Title
Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation Collide Arizona Events Programming Sponsorship (Ordinance S-47977)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to approve a one-year Founders Circle sponsorship to launch the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation's Collide Arizona Events Programming on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus (PBC) with two, one-year extension options at the City's discretion. The annual sponsorship amount is $50,000, for a total amount not to exceed $150,000, if all options are exercised. Further request authorization for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item. There is no impact to the General Fund. Funding is available in the Genomics Facilities and Operations Fund.
Report
Summary
Collide AZ (Collide) is a collaborative initiative to bring people of all backgrounds together with a shared vision of building and sustaining an inclusive community that champions innovation in Arizona. This will be accomplished through weekly gatherings of meaningful events that connect, inspire, and encourage participants to take positive action and support one another’s goals. Collide will be a community-driven movement to unleash local and state-wide potential and make Arizona a leader in innovation.
Collide's event programming will facilitate weekly events to encourage connectivity and collaboration and will serve to enhance Phoenix’s ecosystem and infrastructure to support the growth of existing Phoenix companies, both in early stage development or mature organizations, along with the formation of new companies leading to the creation of new jobs for Phoenix residents.
Collide is modeled after the successful Thursday Gatherings of Venture Café programs taking place in Wexford Science+Technology innovation communities that have served to grow and strengthen the innovation districts in those respective communities. Collide events will be free, open to the public and serve to connect attendees to employers, innovators, academic educators/researchers, business mentors, and the community. Presentations and breakout sessions will be purposely curated to support the community’s connectivity, foster collaborations, talent and workforce development, business strengthening and access to resources. Collide will serve to strengthen Phoenix’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and enhance the City's Bioscience Healthcare Strategic Initiative.
Collide plans to host 44 events in calendar year 2022 with a goal of more than 6,000 attendees who will all convene on the downtown PBC, elevating its visibility as a premier location for companies to locate for bioscience research, collaboration, and access to talent.
Collide will be hosted on the PBC at the 850 PBC building and will include benefits such as:
A convening hub of innovators from the region;
Elevating the PBC’s brand as a premier location for bioscience-related companies and Phoenix's robust bioscience ecosystem;
Increasing partnerships between, and among, the City of Phoenix, academia, industry, the startup ecosystem, arts and culture;
Curating meaningful events that connect, inspire / encourage participants to take positive action;
Prioritizing participation and support of attendees with marginalized identities;
Enhancing infrastructure for research, education, entrepreneurship, arts and culture;
Access to one-on-one mentoring with subject matter experts;
Bringing entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, artists, designers, corporate innovators, technologists, etc. together to:
Find commonalities;
Share knowledge from different perspectives;
Forge partnerships; and
Explore opportunities for collaborations.
Founders Circle sponsorship benefits include:
A seat on the Leadership Council to be held by the Mayor or the Mayor's designee;
Featured on Collide's website with prominent logo placement;
Recognition at all events including announcements at beginning and end of event programs;
Inclusion in marketing material, social media, and Collide's newsletter.
In addition, Community and Economic Development Department staff will be actively engaged in the planning and attending of events to pursue opportunities for business recruitment, retention and expansion, and facilitate introductions to workforce development services and programs.
The organizational framework will include the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) to serve as the host institution along with providing programming and financial management. Through CEI, Collide will hire a Program Director and event staff to support the program. Collide will provide the City with an annual report of metrics of attendance, voluntarily collected demographics of attendees, qualitative and quantitative information from surveys, and engagement metrics.
Financial Impact
The annual fee for a Founders Circle sponsorship is $50,000. If the additional two, one-year options for a Founders Circle Sponsorship are approved and exercised, the total amount will not exceed $150,000. There is no impact to the General Fund. Funding is available in the Genomic Facilities and Operations Fund.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
This item was recommended for approval by the Economic Development and Equity Subcommittee at the Sept. 28, 2021 meeting by a vote of 3-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer and the Community and Economic Development department.