Daily Business Report: Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Community college district to launch
workforce drone program
New certificate program to prep students for local, high-demand, high-pay jobs
Students will soon be able to attain a certificate in the high-demand and high-pay field of drone operations at the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.
The field is in great need of highly trained workers, and college and district leaders partnered with business professionals across the region to develop the free new program.
The free GCCCD program will include 105 hours of flight instruction and 75 hours of additional training in one of two tracks: cinematography or surveying and mapping. Students will be expected to pay for their pilot’s license exam with the Federal Aviation Administration (which costs $175) before moving on to one of the two tracks. Pass rates on the FAA exam for past students at Grossmont College have ranged from 86 percent to 91percent on the first try.
Under the drone operations program supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, 267 students received training. Of those, 90 percent were veterans – a priority group under the federal grant. All of the 267 former students have gone on to employment at companies such as Birds Eye Aerial Drones in Santee, Hitec Commercial Solutions in San Diego, Hollywood Drones in Palm Springs, and Planck Aerosystems in San Diego.
PHOTO: Skip Fredericks, drone instructor
BAE Systems’ M-Code GPS receiver unveiled
at Joint Navigation Conference in San Diego
At the Joint Navigation Conference in San Diego, BAE Systems unveiled its newest advanced M-Code GPS receiver for guided weapons and other small applications, enabling precise geolocation and strike capabilities in highly contested battlespaces.
The Strategic Anti-jam Beamforming Receiver – M-Code (SABR-M) delivers accurate position, velocity, altitude, and timing data, as well as strong protection against GPS signal jamming and spoofing – critical capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision-guided munitions (PGMs), and missiles in threat environments.
SABR-M integrates receiver technology with advanced antenna electronics in a small, hardened package designed to meet challenging performance requirements, such as weapons applications. It is the most capable integrated anti-jam GPS receiver and the first integrated M-Code receiver available for weapon systems.
Ordinance restricting sale of flavored
tobacco in San Diego signed by mayor
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has signed an ordinance by City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert to regulate the sale of flavored tobacco in the City of San Diego. Three states, 335 local governments, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, have adopted similar laws.
The ordinance, known as the Stop Adolescent Addiction to Flavored E-Cigarettes (SAAFE) Act, makes it unlawful for retailers within the City of San Diego to sell or distribute specified flavored tobacco products effective Jan. 1, 2023. This includes any tobacco product that emits a taste or smell other than that of tobacco – i.e., fruit, mint, candy, vanilla, dessert, alcoholic beverage, spice and menthol. The ordinance does not apply to the sale of shisha (as typically used in hookahs), premium cigars or loose-leaf tobacco.
A statewide measure to ban the sale of specified flavored tobacco products in California will go before the voters this November. Should the measure be unsuccessful, the city’s ordinance will still go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
Two gifts help establish San Diego’s first large-scale,
university-basee resource on homelessness
University of California San Diego is launching the region’s first large-scale, university-based research and data hub focused exclusively on homelessness, thanks to campus friends Phyllis and Dan Epstein and Hanna and Mark Gleiberman. Each couple has donated $1 million to the university to establish the Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego. The new program, in the university’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, will serve as a non-partisan hub for research, education, policy and action on homelessness.
Home Title Lock taps former FBI assistant
director as its senior cyber security adviser
James Finch, former assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, has joined San Diego-based Home Title Lock as its senior cyber security adviser.
Finch holds a master’s in Information Assurance and Cyber Security, a bachelor’s in Business Administration, and an associate in Applied Science in Cyber Security.
He began his career as a special agent with the FBI in 1984. His long list of highlights included a two-year deep undercover assignment posing as a high-level drug trafficker, serving five years as a member of the Indianapolis SWAT team, supervising the Houston Division’s first Cyber Squad, and serving as the Head of the FBI’s Cyber Division at FBI headquarters.
He retired from the FBI in 2015.
Southwestern College to visit Mexican
university to certify academic partnership
Southwestern College will send a delegation to visit Universidad Autónoma de Baja California’s (UABC) Tijuana campus on Thursday to sign a historic memorandum of understanding that will certify the collaboration and academic partnership between the two institutions of higher education.
The signing will take place at UABC’s Tijuana campus at 3:30 p.m. It will be the first time a large delegation from Southwestern College visits UABC and will include top administrators and staff.
