By Michelle Garrett — December 20, 2014
Following the success of CONNECT Weekend in March, Innovate Pasadena hosted CONNECT Week in October bringing together over 25 collaborating organizations who independently organized seminars, workshops and social events at venues all across the city. Whether it was discovering design trends and emerging biotech to crowdfunding and 3d printing, CONNECT Week showcased the depth and diversity of the Innovate Pasadena Community attracting nearly 5,000 people to the weeks events.
Following the success of CONNECT Weekend in March, Innovate Pasadena hosted CONNECT Week in October bringing together over 25 collaborating organizations who independently organized seminars, workshops and social events at venues all across the city. Whether it was discovering design trends and emerging biotech to crowdfunding and 3d printing, CONNECT Week showcased the depth and diversity of the Innovate Pasadena Community attracting nearly 5,000 people to the weeks events. Highlights of the week included: “The Innovate Pasadena Job Fair sponsored by OpenX and Spokeo was a rousing success. The combination of tech talks by industry leaders, networking opportunities with exec level leadership, and outdoor games on the patio made this so much more than a career fair. We'd love to see where this event can go in the future and look forward to continued opportunities to bring together Pasadena tech companies in search of great talent." - Devin Entmacher, Lead Recruiter, Spokeo Picture Source: OpenX Twitter The inaugural TechCrawl and TechSparks/NELAUX Happy Hour Mixer was a huge success with 100+ attendees ranging from entrepreneurs, local startups and members of the regional tech community. The night kicked off with an open house including tours and product demonstrations at 4 Pasadena based companies; Idealab, Supplyframe, Wallaby Financial, and Funktronic Labs. In addition to complimentary beer, wine and appetizers at each office, attendees got to see 3-D Printers in action, try out virtual reality game wearing Oculus Rift and get a sneak peek behind the veil and see the incredible spaces that foster innovative ideas. The CSI at PBC attracted nearly 50 attendees. Open to all ages, the event even served host to a budding scientist’s 10th birthday party; he and 8 of his closest friends absolutely loved learning the science and working in a lab! The TechCrawl attendees beamed with excitement as the evening transitioned to the TechSparks/NELAUX Happy Hour Mixer. The top floor of Barney’s Beanery was packed as people networked, made connections, shared great conversations, a beer, glass of wine and appetizers together. The Healthcare Innovation Mini Unconference assimilated 100+ ideas to 5 different themes from user experience design, business models, payment models, big data and marketing. Event participants clamored to organize a similar event in the future whether for a day or weekend and hoped that seeds were planted to generate some big new ideas for better healthcare in the future. The City of Pasadena and USC Open Data LA Project were proud collaborators in hosting an open discussion about open data. The event drew students, influencers and city officials from Pasadena, Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Participants discussed the role of technology and open data sets in increasing the transparency of government. Will data journalism help bridge the gap between the average citizen and city data portals? The USC Open Data LA Project will release a report based on feedback received at the Beyond Hackathon event. Learn more here. The Emerging Life Science Technology Symposium drew a capacity crowd of over 100 entrepreneurs, scientists, students and members of the community to the Pasadena Convention Center to learn about the exciting research happening in their city. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, California Senator Jack Scott and President of the Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative Bruce Blomstrom set the tone in their opening remarks by underscoring the unique value of Pasadena’s thriving life science and biotech community. Read more here.