Minutes from the general meeting held on March 2nd 2023
DVTI Meeting
March 2, 2023
Present: Lisa Adamos, Colleen Awad, Ryan Buckley, Jeanette Green, Alyson Greenlee, Alex Greenwood, Joellen Heaney,
Tad Heydenfeldt, Derek Knapp, John Matthesen, Paul Nguyen, Ricardo Noguera, Melissa Rea, Marie Suvansin
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John opened the meeting at 3:03 pm.
Approval of February Minutes: Motion: Ryan; 2 nd : Alex; Unanimous
Public Comments:Approval of Prior Minutes: Motion: Alex; 2 nd : Ed; Unanimous
o Upcoming conference on the Inflation Reduction Act: May 18 th in the Diablo Room at DVC. We will discuss
how the county and local governments can best work together to maximize the funds we receive from this
legislation. Ryan will update the website with information.
o DVTI Conference 2023: Should be first on next month’s agenda. Need to form a subcommittee to plan the
venue, agenda, speakers, marketing
Biosciences Industry - Opportunities to Expand the East Bay’s Life Science Cluster (Alex & Paul):
o Working in close collaboration with city and county economic development to craft a strategy for the central
Contra Costa region and develop policies to support these efforts.
o Biotechnology continues to be an economic juggernaut in 2023:
o $403 billion economic output
o 60,665 jobs in the Bay Area
o 2.7 employment multiplier
o #1 in NIH funding ($5 billion)
o #1 in R&D expenditures ($6.7 billion)
o #1 in life science patents ($1,678)
o #1 in life science venture capital
o $31.2 billion in life science IPO
Key Industry Drivers:
o Demographics
o Pandemics: Outbreaks may become somewhat of a norm, driving federal involvement.
o DNA Sequencing Technology
o Federal Regulator Policy
o “Patent Cliff”
o Synergy with Silicon Valley
o Investment Dynamics
o Supply Chain and IP Concerns
o Regional workforce & culture of innovation
Biotech Market Segments:
o Medical Devices
o Diagnostics
o Digital Health
o Therapeutics: Pharmaceuticals and Biologics (Neurology, Immuno-oncology, Rare Diseases, Gene
Therapy & Personal Medicine)
Pharmaceuticals vs. Biologics: Different delivery mechanisms, lab facilities, QA/QC, regulatorynenvironments, work cultures, etc.
o Pharmaceuticals: Solve medical problems using small molecules (aspirin); chemistry based. Many
patents have expired making it easy to manufacture generics which has driven prices and profits down.
A lot of pharmaceutical companies have come into the Bay Area market to partner with local biotech
firms creating great business opportunities for the East Bay.
o Biologics: Very large, complex, biologically produced molecules; injected into the bloodstream to go
directly to pain, tumor or disease; precise in attacking issues; hard to duplicate. The future is biologics.
The largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have opened regional research facilities in the Bay Area.
o Implications for Real Estate: Office developers see that the Bay Area market is in free fall. There won’t
be new office development until all office space is filled, so many East Bay developers are retrofitting
office space to capture biotech industries.
o Real Estate & Financing Trends to Watch:
o Large scale, European-influenced Design and Construction
o Narrower floorplates
o Natural Light
o Sustainable materials and design
o Suburban – Urban
o Amenities: food, health, fitness, childcare, convenience retail, etc.
o Corporate signage
o Integration with transit
o Financing Trends:
o Patents vs. Platforms
o VC & Angel Activity
o Industry Partnerships
o Undisciplined Investment
o Development Partnerships:
o Big Pharma
o Silicon Valley Tech Community
o Asian & European Conglomerates
o Collaboration between tech and life science firms is unique to the bay area. The
importance of start up space/pilot production facilities is relevant to Contra Costa
county.
o Re-imagine Diablo Valley’s Market Position to Exploit Post-COVID Dynamics:
o New competitive environment
o Dispersed work models
o Supply chain concerns
o Potential Opportunities:
o CMOs, CDMOs & pilot manufacturing
o Medical Devices
o Digital Health & Bioinformatics
o Service Providers
o R&D?
o Cluster Development:
o What industry sub-sectors are missing?
o Assess and modify zoning, city services, online info to synch with industry needs
o Assess opportunity sites to meet industry site requirements
o Assess current and planned infrastructure
o How can existing industries assist you?
o Support for emerging ventures
o Conclusion: The Diablo Valley has exciting opportunities to exploit post-COVID dynamics, improve its
market position and build its life science cluster.
o Discussion:
o Jeannette: Do we currently have the employee expertise to fill positions for the build outs? Do we have curriculum needed for these jobs?
o Alex: We have scientists and PhD’s, but many are in the east bay and commute to the
peninsula. We may fall short at lower level jobs (lab technicians, etc.). We need to engage with
industry about the specific job skills needed and have strategic discussions with state and community colleges to design curriculum with life sciences in mind.
o Paul: We to convince companies that we have the spectrum of talent. The missing piece is
modern real estate. We want to offer nice amenities to employees, like the Google experience.
o Ricardo: Developers tell me that pharmaceutical companies want to be near the talent. We have a lot of real estate opportunities from Concord to Brentwood to attract life sciences companies. How can we work together to incentivize the groups who are squeezed to look east?
o John: That is DVTI’s mission statement.
o Paul: Hayward is marketed as “the next South San Francisco.” We framed a marketing
campaign to leverage existing businesses. We can accommodate Phase 1 and Phase 2
companies. We are the next hot spot for life sciences.
o Alex: You need to plant your flag. Shout out to Lisa Adamos on the amazing success of Pleasanton. We hope to emulate you. The key to success is being business friendly – ensuring there is enough appropriately zoned land and a deep bench of management talent to attract these companies. Being outside of a ten-mile radius makes it hard. There is a role for government to convince companies to move east, as commuting also affects green gases.
o Lisa: We still have work to do on zoning and need to discuss industrial square footage. We have a lot of Class A office space but need Class B spaces to meet the R&D and manufacturing needs of the life science companies that are coming in. We want to learn from other communities.
o Marie: The panel at our Life Science open house cited the need for venture capital firms to grow businesses.
o Alex: Getting venture capital firms to move out here will take time and a sustained strategy. We need to be realistic.
Adjourned: 4:13 pm.
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