Economic summit puts regional development in crosshairs.

The Monterey Bay Economic Partnership held its second annual Regional Economic Summit on April 26, touting the area’s economic strengths while also acknowledging some challenges that lie ahead.

The event brought hundreds of leaders in both the public and private sector to the Hyatt Regency in Monterey for a day of discussion panels and networking.

“I’m very happy with this year’s summit,” says Bud Colligan Co-Chair of the MBEP. “More people came this year than last and there seems to be a lot more interest in what we’re doing.”

At the economic summit Colligan announced the launch of a new affordable housing initiative to address one of the biggest challenges facing workers in the region.

The day-long event featured a talk on the state of the economy and regional forecasting by acclaimed economist from UC Riverside’s School of Business Administration Chris Thornberg. Two of the major takeaways from his talk: the stock market doesn’t always reflect the real economy and Baby Boomers still dominate the political economic landscape and will for at least a decade more.

The MBEP also bestowed the first Public-Private Partnership Award to ag heavyweight Tanimura & Antle and to Monterey County for their collaboration on Spreckels Crossing, a project that will provide quality affordable housing to fieldworkers.

Other speakers included, Jen Grant of Santa Cruz-based tech firm, Looker, who gave a talk entitled “The Next Generation of Big Data” and Brian Kunz of First Solar who spoke on the “The Renewable Energy Economy.” Both gave regional insights into growing sectors in the larger economy.

The event ended with a discussion on the blue economy with Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Gary Griggs, professor of earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz—both were named “coastal heros” by the California Commission and Sunset magazine in 2009.

Being a leader in marine protection and education as well as hailing from the powerful Packard family, Griggs joked that Packard would like be on the short list of advisors on the ocean policy by someone who’s likely to be the next president.

Packard played along and said she’d have three point of advice for any president: let science and data dictate fisheries policy and not politics, expand protected area in state and federal waters and lead the world with our national efforts to mitigate climate change.