![\"Kris](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Headshot-Kris-Michell-Finalweb.jpg\")
<\/a>Only four cities were recognized as the smartest by National Geographic, and the hour-long documentary did a revelatory job showing off San Diego\u2019s innovative core and forward-thinking spirit.<\/p>\n
San Diego made the cut above all other urban U.S. regions for reasons multi-fold and easily understood. Our diverse contributions to medicine, biotechnology, science, engineering and marketing are chronicled in convincing fashion. When the show is over, you understand why San Diego earned its \u201csmart\u201d spot \u2014 we are a great and growing city that attracts intelligent, progressive thinkers.<\/p>\n
Throughout the documentary, one thing in particular remained consistent \u2014 our Downtown; the Downtown Central Library, Petco Park and the Ballpark District, the\u00a0Gaslamp Quarter\u2019s historic streets \u2014 San Diego\u2019s Downtown appeared again and again.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a heart beating at the center of our magnificent city, as well as the heart of much of the innovation that\u2019s taking place in the region.<\/p>\n
Decades ago, technology business was operated on the outskirts of town, in industrial parks and generic glass high-rises. Conversations were held in closed offices and cubicles. Long commutes ended in a vast sea of anonymous parking lots. Not so much anymore.<\/p>\n
Innovation today is returning to the urban center. It is happening in gritty recycled warehouses and new buildings that boast hip furniture, graffiti and decorative art, massage rooms, game rooms and even craft beer. Downtowns offer employees a proximity to engaging nightlife, trendy restaurants, luxury apartments \u2014 and other engaging, smart people.<\/p>\n
Urban centers, like our Downtown, are where the workforce of the future wants to be. And the move is underway\u00a0now.<\/p>\n
In fact, world-renowned economist Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institute walked the streets of Downtown\u2019s East Village neighborhood earlier this year to see firsthand the kind of paradigm-shift of activity that\u2019s happening. Katz believes Downtown San Diego is among some of the world\u2019s most acclaimed cities \u2014 London, Berlin, Brooklyn, San Francisco \u2014 that demonstrate the distinct characteristics of a thriving \u201cInnovation District.\u201d According to Katz, the proximity between our schools, transit, development and human capital is creating the type of ecosystem that allows ideas to form, grow and thrive.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear Katz has defined the zeitgeist of our times. He\u2019s on to something, and he\u2019s not alone. There are more than 70 digital technology and startup companies Downtown and more on the way.<\/p>\n
So with so much promising activity happening, how to do we continue to forge an innovation ecosystem? The first logical step is understanding why innovators and technology companies are choosing to be here in the first place.<\/p>\n
I asked two of our fastest-growing digital tech companies recently and here\u2019s what they had to say:<\/p>\n
Jarrod Russell, Underground Elephant:<\/strong><\/p>\n As a fast-growing marketing technology company, we\u2019re about to embark on our fourth local office relocation since our founding in 2008. This time, our 100-person team is headed to the bustling East Village.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say that the\u00a0build out of our new space in the historic TR Produce building, right across from Petco Park, is as much about the Downtown San Diego community as it is about Underground Elephant.\u00a0Jason Kulpa, our CEO, views this project as a way to embrace San Diego’s history while simultaneously investing in its future.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s encouraging to know that amidst the groundswell of local innovation,\u00a0we are definitely not alone in this effort. From life-changing biotech to cutting-edge digital marketing software, San Diego is in the midst of actively reinventing\u00a0itself. And as we all get better at sharing that message, we are crafting a must-read economic story that will attract the interest of founders and innovators across the country, and around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n Stephan Goss, Zeeto Media:<\/strong><\/p>\n When choosing San Diego to start our business, we used an extremely complicated formula, [asking ourselves] \u201cWhat city is sunny 365 days out of the year?\u201d After four and a half years in Downtown, Zeeto has thrived. San Diego doesn\u2019t just offer great weather, it offers a place millennials are attracted to and can afford.<\/em><\/p>\n With the efforts of the Partnership, Downtown has become a work, play, live destination \u2014 a huge advantage when enticing tech talent to relocate to San Diego. Technology companies like Zeeto need this talent to thrive in today\u2019s digital age.<\/em><\/p>\n Underground Elephant and Zeeto Media are by no means alone and are harbingers of a rolling success story that shows the virtuous circle of one set of forward-thinking winners attracting more. Downtown\u2019s success will be a mirror of the new American urban economic and lifestyle model, and, with experts\u2019 opinions on our side, it will likely become the paragon example.<\/p>\n We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here to join us on the journey.<\/p>\n You can watch the San Diego episode of \u201cWorld\u2019s Smart Cities\u201d here: tinyurl.com\/p3jnpv3<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014Kris Michell is the president and CEO of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a nonprofit, member-based organization that serves as the leading advocate for the revitalization and economic health of Downtown. To learn more about the Downtown Partnership, visit <\/em>www.downtownsandiego.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kris Michell |\u00a0Downtown Partnership News It\u2019s good to get an endorsement from people who have a reputation for greatness. National Geographic is one of the most highly respected publications and TV networks in the media industry, so it\u2019s deeply satisfying to see their esteemed documentary series \u201cWorld\u2019s Smartest Cities\u201d recognize San Diego.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1200,"featured_media":237255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Smart\u2019 at the heart","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}