he said.

Aquarius' expansion could offer opportunities for California State University, Fresno, students and faculty to work with the company on developing new technologies, noted Dave Zoldoske, director of the university's International Center for Water Technology.

Along with the cost of expanding its facility, Aquarius has agreed to roughly $500,000 in landscape and architectural improvements at the site, Abrams said -- a decision the company made in consultation with Fresno's Redevelopment Agency in hopes of improving the neighborhood, he said.

"We're going to do our part to really clean up the property, make it attractive and work with the city to make it a cornerstone of redevelopment for south Fresno," Abrams said.

Art Wahlenmaier, project manager at the Redevelopment Agency, said the company's investment would be matched by about $750,000 from the agency and the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District for improvements to streets, curbs and storm drain systems at the site.

"First, there's the interest to help renew the area," he said. "Second, it adds new jobs. That's kind of our top priority."

Aquarius also has a plant in Florida. Its parent company, Jain Irrigation Systems, has about 6,000 employees and annual sales of about $350 million, and is traded on the Mumbai Stock Exchange, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange.

By E.J. Schultz / The Fresno Bee

SACRAMENTO -- And you thought traffic was bad today. Just wait until 2050.

By then, the San Joaquin Valley's population will more than double, according to a population forecast released Monday by the state Department of Finance.

Nearly 2 million people will call Fresno County home and Tulare County is projected to pass the 1 million mark.

The growth, fueled mostly by a Hispanic baby boom, has been predicted for a while. But the region is still not prepared, experts say.

"It's scary," said Joseph Penbera, a California State University, Fresno, economist who has long studied Valley growth.

"Put twice as many cars on Route 99," he said. "Put twice as many kids in classes. Put twice as many people in hospitals."

Overall, the region's population will grow from 3.9 million to 9.4 million by 2050, which is almost as many people as live in Los Angeles County today.

Five of the Valley's eight counties will eclipse the 1 million mark, led by Kern County with 2.1 million people and Fresno County with 1.9 million, according to the forecast.

Hispanics will constitute a majority in every Valley county except San Joaquin County. In Tulare County, Hispanics will account for 72% of the population by 2050.

As of the 2000 census, Tulare County was the only Valley county with a Hispanic majority -- at 51%.

Yet, Hispanics hold just 13% of the elected positions in the Central Valley -- from Redding to Bakersfield -- according to a forthcoming report by the Great Valley Center.

Hispanic representation is growing but is still sparse, especially in Madera County, where Hispanics hold fewer than five elected positions, according to the report.

"This is an opportunity and, really, a call to action for the Latino community," said Carol Whiteside, president of the center, a nonprofit that advocates for the region. "The future will really be theirs to govern and control."

Apathy is a major problem, said Ray Leon, Fresno chairman of the Mexican-American Political Association.

"I think a lot of people are disillusioned with their political leaders and, to some extent, feel like the system doesn't work for them anyways," he said.

But the recent immigration debate is spurring a renewed political interest in the Hispanic community that Leon said could translate into more political candidates.

Statewide, Hispanic growth actually has slowed from previous projections.

Three years ago, the Finance Department anticipated a statewide Hispanic majority by 2038. Monday's report pushes that back to 2042.

Mary Heim, the department's head demographer, said the delay was due to slightly lower fertility rates among Hispanics and a longer life expectancy for all ethnic groups, which led the department to forecast a higher white population in coming years.

Overall, the state will reach 60 million people by 2050, an increase of 25 million people since the 2000 census.

Los Angeles County will lead all counties in 2050 with 13 million people.

Riverside County will jump to second place, at 4.7 million people, ahead of San Diego and Orange counties, according to the report.

Fresno County -- which today is home to 917,515 people -- is expected to hold its spot as the 10th most-populated county, but the seven other Valley counties will all jump up at least one spot.

Tulare County, population 429,006, will pass 1 million sometime between 2040 and 2050.

And Madera County will post the third-highest growth rate in the state, swelling from 148,721 people to 413,569.

Valley officials have seen the growth coming for years and have started to prepare, forming such groups as the Regional Jobs Initiative -- to spur the economy -- and the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint effort, aimed at forging consensus on what the Valley should look like in 2050.

But most agree there is a ton of work left.

