In 1992, Beaver Theodosakis and his wife, Pam, founded activewear manufacturer prAna in their Carlsbad garage. Before long they needed more space for their growing company, so they moved to a building in Vista.
Their drive and dedication paid dividends as the company grew to 120 employees, requiring them to find larger quarters. Fortunately for the region, the company stayed in North County and three years ago moved back to Carlsbad, selecting a new 74,000-square-foot building on Lionshead Avenue.
prAna is one of dozens of companies along the state Route 78 corridor that were founded here, grew up here and established national and even international reputations. The 78 corridor has been a well-kept secret, and recently the five cities that thrive along the corridor, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido, began to collaborate on several fronts. Last month they launched
Innovate78, a branding and economic development initiative designed to share our entrepreneurial success stories with the world.
We call it Innovate78 in honor of the many companies that have put an indelible stamp on our region. Our website, www.Innovate78.com, tells what it's like to live, work and operate a business on the 78 corridor and serves as a tool to attract talent, businesses and investment.
As Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall put it, "North County is not only a great place to live, but also a great place to build a company and work. Through this collaboration, Innovate78 is about showing the rest of the world what North County is all about."
Innovate78.com includes testimonials from companies, resources for building a business, a job portal, content about educational institutions and opportunities, and information about living and getting around on the 78 corridor. It also highlights prominent industries, such as life sciences, specialty food and beverages, including local craft breweries, and high-tech manufacturing.
We've also created a social media presence in which cities share information about companies, and not just companies in the city where they're located.
Close collaboration among the five cities began last March, when the cities signed an agreement saying they would cooperate on efforts to retain and attract businesses and not work against each other. Each city wants to keep the businesses it has, but we've agreed that if one of us does not have the space a business needs, we'll work together to keep it in the 78 corridor. In addition, we signed a contract with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. to implement the effort and bring recognition to the brand and the region for economic prosperity.
And it's working. Not long ago Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an economic mainstay in Escondido for many years, announced that it needed new and larger quarters, but it couldn't find a suitable building in its home city. Working together five cities found a 130,000-square foot facility in Vista to keep the company and its employees along the 78 Corridor.
"We have always been a collaborative city, but working with Escondido on the Dr. Bronner's expansion showed us the true benefit of this partnership," said Vista Mayor Judy Ritter. "Employees of Dr. Bronner's contribute to the economy of all five North County cities. Because of the Innovate78 initiative, we will see more collaboration like this in our future."
There have been other examples of collaboration. Recently the City of Carlsbad and MiraCosta College joined to locate a new Technology Career Institute in a city-owned building. The city is providing the 22,627-square-foot building at below market rent to help MiraCosta train workers in the skills needed to fill the growing demand for industrial technicians.
In December the five cities staged a roundtable with leaders from the diagnostics industry, which is expanding along the 78 corridor. Based on that conversation, UC San Diego Extension, a major driver of industry talent, adapted its model for training clinical laboratory scientists to better meet the needs of the diagnostics industry in our region.
We encourage area businesses to take advantage of Innovate78 by linking to the website and sharing their success stories with the world, to help promote North County and attract new talent to our vibrant region.
Their drive and dedication paid dividends as the company grew to 120 employees, requiring them to find larger quarters. Fortunately for the region, the company stayed in North County and three years ago moved back to Carlsbad, selecting a new 74,000-square-foot building on Lionshead Avenue.
prAna is one of dozens of companies along the state Route 78 corridor that were founded here, grew up here and established national and even international reputations. The 78 corridor has been a well-kept secret, and recently the five cities that thrive along the corridor, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido, began to collaborate on several fronts. Last month they launched
Innovate78, a branding and economic development initiative designed to share our entrepreneurial success stories with the world.
We call it Innovate78 in honor of the many companies that have put an indelible stamp on our region. Our website, www.Innovate78.com, tells what it's like to live, work and operate a business on the 78 corridor and serves as a tool to attract talent, businesses and investment.
As Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall put it, "North County is not only a great place to live, but also a great place to build a company and work. Through this collaboration, Innovate78 is about showing the rest of the world what North County is all about."
Innovate78.com includes testimonials from companies, resources for building a business, a job portal, content about educational institutions and opportunities, and information about living and getting around on the 78 corridor. It also highlights prominent industries, such as life sciences, specialty food and beverages, including local craft breweries, and high-tech manufacturing.
We've also created a social media presence in which cities share information about companies, and not just companies in the city where they're located.
Close collaboration among the five cities began last March, when the cities signed an agreement saying they would cooperate on efforts to retain and attract businesses and not work against each other. Each city wants to keep the businesses it has, but we've agreed that if one of us does not have the space a business needs, we'll work together to keep it in the 78 corridor. In addition, we signed a contract with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. to implement the effort and bring recognition to the brand and the region for economic prosperity.
And it's working. Not long ago Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an economic mainstay in Escondido for many years, announced that it needed new and larger quarters, but it couldn't find a suitable building in its home city. Working together five cities found a 130,000-square foot facility in Vista to keep the company and its employees along the 78 Corridor.
"We have always been a collaborative city, but working with Escondido on the Dr. Bronner's expansion showed us the true benefit of this partnership," said Vista Mayor Judy Ritter. "Employees of Dr. Bronner's contribute to the economy of all five North County cities. Because of the Innovate78 initiative, we will see more collaboration like this in our future."
There have been other examples of collaboration. Recently the City of Carlsbad and MiraCosta College joined to locate a new Technology Career Institute in a city-owned building. The city is providing the 22,627-square-foot building at below market rent to help MiraCosta train workers in the skills needed to fill the growing demand for industrial technicians.
In December the five cities staged a roundtable with leaders from the diagnostics industry, which is expanding along the 78 corridor. Based on that conversation, UC San Diego Extension, a major driver of industry talent, adapted its model for training clinical laboratory scientists to better meet the needs of the diagnostics industry in our region.
We encourage area businesses to take advantage of Innovate78 by linking to the website and sharing their success stories with the world, to help promote North County and attract new talent to our vibrant region.