On Thursday, January 29, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the Orange County Business Council (OCBC) hosted Members of Congress, academics, local policymakers, business leaders, and innovation experts for a discussion on the state of innovation in Orange County.
The in-person event, “Orange County Innovation Ecosystem: How Strong Patent Protections Enable Our County to Thrive,” was held at The Cove at UCI Beall Applied Innovation.
Panelists discussed the region’s innovation ecosystem — from the role of academia and industry in translating research into market-ready solutions, to the importance of reliable, pro-innovation policy frameworks, and the ways strong intellectual property (IP) protections drive high-tech investment and economic growth.
With strengths across life sciences, biotechnology, software, and clean energy, Orange County has emerged as one of the nation’s leading innovation hubs. That success is not accidental. Strong IP protections give innovators the confidence to take risks and provide investors with the certainty needed to back early-stage ideas. Statewide, research and development activity supported by IP rights helps sustain more than 700,000 high-paying jobs across California a year.
Learn more by reading our press release!
Photo Credit: Steve Zylius/UC Irvine
Special Guests and Panelists
- U.S. Representative Jay Obernolte (CA-23)
- U.S. Representative Lou Correa (CA-46)
- U.S. Representative Dave Min (CA-47)
- David Kappos, former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and co-Chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Andrei Iancu, former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and co-Chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Richard Leib, Chair Emeritus and Current Board Member of the University of California Board of Regents
- Errol Arkilic, Ph.D., Chief Innovation Officer of UC Irvine
- Jeff Ball, President and CEO of the Orange County Business Council
- Frank Cullen, Executive Director of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Sujai Shivakumar, Ph.D., Director and Senior Fellow of Renewing American Innovation at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
- Matthew Hanson, Ph.D., Director of New Ventures at UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation
- Matt Richards, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Experimental Systems Group at Boeing
- Rich Kim, Vice President of IP Strategy at Netlist
- Charla Triplett, Director of Venture Acceleration of University Lab Partners
- Khurram Mir, Managing Director of UCI Health Ventures
- David Kisailus, Ph.D., Professor, Materials Science and Engineering at UC Irvine