For instance, there still is at least a $2 billion gap in what is needed to upgrade Highway 99, the region's primary north-south corridor, said Ashley Swearengin, chief operating officer of the Regional Jobs Initiative.

Penbera, a Gottschalks board member, said the Valley needs a major east-west highway so goods could be shipped to the coast -- and even over the Sierra to eastern cities.

As it is now, he said, "it's hard to get in and out of a place like this."

The reporter can be reached at eschultz@fresnobee.com or(916) 326-5541.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

You may have never heard of Decipher Inc., a Fresno-based software company.

But if you've ever filled out an Internet survey -- say, one asking you to rank the customer service of a Web site or choose your favorite version of a yet-to-be-released movie trailer -- it's possible that Decipher has heard from you.

"We've been pretty much underground in Fresno ," said Jamin Brazil , the company's 36-year-old chief executive. But "the kind of thing we work on, six months later, you can see it in a grocery store aisle or on the Internet" being offered for sale.

Behind the scenes, Decipher's market research software and services power surveys by some of the Internet's largest companies, like eBay and Pay Pal, as well as movie studios, consumer products companies and others trying to learn what their customers want.

Since founding Decipher in spring 2000 -- and moving from the Bay Area to Fresno later that year in search of an affordable base for the software startup -- Brazil and company co-founder Jayme Plunkett, 32, have brought about 50 employees on board, holding their own in the multibillion-dollar market research industry by making online data collection easier and more useful for their clients.

So when Decipher bought Hollywood-based Forefront Consulting Group, an eight-employee data management software company, for an undisclosed sum earlier this month, it wasn't just a merger of two complementary businesses, Brazil said.

It also was an example of a central San Joaquin Valley software company that can hold its own against its major metropolitan competitors, he said.

"We couldn't have done this out of New York , L.A. or Chicago ," Brazil said, pointing to the fact that Decipher has continued to compete against much larger firms that outsource programming work to China or India , which Decipher doesn't do.

Since moving to Fresno, Decipher has grown to the point where it serves about 120 clients with about 150 online surveys per month, Brazil said.

The company is projecting $10 million in revenue this year, and so far looks to be slightly exceeding those expectations, he said.

Escaping the Bay Area's sky-high office rents certainly helped Decipher survive its early growth years, and the comparatively lower operating costs continue to allow the company to offer salaries competitive with the Bay Area, he said.

A fringe benefit has been the job market, Plunkett said.

"We were surprised at the size of the talent pool," as well as the relatively high skill level, of technology-savvy job candidates in the Fresno area, he said.

So far, the company's mostly 20-something employees are all connected to Fresno, whether recent Fresno State computer science graduates or former Fresnans lured back by the promise of jobs, he said.

That is a growing trend among the 30 or so companies that make up the Regional Jobs Initiative's software cluster, said Walter Read, chairman of the computer science department at California State University, Fresno.

"We have a real pool of talent here," he said, including the 20 to 25 computer science students per semester who graduate from Fresno State . "There's a real potential for someone to come out here and take advantage of that."

Despite its recent purchase in Hollywood , Decipher plans to stay in Fresno, Brazil said -- and the employees of Forefront Consulting will remain in Hollywood.

But given the company's growth plans, Brazil and Plunkett may need to access that local talent pool soon.

In the coming months, the company expects to open a small East Coast office and launch a new application that would allow customers to write their own surveys, Brazil said.

The company might well find some room for growth in the $8.2 billion and growing market research industry, said Larry Gold, publisher of Inside Research, a Barrington, Ill.-based market research trade newsletter.

The business of online market surveys has been growing at about three times the rate of more traditional phone, direct mail or in-person forms of survey research, Gold said.

Online surveys made up about 36% of the estimated $3.3 billion survey research market in 2006, up from about 30% of the market in 2005, he said.

As for companies like Decipher providing software to that market, "if there's something they can design that's innovative, they could create a niche there," he said.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6637.

A San Francisco company has chosen west Fresno County for a massive solar facility -- one that would be the largest in California and the leading edge of a potentially important new Valley industry.

The project, if approved by Fresno County officials, would feature photovoltaic panels covering about 40 acres near Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s Mendota substation, said Bill Barnes, chief executive of project developer Cleantech America LLC.

