In an effort to bolster San Diego’s position as an important center for technology and life sciences, local business organization Connect has unveiled a new quarterly index that will track and monitor the creation of new technology companies within the county.
“(The index) allows us to measure how well we are doing in fostering the entrepreneurial climate in San Diego,” said Steve Francis, entrepreneur and founder of the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, which will compile and monitor the data for Connect. “It can help us pinpoint areas of concern and to focus our attention on what can be done to help small companies thrive and grow into big ones.”
At a gathering held at Tuesday at Connect’s offices in La Jolla, CEO Duane Roth said he developed the idea for the index after growing frustrated at not being able to provide data on the number of new technology companies that have sprung up in the San Diego area in recent years.
“That was something that we really had to solve,” said Roth.“We can’t just throw things out and not have data to back it up.”
The index, called Connect-dex, will focus on companies within traditional technology boundaries such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical and electronics companies, but will also include companies not often associated with technology, such as recreational goods maker Carlsbad-based Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) and other environmental technology companies.
In the development of the index, Connect collaborated with the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, whose economist, Kelly Cunningham, will be in charge of compiling data for the index. Roth also managed to persuade his brother, Ted Roth of Roth Capital Partners, to provide funding for the research.
The data will be supplied by Info USA and Dunn & Bradstreet, which track the creation of companies through information such as new business filings, and will be posted on Connect’s Web site on a quarterly basis.
Connect’s Duane Roth said his vision is for the index to become widely cited by city and county officials when referring to the development of the regional economy.
In the initial year of the index, 45 percent of technology startup companies were involved in the communications sector. Software and computer service companies accounted for the second-largest portion at approximately 30 percent, followed by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with 14.5 percent.
The next Connect-dex will be released either April 9 or April 16, according to Lisa West, Connect marketing manager.
