Board hears from Enloe CEO Mike Wiltermood, Partners with Chamber of Commerce and GROW California on "Innovation Scorecard"

Enloe CEO Mike Wiltermood

The tremendous improvements in operations and aesthetics from the Century Project to the facility are vital to Enloe's ongoing recruitment drive. Some features will include doubling the available space on the Esplanade campus, significantly enhancing single occupancy room capacity, and becoming far more energy efficient. There have been some labor issues and traffic may increase in areas by the campus, but Enloe has been very successful in labor relations and this process should continue peacefully. To deal with shifting finances as a result of state budgetary concern, the economic climate, and recently enacted health care reform, Enloe must debate whether or not to expand its geographic sphere to contract with large insurance companies. Enloe recently announced an alliance with UCSF Cancer Center. This partnership allows Enloe's Cancer Center access to clinical trials on an unprecedented scale, with the full-backing and organizational structure of a major medical research institution. Virtual board consultations, enhanced quality control, and case expediting resulting from the alliance places Enloe at the leading edge of healthcare in the North State.

 

 

Jon Gregory and Bob Linscheid presented a program being developed by GROW California, the Innovation Scorecard. The Scorecard will rate a community's readiness and ability to help innovators on the "Innovation Path" resulting in a positive economic outcome, generating wealth and jobs along the way. This is essentially a contemporary-twist on CEPCO's tradition of studying Chico's economic climate and needs for improvement in order to further its economic development. GROW California, as represented by Linscheid and Gregory, is seeking a cooperative partnership with CEPCO, and the Chamber of Commerce, to develop this Scorecard, making Chico the first community to have one in what will be a state-wide effort. Rick Hubbard described the program as seeking to identify the "sparks of innovation in Chico" and then gauge Chico's ability to accommodate their company needs. A motion of support for the adoption of the Innovation Scorecard process was moved by Jill Ortega and seconded by Katy Thoma, passing unopposed.

 

The board reaffirmed its position of support for the West Park Ave. Extension's inclusion in the City of Chico's General Plan.  The project was removed by the Planning Commission and is up for debate before the City Council to reinstate it in the plan on April 5th.

Steve Gonsalves Chairman of the Board, CEPCO

Message from the Chairman

April 4, 2011 

 

In the not-to-distant past, an ominous event in America's economic history occurred. The event I am referring to is for the first time there were more people employed by government than in manufacturing. The decline in manufacturing in this country is well publicized and attributable to a number of factors primarily the much lower labor cost abroad. If I were to sum up how to reverse this trend in one word it would be 'Innovation." Innovation is something we Americans are very good at and we need to capitalize on our ingenuity if we are to sustain the standard of living to which we have become accustomed.

 

This past week I had a chance to see real innovation taking place in Livermore, California. The innovation I saw took two forms; one technological the other sociological. The technological innovation is taking place at Lawrence Livermore Nation Laboratory's (LLNL) National Ignition Facility, or NIF. Scientists at LLNL are using the most powerful laser array in the world to concentrate beams of light on a small target of hydrogen atoms. The laser light applies enormous pressure to the targeted hydrogen atoms and under this extreme pressure and temperature the nucleus of these atoms compress generating a fusion reaction. Fusion is the process going on in our sun and in countless other stars throughout the universe. LLNL is literally bringing star power to earth and within the next twenty years they expect to have a working prototype fusion reactor. To quantify the tremendous energy which can be produced through fusion the potential energy obtained from two five-gallon containers of water is equivalent to a supertanker full of oil. Think of the possibility of running the world on water using a process that does not generate spent fuel that emits harmful radiation has to be contained for millions of years.

 

The sociological innovation taking place in Livermore, although not as visually impressive as the NIF, may be more difficult than creating a controlled fusion reaction. The innovation I am speaking of is the collaboration of 30 organizations and agencies to create the Livermore i-Gate iHub. The i-Gate iHub is a transportation knowledge cluster and technology business incubator working on vehicle engine efficiency, electric vehicles and battery technology, clean energy generation and energy efficiency technologies. The main collaborators are the City of Livermore, Sandia National Laboratory, LLNL and the cities of Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Fremont, Tracey, West Sacramento and Danville as well as a host of workforce development and economic development organizations. The i-Gate cluster has real momentum and expects to create 5,000 clean energy and green technology jobs with an economic impact to the region in excess of $1 billion over the next five years.

 

If our local private sector, government and education community can align and coordinate our efforts and focus our collective energies, like a fusion reaction, the results will be greater than the input.