It would produce 5 megawatts -- enough electricity to power about 7,800 homes, Barnes said Wednesday. According to California Energy Commission records, it would be the state's largest unless overtaken by future projects before it opens in 2009.

PG&E has agreed to buy power from the Mendota project under a 20-year deal, Fong Wan, PG&E's vice president of energy procurement, said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Under a state mandate, the company must supply 20% of its customer power needs from renewable energy sources by 2010.

"By harnessing the power of the sun's rays in a scalable way, we are taking a significant step towards" that goal, Wan said.

Cleantech is a startup company with no track record. But Barnes -- while declining to elaborate -- said it plans other such projects. The Mendota site also could be expanded to provide as much as 50 megawatts in coming years, he said.

If so, that would dwarf the nation's existing largest solar installation -- which produces 4.6 megawatts -- near Tucson, Ariz., as well as two even larger projects now being planned: a 15-megawatt system in Nevada and an 8-megawatt system in Colorado.

Cleantech's project also has piqued the interest of major solar-panel manufacturers and other solar technology companies in locating to the central San Joaquin Valley, Barnes said.

"We are exploring a variety of opportunities, and we think that the potential exists for the San Joaquin Valley to become the solar valley in California," he said.

Barnes said the Valley has many advantages for solar power, including abundant sunshine and its central location in the state's power distribution system.

The Mendota site would be designed, built and operated by the California Construction Authority, a state-backed agency that is operating and building a combined 8 megawatts of solar installations in the state, including an 800-kilowatt system at the Fresno Fairgrounds, he said.

Tom Baker, lead executive for the California Construction Authority, said about 25 people will be hired to build the Cleantech project.

While Barnes would not disclose the cost, he said the company has lined up investors seeking tax credits and other incentives.

"This is a very good time to be financing major solar projects," he said. "There is a tremendous amount of interest in the equity markets, especially for California."

Driven by state mandates and state and federal tax credits and other incentives, solar power installations, both large-scale and small-scale, have been booming in California in recent years.

The San Joaquin Valley has had its share of large-scale projects, including a 1.13-megawatt, $3.2 million system at Clovis-based P-R Farms and Paramount Farms' $7.5 million, 1.1-megawatt system covering about 8 acres in Lost Hills in Kern County.

So far, however, most of the largest solar projects in the state have been outside the Valley, said Steve Geil, president of the Economic Development Corp. serving Fresno County.

With Cleantech's new project, "I think you'll see, when they put their solar array out there, that this will bring a lot of attention to the Central Valley," Geil said. "Fresno County should be -- and will be -- a future major player in the solar energy field."

Geil said he has met with some solar panel manufacturers and other solar-related companies interested in locating in the Valley, though he would not identify them.

"We'll see how that goes," he said.

Sue Kateley, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, said she sees more opportunity for Fresno to capture more solar installation and distribution companies on the news of Cleantech's project.

While she didn't envision as bright a potential for large-scale solar manufacturing in the Valley, "one of the great things about solar is that you'll always need local businesses for installation and distribution," she said.

Ashley Swearengin, chief operating officer for the Regional Jobs Initiative, said Cleantech's new project could also boost homegrown businesses in the solar field.

That growth could be aided by solar research facilities like Fresno's Water and Energy Technology Incubator, a $4 million collaboration between Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology and the Clovis-based Central Valley Business Incubator.

"We don't just want to research it here," Swearengin said. "We want to locate and start the companies here."

CalRENEW-1 also appealed to PG&E, which has sought solar-power projects that deliver the most energy during "peak" hours of demand on hot summer afternoons.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637.

The Energy & Clean Air Exposition will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 21, 2007, at the Fresno Convention Center. The free Exposition will include exhibits on ideas for cost savings and improving the quality of our environment, car crushing demonstrations courtesy of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, hybrid vehicle test drive sessions, breakout discussions, and a networking mixer sponsored by the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce.

A luncheon featuring California EPA Secretary Linda S. Adams, Mayor Alan Autry and Pacific Ethanol Founder and Chairman of the Board Bill Jones, will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Tickets for the luncheon are available for $15. For more information about the Exposition, please contact Deborah Bristol at 559.495.4825. To view the invitation, please visit the RJI Calendar.

By Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee

Central Valley Business Incubator officials hope a new home, a renewed focus and a new crop of potentially fast-growing businesses will help its mission to grow the region's economy.

