Transcripts For SFGTV2 20120521 : vimarsana.com

that have been educated, interdisciplinary people coming to the table, different perspectives, that energy and enthusiasm around thinking differently, and around paradigm shifts, around developing breakthrough technologies, and to be able to attract those people to this area is crucial. i think that that is something that has been a benefit of being here, that a lot of people are attracted to silicon valley. that is crucial to any company starting in taking their technology to the next level. can you talk about the incubator? yes. the qb3? yes, mission bay, everybody knows. uc san francisco has conduct encourage it with research. some of the larger companies that research labs in mission bay as well. bayer and others. they are even innovating about their laboratories, because it is so expensive to build your own laboratory. so they are trying to bring some of these pharmaceutical answers to the market faster. they have an incredible spirit of innovation in those laboratories. and they are inviting other companies, not just from the bay area air even our country, they re inviting international. we had our first canadian incubator that was established just a couple months ago. they are excited to be kind of cross-referencing their research and ideas. why are they coming here? they are coming here because there is really ongoing levels of conversation and sharing of experiences that are part of, kind of, thinking outside of the box and thinking in different ways, turning things upside down, hacking your way through some of these ideas and not being afraid. and trying to find applicability for them. that is the spirit of the valley, the spirit of san francisco. we have always been edgy when it comes to openness. we re taking advantage of that. we want to embrace different cultures to impact that as well. what people see here might be different from how they see it in india and some of the other countries that are emerging here, trying to apply it in ways which would have a great benefit, or just thinking very differently about it. i think the spirit of innovation is an attractive thing for talent. obviously, education is behind it as well. there s a lot of confidence about being able to risk in being a little more risk-taking. that is part of, kind of, my leadership. i did not apply to be the mayor of san francisco. i took that risk with a very good knowledge that sure, i may not be a supreme politician, but i wanted to build a different relationships with people. we have done that. we have invited a lot more different kinds of talent to come in and use that free spirit in innovating. michael, last word. yes, knowledge gets created with the people who think about the problems. and what must be sustained here is that focus on getting feet into the problem. with understanding the problems comes the ideas. this is an idea-generating place. like no other. i spent three years living in beijing, and i watched what they are trying to do over there. fundamentally different. here, it is inherently and opened, bottom-up idea meritocracy. it is a good way for this place to be. i want to follow up on that. because there are so many other places in the world that want to replicate what we have here. is that possible? what is the appropriate answer? anything is possible. i think there is a bunch of things that come together here. education is a big part of it. as much as we have talked about the challenges we have in educating our youth, it is still the case that education here is as much about the journey as about the end result. my personal belief is that as long as we keep that focus on the inquiry as opposed to the yes/no result, we will do fine. when you look at other parts in the world, my view is you can gauge how innovative a populace you re going to generate by the way they educate their people. you know, i would say that he has a great point there. i think it in fights collaborative approaches to problem-solving as well it invites a calendar to the approaches to problem-solving. we are having a great conversation in san francisco about this shared economy, a collaborative thing. it began to me by car-sharing. i was a big fan of car-sharing and the electric vehicles to see if we could get less emissions. now we re looking at companies, including smaller innovative companies, looking at shared space and how to complement our environmental goals here with new economies that are merging out. i think that is challenging the way our tax structure has been and the way we look at certain industries, but inviting a collaborative spirit of new ideas that would create literally new jobs and new economies. it is exciting. when you allow collaborative approaches to be focused on. i promised the last word on the panel. great. the one thing i will add to that is that, speaking to michael s point earlier, one thing you have here, a lot of people who have done it, that started companies. they succeeded, failed, succeeded. they had invested. they have done all of the things that we at start-ups are trying to do and are navigating through. having both those that are being educated coming up with the bright ideas and the desire to start something new in those who have done it, it creates a great a the system. now a round of applause for our panel. [applause] panelists, what an outstanding discussion on regional innovation. james, as always, it is a delight to partner with you. lisa said one thing we have here is a lot of people who have done it. michael said ibm s first product was a cheese slicer. we do not make those anymore. we keep in a bidding. and mayor lee, start-ups at long-term views. they re not looking for instant gratification. the key is long-term innovation with networking. it makes this region unique, doesn t it? i hope you enjoyed this panel as much as i did. i want to shine the spotlight just another moment on lisa dyson. you heard a little bit about her background. i hope you will bing or google her, whatever your preferences, and learn more about our company. the