2014 Newsletters

Mineta San Jose International Airport aviation director Kim Becker Aguirre, Team San Jose CEO Karolyn Kirchgesler and Accenture managing director Daniel Boxwell were elected to the Joint Venture Silicon Valley board of directors at its quarterly meeting March 21.

Aguirre, an 18-year airport veteran, took over the helm last September. Kirchgesler has 25 years of tourism industry experience, most recently in Saint Paul, MN, and Boxwell is a managing director Accenture’s Health and Public Service Practice.

Read the news release.

Joint Venture’s Climate Prosperity Initiative has won a 2014 Acterra Business Environmental Award. Climate Prosperity was singled out in the Large Project section under Environmental Project. In all, nine awards were presented in four categories: Sustainability, Environmental Innovation, Environmental Project and Sustainable Built Environment.

The Climate Prosperity Initiative was launched in 2009 to focus on four areas based on the California Global Warming Solutions Act and the opportunity to leverage local resources: renewable energy, building efficiency, clean and convenient transportation, and green infrastructure.

All the award recipients will be honored at the 2014 Acterra Business Environmental Awards Reception Wednesday, May 28 at Intuit Corporation in Mountain View.

See all the award recipients.

Joint Venture’s Wireless Communications Initiative will host a Broadband & Wireless Roundtable April 9 at the Cupertino Community Hall. Special guests Sunnyvale vice mayor Jim Davis and San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant will join the event.

A discussion on best practices for local jurisdictions to encourage deployment of broadband networks and updates on the status of FCC rulemaking are on the agenda. The session, from 9 a.m. to noon, is free but reservations are required.

Register here.

Our APRIL Spotlight

Katherine Van Diepen

Anritsu

In today’s high speed connected world, it’s easy for us here in Silicon Valley to think of wireless communication beginning as a 20th century technology developed by American telecom companies.

Not only is that wrong on both counts, it’s off by a century and two oceans.

“It’s not magic, it’s just radio,” says Katherine Van Diepen.

Read Katherine’s profile.

SEEDZ joins bid for EV charging station at Levi’s Stadium

Joint Venture’s SEEDZ project is part of a public-private group that recently submitted a grant proposal to the California Energy Commission for a large-scale Electric Vehicle Charging Center adjacent to the new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

SEEDZ joined the City of Santa Clara, EPRI, ChargePoint and MJR Electric in the proposal to fund the charging station in the new Tasman Parking Garage immediately adjacent to the new Levi’s Stadium, the Santa Clara Convention Center and the Great America theme park.

Collectively, these venues will attract more than 4.5 million visits a year, making it a high-value destination site for placement of EV charging infrastructure. The EV Charging Center will serve as a showplace element in a 21st century regional transit network, and as an example for creating similar destination-oriented EV Charging Centers around the state and beyond. A decision on the grant proposal is anticipated later this spring.

More on SEEDZ.

Article of the Month

“Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem”

New York Times

In this probing essay, computer science graduate student Yiren Lu explores the quantum shift in today’s tech industry, with a special focus on Silicon Valley,

“The rapid consumer-ification of tech, led by Facebook and Google, has created a deep rift between old and new, hardware and software, enterprise companies that sell to other businesses and consumer companies that sell directly to the masses,” she writes.

Read the article.

“Charged and Connected” EV symposium April 24

Joint Venture is an outreach partner of “Charged & Connected: Electric Vehicle & Connected Car Symposium,” presented by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and hosted by SAP Labs in Palo Alto April 24.

The conference will focus on policy and implementation for electric vehicles and related technologies. Attendees will learn about key concepts for consumers, employers (workplace charging), public and private fleet managers, policymakers and regulators, commercial and residential landlords and developers, building officials and public works directors, and EV manufacturers and service providers. The event is from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at SAP Labs in Palo Alto. Enter the promotion code “JV10” for a 10 percent discount.

Register here.

Save the Date: 5th Annual Energy Storage Symposium, May 21

Joint Venture will hold the 5th Annual Silicon Valley/SEEDZ Energy Storage Symposium Wednesday, May 21 at Microsoft's Campus in Mountain View. JB Straubel, CTO at Tesla Motors, is the scheduled keynote speaker.

More information and registration.

The San Jose mayor’s race and Google’s Civic Innovation program are the April topics on Joint Venture’s weekly public affairs radio program, “Inside Silicon Valley.”

Scheduled guests include San Jose city council members and mayoral candidates Pierluigi Oliverio (April 4 & 6), Sam Liccardo (April 11 & 13) and Rose Herrera (April 25 & 27). On April 18 & 20, guest host and Joint Venture board member Minnie Ingersoll and her Google Civic Innovation colleague Scott Schwaitzberg will discuss their efforts in Silicon Valley.

Joint Venture CEO Russell Hancock hosts the hour-long program, which airs every Friday at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday at noon on 1590 KLIV.

Learn more about the program.

Listen to our podcasts on iTunes.