After a decade in the former Grundfos Pumps building in Clovis, the incubator, under new leader Craig Scharton, has relocated to a better-suited office on Shaw Avenue near California State University, Fresno.

The 5,000-square-foot space, dubbed the Launching Pad, will house the incubator staff plus have room for five early-stage tech companies that Scharton fondly refers to as gazelles.

"We are talking about companies that have the ability to move fast and react to change quickly, companies that have high-growth potential," Scharton said. "These are the kinds of companies that can establish corporate headquarters here."

The nonprofit incubator's newest clients are Galaxy IT, Skysail Software, Vine Global Solutions Corp. and Band of Neighbors -- all companies in the tech sector that economic development officials are trying to expand in the central San Joaquin Valley.

"The largest potential for growth and jobs is in technology," Scharton said. "It is a lot different than having 100 mom-and-pop stores."

The CVBI provides fledgling companies entrepreneurial training and the office space they need to grow. Ideally, the startups should be ready to move on within six to 24 months, a necessary deadline to ensure the incubator is able to help additional companies launch.

Scharton said previous CVBI on-site clients remained a little too long, sometimes for several years.

"We don't want that," he said.

Founded in 1996, the incubator has worked with more than 3,000 entrepreneurs in a variety of ways and helped create 1,900 jobs.

Incubation has proven successful with cities across the country whose officials are finding that cultivating their own businesses is as worthwhile as attracting new ones.

"Typically, graduates of incubation programs have strong ties to the local community, and many times they stay," said Linda Knopp, spokeswoman for the National Business Incubation Association in Athens, Ohio. "And when they stay, so do the jobs. That is what is so attractive about these types of programs."

Last year, there were more than 1,400 incubator programs in North America, up from about a dozen in 1980. Of those, 1,115 were in the United States, 191 in Mexico and 120 in Canada.

Scharton and the CVBI run two incubation programs, the general incubator on Shaw and a second, in conjunction with Fresno State, that targets water and irrigation technology companies.

The Fresno Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also is planning to launch its own business incubator this fall.

Launching Pad

The CVBI Launching Pad's members are a diverse group who are all technology-based and in various stages of development.

Galaxy IT is creating a search engine that presents information in a new and visually appealing way.

Unlike existing search engines that show results in a list format on a single page, Galaxy IT's results will be displayed in what its CEO Rod King describes as a galaxy map.

At the center of that map is the search request, and leading from it like spokes are the results. "You can think of your theme or search as the sun and the planets are your results."

King's idea already has received interest from the Valley-based venture capital fund Bulldog Capital Partners.

"We were very impressed with him as well as his company," said Steve Heinrichs of Bulldog Capital Partners. "He is presenting information in a way that is more visual, and we think that is an important area. A lot of people are visual learners and they react better to information presented that way."

Although he would not disclose the amount of investment, King said it was a tremendous boost to his company.

"This is really going to help us move forward and make it available to everyone," he said. "There is really nothing like it."

Also hoping to break new ground is Bob Hayden of Band of Neighbors. Hayden is creating what he calls the next generation of Neighborhood Watch.

Hayden's system uses cell phone and Internet technology to help spread the word about suspicious activity in neighborhoods. A witness, who is part of the Band of Neighbors, can report criminal activity by punching a code on his phone, and the information is immediately relayed to neighbors and police via a text or voice message.

"This really helps people come together and share information in a way that they couldn't before," Hayden said. "Like Neighborhood Watch, this is really designed to be a crime-prevention tool."

Hayden said the application can be used by neighborhoods, business districts or anyone else who becomes part of the system.

Band of Neighbors -- www.bandofneighbors.com -- is expected to launch soon in the Lowell neighborhood of downtown Fresno.

Web development

Lori Boes, a Rhode Island transplant, saw a business opportunity when she and her husband moved to Fresno about a year ago.

Boes is a Web site designer. Her Skysail Software specializes in designing Web sites and creating custom software applications for small and medium-sized businesses. "There are a lot of businesses looking for someone to create their Web site or they have a site that is in serious need of updating," Boes said. "I have been busy."

Boes joined the incubator to learn more about running a business, including human resources and marketing. She recently completed the CVBI's entrepreneurial training class.

"My goal is to be more professional and to offer the best possible service that I can for my customers," Boes said.

