[Editor’s Note: Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe and Shahin Farschi also contributed to this post.]
In terms of the difficulty of the turnaround needed, it’s telling that Detroit derives from the French word for strait—a narrow passageway—symbolic of the chances Detroit really has for re-invention. It will take radical action, hugely energetic leaders, and messianic spokespeople to bang the drum for renewal and galvanize a depressed populace to squeeze through against the pressures of obsolescence.
Our ideas for the Motor City:
—Use the excess auto manufacturing capacity to build batteries, electric motors, renewable power and wind power chassis systems, which of course has been a theme of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration.
—Lure software engineers from Washington and California to build better mobile apps and services—the Ford-marketed SYNC is a start—but leaves much to be desired.
—Create a for-profit expert consulting hub modeled on the Gerson Lehrman Group that can be used to employ a core of displaced, highly skilled design, CAD, automation engineers to serve clients in other regions.
—Bulldoze Hamtramck, except for the big warehouses; turn them into “exploratoriums.“
—Make local government officials spend at least a year traveling around the world—so they don’t think the universe has been modeled after Michigan.
Editor’s note: To help launch Xconomy Detroit, we’ve queried our network of Xconomists and other innovation leaders around the country for their list of the most important things that entrepreneurs and innovators in Michigan can do to reinvigorate their regional economy.
Author: Larry Bock
In Memoriam: Our friend and Xconomist Larry Bock passed away on July 6, 2016. We at Xconomy are deeply saddened by his loss.
Larry Bock is the founder and organizer of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and a former founder of the San Diego Science Festival. Mr. Bock is a Special Limited Partner to Lux Capital, a $100M nanotechnology-focused venture capital fund. He is a member of the Board of Directors of FEI Corporation (NASDAQ: FEIC), the leading supplier of tools for nanotechnology research. He is a General Partner of CW Ventures, a $100M life sciences venture capital fund.
Mr. Bock was the founder and former executive chairman and initial CEO of Nanosys and the founder and initial CEO of Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: NBIX), Pharmacopeia (NASDAQ: PCOP), GenPharm International, which was acquired by Medarex for $100 million; Caliper Technologies (NASDAQ: CALP); Illumina Technologies (NASDAQ: ILMN), among numerous other firms.
He was also a seed or early-stage investor in variety of firms, including Acceleron Pharma, Aurora Biosciences, Biosym Technologies, ekoVenture. Gen-Probe, Gensia Pharmaceuticals, Genocea Biosciences, IDEC Pharmaceuticals Magen Biosciences, Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Plexikon Pharmaceuticals, Poland Partners, Sequana Therapeutics, Sapphire Energy, Siluria, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Software Transformation, and Viagene.
Mr. Bock started his career as a researcher in the early days at Genentech, the field of infectious diseases, where he was on the team that received the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for demonstrating the world’s first recombinant DNA vaccine. He was a Venture Capital Associate with Fairfield Ventures (now Oxford Bioventures).
Larry and his wife, Diane, established the Larry and Diane Bock Chair in Nanotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley. They also founded Community Cousins, a non-profit foundation focused on breaking down racial barriers, that was selected by former Vice President Al Gore as one of 10 outstanding grass root efforts nationally. Larry is organizing the San Diego Science Festival with BioBridge of UCSD. He works extensively with the Sudanese and Burmese refugee’s networks in San Diego and is a tutor in math and sciences for Sudanese refugee children in St. Lukes Sudanese Refugee Network and a Mentor for Burmese refugee families through Jewish Family Services. Larry received his B.A. in Biochemistry (summa cum laude) from Bowdoin College and his M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA.
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