Long Beach
Innovation Team

The City of Long Beach’s Innovation Team (i-team) is hosting the Second Annual Civic Innovation Summit in celebration of Long Beach Innovation Month (InnovateLB). The Summit will take place on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Molina Center located at 200 Oceangate, 200 Tower, 15th Floor, Long Beach CA, 90802. The event will bring together government employees, City officials, university faculty and students, entrepreneurs, and community members to recognize the outstanding efforts around the use of open data, local government support, and facilitated design processes.

“We are excited to celebrate Innovation Month all throughout November,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “The Civic Innovation Summit will be the pinnacle of many events that are organized to show the breadth and depth of innovative and creative efforts throughout the City.”

The Civic Innovation Summit will start with a TedTalk-style keynote from Dan Hart, President of Virgin Orbit, followed by an expert panel of thought leaders across different sectors who will share their stories and experiences on inspiring a culture of innovation in their respective fields. The panelists include:

• Angie Jean-Marie, Interim Director, LA2050.
• Teresa Chandler, Human Services Bureau Manager, City of Long Beach.
• John Keisler, Economic Development Director, City of Long Beach.
• Niki Okuk, Founder, Rco Tires.
• Susana Sngiem, Executive Director, United Cambodian Community.

“We are eager to continue fostering innovation in the City that can improve the lives of residents,” said Tracy Colunga, Director of the Long Beach i-team. “Our goal is to expand minds and circulate the idea of limitless possibilities in Long Beach.”

Additionally, Heather Barker, Long Beach State University’s Associate Professor of Design, will lead a user-centered design, hands-on workshop.

The Summit will conclude with the Civic Innovation Awards ceremony, presented to various City Departments and employees that have demonstrated their ability to implement creative solutions to some of the City’s challenges.The five award categories are: City Manager’s Award, Innovative Partnerships Award, Livability Award, Administration Award, and Social Innovation Award.

Long Beach Innovation Month runs parallel with InnovateLA, a two-week countywide celebration. InnovateLA is an expression of potential in Los Angeles, a place where innovation goes beyond science and technology. The celebration will run from November 2 to November 19. For more information on countywide efforts and events visit: www.innovate.la

“The goal is to catalyze, evangelize, and to cross-pollinate the various assets we have across Los Angeles County,” said Chris Rico, Director of Innovation for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “We want the world to know that the Los Angeles metro region is the place where you can come to innovate anything.

To learn more about the Civic Innovation Summit and to RSVP, visit: innovatelb.com/summit

About Long Beach Innovation Month

Long Beach Innovation Month, otherwise known as InnovateLB, will feature more than a dozen events showcasing Long Beach-specific contributions to the innovative, diverse, and creative fabric of the region. For a full list of Long Beach events with dates and locations visit www.longbeach.gov/iteam.

About Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team)

Now working in more than 20 cities across four countries, the Innovation Teams Program helps cities solve problems in new ways to deliver better results for residents. Bloomberg Philanthropies awards cities multi-year grants to create in-house innovation teams, or “i-teams,” which offer cities a different set of tools and techniques to innovate more effectively and tackle critical challenges—from reducing violent crime to revitalizing neighborhoods to strengthening the growth of small businesses.

Launched in 2015 by Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach’s i-team works closely and supportively with their colleagues across city government. The i-team is currently working on its Public Safety priorityfollowing its work on  Economic Development, which produced initiatives like BizPort, an online business portal providing resources for entrepreneurs. The i-team’s work on the Economic Development Blueprint continues to drive investment by the City strengthening Long Beach’s economy.

For more information on the City of Long Beach Innovation Team, please visit www.longbeach.gov/iteam or follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @iteam_LongBeach