Boes pays $600 a month for her office within the incubator, a price she said is well worth it: "It is really nice to be with other technology companies because it allows you to share ideas."

At Vine Global, company founder Marc Raygoza is getting ready to give online retailers the ability to expand into international markets that in many cases are underserved.

He estimates that 65% of online U.S. merchants don't ship internationally, mostly because of logistics and language barriers.

Vine Global can transform any U.S.-based English-language online store into a multilingual one without a major overhaul of the retailer's software.

He also has joined with several overseas shippers to reach markets including Malaysia, Australia and Thailand.

Raygoza, the former chief technology architect for online retailer Buy.com and a Fresno State graduate, is working with Shoes.com and Dazadi.com, a sports equipment retailer, to launch their international sales ventures next month.

"Right now, the Asian market is one of the most neglected parts of the world by online merchants, and they have one of the highest concentrations of computer use," Raygoza said.

"U.S. merchants have the opportunity to tap that market if they just knew how."

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6327.

By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee

I have terrible news for people who wake up complaining about Fresno.

After decades of missed hunches, high unemployment and low wages, we're on the verge of economic revolution.

This is a bold opinion that could bite me many times before I retire my keyboard -- but I don't think it will.

What's different about where our region and our economy are headed?

Instead of wasting money trying to lure companies here, we're investing in growing our own businesses.

This strategy not only is cost-effective, but the creation of home-grown publicly traded companies would transform Central California for the better in dozens of ways.

An example with big potential: businesses that move, manipulate and master water.

California's shared history is ag. Then, in the 20th century, entertainment gave Los Angeles sizzle, microprocessors launched Silicon Valley into the stratosphere and biotech made the world beat a path to San Diego.

Water isn't sexy. But it's scarce. And it'll be in even shorter supply as countries such as China and India prosper and cities such as Las Vegas boom during global climate change.

"Saving water" will become a universal mantra -- if it hasn't already -- and who better to show the world than the people of the San Joaquin Valley, the same people who made a desert bloom?

"There is no doubt that water is going to be the issue of the future and we're going to be instrumental in the industry," says Tim Stearns, director of the Lyles Center for Innovations and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State.

"It may not grow as fast as Silicon Valley, but it's going to grow to the same magnitude. There's no downside in terms of relevance and growth."

What is water technology?

It's splash parks, solar-water pumps and sensors that say when to apply water to crops. It's devices that purify, test for pollutants and solve waste-water treatment problems. It's flow meters, tanks and oil/water separators.

It would've been nice if we had honed in on our water expertise earlier and not tried to mimic everybody else. Credit goes to Doug Henton, founder of Silicon Valley-based Collaborative Economics, for waking us to the obvious several years ago.

"Doug came to speak at a breakfast, and everyone was expecting to have a nice conversation," Stearns says. "Instead, he said, 'You guys are in serious trouble. The economic model you have in place doesn't compute. But you've got something right here in your backyard, a technology with potential for growth.'

"He clearly had done his homework, and it resonated with a number of people in the community who said we have to do something about this."

Henton's frank words inspired the formation of the Fresno Area Collaborative Regional Initiative, which spawned the Regional Jobs Initiative. Politicians scoffed and skeptics yawned, but the team approach and focusing on business clusters is working.

There are 120 water-technology companies in the region, according to Craig Scharton, chief executive of the Central Valley Business Incubator, and they are leading -- along with energy-technology companies -- a new wave of innovation.

The marriage of water and energy is apt, Scharton says, because 20% of the energy consumed in California goes to pump water from the ground or move it over the Tehachapi mountains.

"Usually we'd say we are going to be the best, and we'd be copying somebody else," Scharton says. "This is something authentic. The whole history of the Valley is water technology. We were already doing it, but nobody had linked them up before."

What, exactly, is linking?

"Joint marketing efforts, trade missions, sharing information about vendors and working with the Workforce Investment Board to develop an employee base," Scharton says. "None of that was happening before."

Five companies already are in the new $4 million Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology Incubator at Fresno State. Another five are headquartered at the business incubator. Some of the technologies being pursued would save water and reduce air pollution -- a marriage with huge economic and health payoffs.

"In these two buildings are businesses that someday will be $100 million- and $200 million-a-year companies," Scharton says.