silicon valley leadership group did a soft launch in january of something we call start-up silicon valley. it is for innovation economy, ceo s in this region to join at the leadership group basically for free. because we want to capture in the them to the dna that david packard, our founder had, which was a balance of running, brilliance, dynamic companies while, at the same time, being deeply engaged in your communities and in the quality of life of your employees. that is the scale that we want to raise up in these incredibly innovative young entrepreneurs. we have about 20 of them here in the audience today. i want to just mention three of them and embarrass them. they do not know i am going to do this. all of these at this in common. they have less than 40 employees currently. their business has been around for less than four years. and, like me, they are younger than 40 years old. [laughter] why are you laughing? [laughter] let me introduce the ceo of snoozie. stand. [applause] the ceo of good joe. [applause] and the ceo of sylvantex. [applause] a lot of these start-ups doing incredible innovation. some will succeed. others will not. these people, however, will succeed no matter what they do. and that is why we re so excited about this new initiative. we want you to mentor and get to know and meet them. with that, we re going to go ahead and thank this panel a final time with again, we do not whine in silicon valley, but we do enjoy fine wine w-i-n- e. we have a wonderful pinot noir for each of our three panelists. thank you. [applause] let me thank the marine corps division band and the color guard for joining us and making this such a very special occasion. let me welcome each and every one of you on behalf of the war memorial opera house board, last that i come for dissipate, and they extend an invitation to each one of you to for this update because this retired member of the united states marine corps, a veteran and his wonderful wife, george n. charles schulz george and charlotte shultz. this afternoon, we are doing something that, frankly, should have been done a long time ago. in this city, when the concept of a memorial for veterans what spurs done, they said it would be right here. of course, we have finally, after many, many tries, got this right. in 1936, the construction produced it, and then there was six or seven additional times from the original time, and it does not to work, but finally, about two or three years ago, we got it right. the board of trustees decided in their wisdom to say thank-you to two incredible san franciscans in making the horseshoe circle named in their honor. all of you have come for this occasion. the man who presides over this city, for purposes of everything, is, of course, the mayor. directly across the street is where he journeys from on this occasion. ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you, the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, would just celebrated his 60th birthday, mayor ed lee. mayor lee: thank you, and they are brown, and thank you, everybody, for coming. thank you, mayor brown, and thank you, everybody, for coming. the years that followed the san francisco earthquake were filled with grandiose plans to rebuild our city. perhaps the best realize is the san francisco memorial war memorial and performing arts center. the ground was broken to build the war memorial in honor of san franciscans who had served during world war i. in addition to honoring those veterans, the memorial gave a permanent residence to the opera, the symphony, and eventually, the ballet. the war memorial and performing arts center has great historic significance, including housing, the signing ceremony of our united nations charter in 1945. today, we are making history erosity and support of mr. and mrs. stephen bechtel. with a grant of $1.5 million [applause] from there foundation and in honoring charlotte and george shultz, we are that much closer to fulfilling the original vision of the war memorial complex, which was to include a moral right in his courtyard. as a small token of our city s appreciation, i am pleased to present to you a certificate of honor. i know it is not worth $1.5 million, but maybe the personality of me added with willie brown comes close. if i may present to you, on behalf of the city, our great certificate of honor and a gracious personal thanks for your contribution. [applause] it is very kind of you. thank you. mayor lee: the bechtels generously gave their contribution, and together with that gift, it is only appropriate that the war memorial trustees also decided to recognize charlotte and george by renaming this carriage drive in their honor. charlotte and george, for your dedication to both veterans and the arts, embody the war memorial s founding purpose as a cultural center and a lasting dedication to the men and women of san francisco who served our country. it is my pleasure to join the bechtels and the war memorial today by declaring today, may 10, 2012, charlotte and george shultz day in san francisco. [applause] but you cannot park that carriage freely in our city. [laughter] [applause] mayor lee, thank you, very, very much. it was just slide of two years ago i should say just north of two years ago, from the board on which charlotte served and the great inspiration was from a real veteran, a man who carries the title of general. he announced the arrival of the carriage just earlier, but more importantly, he cobbled together a real idea that the veterans beautiful memorial must be complete and must be done. mayor lee, not only did the bechtels generously give of their own to this effort, but they did what we politicians love to do, and that is scilicet it from our friends, additional help. this project received the benefit of that great mailing list. i wish i could get my hands on it because it produced almost as much as they had given, completed the payment, and made the good general very, very happy as well as his board. ladies and gentlemen, words from steven that bill bechtel. [applause] thank you. we