The memorandum will certify a partnership between both institutions that will create academic opportunities and cooperation for the region’s students, study abroad programs, diversity and equity efforts, and contribute to the academic, cultural, social and workforce development of San Diego-Tijuana region. The program will also create a small cohort of UABC low-income students and allow them to attend Southwestern College paying in-state tuition rates.
Fieldstone Leadership Network San Diego
launches Nonprofit Board Exchange
Fieldstone Leadership Network San Diego, a leader in nonprofit leadership development, announces the launch of the Nonprofit Board Exchange, a community resource which seeks to support nonprofits in recruiting diverse nonprofit governing boards. The Nonprofit Board Exchange is a free, public, online platform that publicizes openings on local nonprofit boards and is available to those interested in serving in a volunteer governing role with a nonprofit organization.
The idea was born out of a desire to democratize and expand the process of becoming a nonprofit board member, which historically, has not been inclusive.
Any nonprofit organization in San Diego may list a board opening to share with the broader community while any community member can peruse all offerings to find alignment with their interests and experience and contact the nonprofit organization directly
If you are a nonprofit organization and have a board opening that you would like to share, please create an account to post your board listing.
Hippo Premium Packaging uses
sustainable hemp-based packaging
Hippo Premium Packaging, a San Diego provider of custom packaging and branding solutions to the cannabis and CBD industries, announced it utilized a new hemp-based, sustainable packaging solution for its client, Hemp Valley Farms – a CBD manufacturer that uses all-natural, regenerative farming techniques.
“Hemp Valley Farms came to us to produce their packaging, and after learning about their company, we thought that using a sustainable hemp-based paper was the perfect solution,” said Kary Radestock, founder and CEO of Hippo Premium Packaging.
Hippo produced packaging for three different blends of Hemp Valley Farms’ CBD tinctures, and is now working on the packaging for HVF’s CBD-based cosmetics, balms, muscle rubs, and pet products.
AT&T participates in Department of Defense
demonstration at Naval Base Coronado
AT&Tparticipated in a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Navy demonstration showcasing a variety of 5G-powered technology solutions that can support the enablement of a Naval “Smart Warehouse.” The demonstrations occurred at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego where the smart warehouse concept is being explored by DoD.
AT&T’s private 5G network at the base delivered data throughput speeds of 3.9 gigabits per second with less than 10 milliseconds of latency when powering the demonstrations.
In October 2020, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced $600 million in awards for 5G experimentation and testing at five U.S. military test sites, representing the largest full-scale 5G tests for dual-use applications in the world.
The 5G Smart Warehouse project at Naval Base Coronado is the DoD program’s use-case incorporating 5G capabilities for transshipments between shore facilities and naval units. The goal is to increase the efficiency and fidelity of naval logistic operations.
AnaBios closes financing with Ampersand Capital Partners
San Diego-based AnaBios Corporation, a preclinical contract research organization that focuses on translational research with unique capabilities to measure drug activity directly in human tissue, announced an investment from Ampersand Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in growth equity investments in the life sciences and health care sectors. The amound of the investment was not disclosed.
“AnaBios is thrilled to partner with Ampersand to elevate our business in the growing pharma industry,” said Andre Ghetti, CEO of AnaBios. “These funds will be used to strategically expand our business and grow our capabilities in a variety of therapeutic areas to address the need of our industry and academic partners. The expected global reach and enhanced capabilities will help catalyze a larger number of successful clinical trials because more candidate molecules will be developed with the aid of our translational models.”
Consumer dermatology company launches
at-home personalized skin tests
DERMALA, a San Diego-based consumer dermatology company developing products for chronic skin conditions, introduces DERMALA Skin Tests, an at-home, personalized skin testing kit. DERMALA Skin Tests measure the oil level and pH of the skin to track how the customers’ skin and microbiome change while using DERMALA’s acne treatment.
The launch of the at-home Skin Test Kit is an additional component of the personalization and monthly treatment optimization that the DERMALA brand is known for. As customers take the tests, a QR code is available to access a personalized Digital Skin Report Card that allows customers to monitor their skin health during the treatment, get their product formulation and assortment optimized based on results, and make skincare regimen adjustments as needed.
