Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology – In the News!
Posted on July 29, 2016 11:31 AM by WGCIT
The Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology [WGCIT] was featured in a wide variety of press throughout the month of July, as anticipation of the Forbes AgTech Summit grew. Coverage and recaps of the Forbes AgTech Summit highlight the WGCIT and Western Growers’ mission to create value to its membership through creating an innovation center where “agriculture meets technology.”
Western Growers and the WGCIT were featured in more than 20 stories including the following:
· KSBW8
· KION46
· NPR
“It was great to have so much excitement around the WGCIT during the Forbes AgTech Summit, but it was also terrific to have so many of our resident startups involved and working from the WGCIT throughout the event,” said WGCIT Consultant Lisa Dobbins.
WGCIT sponsors and local growers attending Forbes had the opportunity to meet members of the startups, and learn more about the technologies in the center. Several impromptu meetings took place throughout the WGCIT, the WGCIT private office, and the WGCIT Conference Room. The special VIP luncheon where WGCIT sponsors, resident companies, and Western Growers staff and board members, was a great opportunity for networking.
Coastal Grower Magazine published a feature on building the WGCIT in the Summer 2016 edition, titled “Western Growers: Building a Workspace That Inspires Collaboration.” In the article, Hank Giclas, Western Growers’ Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, Science & Technology, writes about the design of the WGCIT “hot desking” to allow for collaboration and idea generating between startups.
“Additionally, the Center communicates the most promising advancements to the industry and supports start-up companies as they develop and refine technologies to address industry priorities,” Said Giclas in the article. The Design-Build team and Peninsula Business Interiors transformed the 2,800 square foot space into a “free-thinking open-space plan that encourages cross-pollination, co-working, and symbiosis” between the startups. This article reached a very targeted audience of potential sponsors and AgTech supporters.
Coastal Grower Magazine is a local favorite publication in Monterey County and Salinas Valley, with its website coastalgrowermag.com asserting that “for more than 20 years, Coastal Grower has published articles concerning agriculture and its history, the families and farmers of California’s Central Coast, and the business, lifestyle, artistic, and philanthropic issues that matter most to those of us who live and work in the Salad Bowl of the World.”