A private business incubator in Clovis, CargoBay, quickly filled its 50 offices and is building another 22 units in a five-building complex called Portal Sierra in the Clovis research and technology park.

Creating these incubators required vision, lobbying and teamwork from leaders in private and public sectors.

Other people would be smart to get on this path to prosperity. The signposts are water, energy, technology, education and collaboration.

The columnist can be reached at bmcewen@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6632. Check out his blog at fresnobeehive.com.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

After three years of building partnerships among business, government and nonprofit groups to expand and diversify the Fresno economy, the Regional Jobs Initiative on Friday unveiled a 2007 agenda focused on the human and social side of the jobs equation.

"Human development, work force development remains our greatest challenge," Ashley Swearengin, RJI's chief operating officer, told the audience of about 250 at the organization's annual meeting at the International Trade Center in downtown Fresno.

With unemployment at record lows, yet with thousands of jobs reportedly going unfilled in the Fresno region, the initiative -- formed in 2003 with the goal of creating 30,000 new jobs in the region by 2008 -- has adopted a new set of goals for the coming year, she said.

And key among them will be efforts to integrate economic development efforts with those aimed at improving educational opportunities and quality of life for the region's residents.

That's going to be a challenge," said Ken Newby, RJI co-chairman. "But it's also going to be the most important thing we do."

RJI's goals for 2007 include the launch of a "human investment initiative" aimed at bringing economic and community development to neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, an increased effort to engage community college and local school districts in career and technical education, and developing new strategies to attract and keep "knowledge workers" in the region.

Since RJI was formed, the region's growing economy has helped lift average unemployment rates from 11.5% in 2003 to a low of 8% for 2006, Swearengin said -- and that's helped RJI make progress toward some of its job-creation goals.

Fresno and Madera counties have seen 12,816 nonfarm jobs created since 2003, many in the group's industry "clusters" of construction, manufacturing, information processing and tourism, Swearengin said.

In the same time, the RJI has seen progress on many of the 40 initiatives it set for itself when it was first formed, she said.

Several industry "centers of excellence," like the new Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology Incubator and the Center for Construction Excellence at California State University, Fresno, have been built.

The group's information processing and call center cluster has helped companies start and expand operations in Fresno that have brought hundreds of new jobs.

Venture capital firms have made their first entry into the Valley, and the city of Fresno now sponsors free wireless Internet service downtown.

But other RJI clusters, like health care and logistics, haven't seen the hoped-for levels of job growth, Swearengin said. And that's despite the fact that local businesses are eager to hire people to fill an estimated 27,000 jobs over the next three years, many of them in the health care, logistics and manufacturing industries, according to a recent Fresno County Workforce Investment Board survey.

"These businesses will either find the workers they need in this region, or they'll leave," said Blake Konczal, the board's director.

Tom Crow, chancellor of the State Center Community College District, said businesses have reported trouble finding employees with the most basic of skills, like the ability to show up to work on time, understand training manuals and do simple arithmetic.

State Center is working to match its curriculum to the needs of local businesses and prepare its students for "not a job, but a career," he said.

Fresno Unified School District is also prepared to get more involved with RJI, said Superintendent Michael Hanson. He said he backs the idea of "career readiness" for students.

Another broad-based effort involving the school district, Fresno State and nonprofit groups is the human investment initiative.

Deborah Nankivell, chief executive of the Fresno Business Council, a lead partner in the initiative, said the goal is to link economic development efforts -- and investments -- in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.

At the same time it seeks to expand its reach into the Valley's poorest communities, RJI also reiterated several goals aimed at making the region more attractive to "knowledge workers," or people involved in high-paying technology, information and creative work.

Fresno State's Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will work with Creative Fresno, a group of young artists, writers and professionals whose list of goals for downtown revitalization has played a role in setting city policy, to push those efforts further.

The city of Clovis also is looking at ways to lure high-tech workers and companies to the region, said Mike Dozier, Clovis economic development director.

City staffers are now interviewing two companies interested in providing wireless Internet service throughout the city, starting with the downtown area, he said. But Clovis is planning the project so that it can be expanded to Fresno and beyond, he said.

With luck, Dozier said, the network will be up in time for the Clovis Technology Conference set for later this year. The event is expected to bring hundreds of attendees and exhibitors to the city to see first-hand the potential for growing business there.