still call you meier, don t we? you can, if he does not mind. we still call you mayor. thank you, mayor willie brown. it is an honor to be with you on this occasion. it is very appropriate to name a facility after george and charlotte. san francisco is home for many important people, but none made as great a contribution to our country as george shultz. charlotte has given great service to our city and our state. i believe all year extend a great thanks to them for their great services to our country, to california, and to san francisco. i would like to complement our city for recognizing at them in this manner i would like to compliment our city for recognizing the - manner. thank you very much. [applause] that of mayor mayor lee, the time has come. join me and proceed to do the dedication of horseshoe drive, which has been dedicated by the opera house board in honor of george and charlotte schulz. mayor lee: it is my pleasure joining all of you to announce this dedication on behalf of our city, on behalf of the war memorial, dedicating this carriageway to be charlotte and george shultz way of san francisco. [applause] horseshoe drive. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, secretary george shultz and chief of protocol, charlotte schulz, the honorees. [applause] thank you, distinguished guests, my fellow board members. nancy and i would call this a wow day, and it is a wonderful day. i was sitting here thinking that from my home town, mineola, texas, for willie, and board of texas, for me, i do not know whether they would have named a street for us there or not, but there would have been a problem because in both of those towns, there is only one street, and it has already been named main street. it is breathtaking to think that a street here is named for george and myself. coming in on the carriage, i rather like that. the surprise is i guess that they are giving us the carriage and horses? i cannot wait to arrive at the opera. mayor, do you think we should get some permits for the horse and carriage on russian hill? i don t know. seriously, everybody knows that has ever talk to me more than a few minutes that i am passionate about these buildings. i have had the opportunity of being involved with the bond issues for the symphony hall, the restoration of the opera house, and, of course, the city hall, may gift helping mayer brown with that a bit helping mayor brown. it was said that the only thing that was not done when these buildings were built is the memorial for veterans because we ran out of money. have you all heard about that before? what happened is that writing in not on a carriage but on a charger was mike and wilkes little group because they came in leading the charge to raise the money for this memorial, so they are certainly to be commended. and then to go out and get their army of people for money and, most particularly [no audio] and by the way, happy birthday, steve. it is his birthday today. [applause] it is a great honor to know that that memorial that will be here and this horseshoe drive will put its arms around a wonderful memorial for veterans who i know that we respect so much and admire so much, and this is a long-awaited, and we are so happy to be part of it. so, may i present my veterans, my marine, my secretary, george shultz. [applause] i want to second of all of the banks that charlotte has talked about. the thanks that charlotte has talked about. most importantly, my great friend, steve. we have been pals for a long, long time, and i cannot tell you anybody i respect more and look to as a genuine friend. . [applause] i m wearing a tie that ronald reagan gave me back in the primary days in 1979-1980, and it has a nonpartisan cinnamon on it. it says, democracy is not a spectator sport. it has a non partisan sentiment on it. so get in. i have always felt that public service is a great privilege and a great opportunity, but no one serves more than the veterans served in the armed forces. particularly veterans who served in combat. so i think it is so necessary and so inappropriate to finally have this special memorial here in this place. in northern california area, there are more veterans than in 48 of the 50 states. so this is hallowed ground for veterans, right around here, and i think that adds to the appropriateness of this place. but look at the setting. city hall. symbolizes the idea of government by free people. government representing, giving us governance on the basis of that representation. that is the idea we go out and fight for. and the veterans building there. and then in this setting where if you listen closely, you can hear the wonderful, soaring music of the symphony. you can hear the arias and the opera and the grace and beauty of our ballet. in this wonderful performing arts, it gives us the soul of the treaty to the veterans, and it says that we respect you. we love you, and we thank you, so as a veteran myself, particularly if you have been in combat, you know how close you are, i want to say on my own behalf, thank you. [applause] there are two or three people that we need to identify, george and charlotte, because they are here as part of the honor group, but they hold title. sheriff hennesey, just appointed by the mayor to run the department, she is here, first female sheriff of our city. greg sur, the police chief. as supervisor eric mar, who comes from the second super of the soil district no, first supervisial supervisorial district. i want to thank each and every one of you on behalf of the board of trustees of the war memorial opera house board, and, of course, on behalf of the mayor of the city. all of you taking part in the ceremony, it is really important to say job well done to two very important people. now, we invite you to join charlotte and george in the lobby of the opera house. we will continue the drinking that started at 4:30 this afternoon. [laughter] the reception is inside. please join us in the opera house for a reception honoring and celebrating this momentous occasion. thank you very much for coming. [applause]