Connect Foundation

Life science luminary dinner, an annual dinner of key players in the san diego life science community, traditionally hosted at the home of a successful life science entrepreneur that made great strides in the life science community in the past year. The dinner brings in only the top innovators to build relationships, network, and celebrate the san diego life science community

Cool companiescool companies private event, an annual program where connect selects the top centure capital-ready technology and life science companies to be named a "cool company". All the companies' ceos meet investors in a private invite-only event with the intention of securing funding for their company;cool companies public event, an annual gathering for the san diego community to meet and learn about each cool company, as well as network, make relationships, and celebrate the new cool companies;vc road trip, during day 2 of the cool companies private event, venture capitalists from all around the country embark on an outing, typically sailing, and are given a tour of san diego. The purpose of the day learn about san diego and to grow relationships between out-of-town venture capitalists and the san diego innovation community.

Springboard, a business creation and development program in which business advisors providementorship to new technology companies who then present to a panel of industry veterans,investors and service providers;frameworks workshops, half-day, professional development programs structured to provide anoverview of business basics through 'fundamentals': a vocabulary, foundation and 'framework' inwhich business leadership can be built around, and 'advanced workshops': a focused anddetailed look at specialized and industry specific topics customized to fit the needs of a start-upcompany;connect innovation report, a regional quarterly index which tracks the health of the sandiego innovation economy by comparing data year to year and quarter to quarter, providing acomparison across tech industry clusters to selected regions and monitoring availability of varioustypes of capital. The data helps policymakers and trade organizations plan and advocateeffectively for innovation economy including availability of visas and workforce training for talent inhigh growth clusters, building an attractive environment for capital investment, allocation of grantfunding, reform of the patent system and zoning;springboard impact report, provides an overview of the companies that have gone through thespringboard accelerator program since 2005 to follow-up on their development and progress;venture summit, a two-day conference connecting san diego's companies to investors from allover the country. Day 1 focuses on san diego life-science and technology companies in multipletracks, pitching to investors from all over the country. The investors and key players from the sandiego innovation community participate in a networking event focused on building relationshipsand elevating the san diego ecosystem. Day 2 brings in up-and-coming venture capitalists fromall over the country to give educational talks;summer social, an annual gathering of san diego entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, ceos,and service providers getting together to network, make relationships, and celebrate theinnovation community of san diego. The program will resumed in fiscal year 2024;connect sbdc, a program that matches early-stage companies with generalist mentors toanswer questions ranging from ideas, business plans, marketing, and more;vc road trip, during day 2 of the cool companies private event, venture capitalists from allaround the country embark on an outing, typically sailing, and are given a tour of san diego. Thepurpose of the day is to learn about san diego and to grow relationships between out-of-townventure capitalists and the san diego innovation community.