While the RJI hasn't seen the job growth it had hoped for at this stage, Steve Geil, interim CEO of the Economic Development Corp. Serving Fresno County, said he believes that isn't the best way to measure the group's success.

Rather, he pointed to the group's ability to forge partnerships where none existed in what he called a "generational" struggle to change the region's economic fortunes.

One former critic of the group, Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston, said he was skeptical when it launched in 2003, thinking of it as "just another program" among many.

But since then, he's changed his mind, he said.

"I think it's working, it's incredible how it's working, and it's because of all you folks," he said.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637.

By Jeff St. John / The Fresno Bee

A world's worth of water technology expertise is coming to Fresno next month, and the central San Joaquin Valley is invited.

The International Water Technology Conference, set for April 2-4 at the Save Mart Center at California State University, Fresno, will feature companies on the cutting edge of water technology and experts on international developments in the field.

From new water supply and conservation technologies to the use of anti-microbial ozone to prevent contamination of crops, the conference will offer plenty of value to the Valley, organizers say -- and the Valley has experts to offer in return.

"This will help bring attention to the important water technology in the region and hopefully to attract new companies," said Dave Zoldoske, director of Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology, which is holding the event.

So far, about 40 companies and 75 speakers are signed up for the three-day event, along with about 200 attendees, Zoldoske said, but "we'd like to see 300 or 400 when we're done."

The first two days of the conference will be devoted to workshops and technical sessions on water supply and reuse, irrigation and anti-microbial ozone -- the last topic one of interest not just to farmers, but to companies in all aspects of delivering crops to market, he said.

"We believe there are a bunch of folks in the agriculture community, in food processing and involved in the shipping of food, who would be interested in attending this," Zoldoske said, noting that recent E. coli outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce have the industry focused on ensuring a safer food supply.

Attendees from a host of countries, including the Philippines, Turkey, Pakistan and Nigeria, have signed up for the conference, he said.

Speakers include experts on water policy, including the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Wastewater Management, Mexico's former undersecretary of environmental management and the director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

From the business side, keynote speakers include the general manager of General Electric's water and process technologies, Zoldoske said.

Also speaking will be Quentin Kelly, founder and chairman of WorldWater Power Corp., a New Jersey-based company that recently took up space in the newly opened Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology Incubator on the Fresno State campus.

The incubator, a partnership of Fresno State and the Clovis-based Central Valley Business Incubator, combines a state-of-the-art testing laboratory with business development services for its members, Zoldoske said.

WorldWater, which makes solar-powered pumps for irrigation systems, water utilities, food processing plants and refrigeration and cooling systems, is a company that can help the Valley deal with environmental problems, he said.

The reporter can be reached at jeffstjohn@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6637.

To view the annual report, click HERE.

To view the 2007 agenda, click HERE.

To view the annual meeting comment boards, click HERE.

RJI efforts paying dividends in job growth; work needed on developing ‘human capital’

FRESNO, Calif. – The Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI) representatives today announced that more than 12,000 jobs have been created since 2003, and nearly 20,000 jobs may be available in the next three years if the appropriate workforce is there to fill them. At the annual meeting, “Building on the Momentum,” RJI representatives gave business, industry and community leaders an update on the progress and reviewed the work ahead.

“The good news is we are seeing a real impact on our community – local businesses are growing, innovation and entrepreneurship are valued and supported, and we are seeing excellent growth opportunities around water technology, clean energy , software and information processing” said Ashley Swearengin, RJI chief operating officer. “We are pleased by the momentum and are confident that if we stay the course, we will continue to see results.”

Unemployment for Fresno and Madera counties has been reduced by 45.6 percent from 2003 to 2006, translating into 16,884 people coming off the ranks of unemployment. A total of 12,816 non-farm and non-government jobs was created between 2003 and 2006.

The RJI five-year plan is based on the idea that regional economies are made up of a series of related industries – or clusters – that benefit not only the businesses within the industries but one another. Public and private businesses and organizations have been working together to create growth in each of the clusters – advanced manufacturing, construction, food processing, healthcare, information processing, logistics, renewable energy, software, tourism, and water technology. Though direct causation is impossible to determine, it is noteworthy that the industry clusters targeted by RJI have generated 76 percent (excluding government jobs) of all non-farm jobs growth since 2003.