Qualcomm Gets its Technology in EV Chargers, Aptera Makes Finals in $10M Automotive X Prize, & More San Diego BizTech News

It wasn’t a busy week for news about San Diego technology innovation, but it wasn’t a slow week either. It was jus-s-s-t right. And here is our summary.

—You’re going to start hearing a lot about Ecotality in coming months. The San Francisco-based company is heading efforts to install electric vehicle charging stations throughout San Diego, as well as other major cities in five states before the end of 2010. Last week, Ecotality (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ECTY]]) and San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) announced an agreement that will use Qualcomm’s wireless technology to add cellular connectivity to Ecotality’s charging stations.

—An all-electric vehicle built by Carlsbad, CA-based Aptera Motors is one of nine finalists in the running to win the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. After completing track tests at the Michigan International Speedway last week, the finalists are moving to the Argonne National Laboratory for technical laboratory tests.

—As I noted in 2009, Daylight Solutions has been developing high-power laser technology that can be used in medical diagnostics, in environmental and industrial monitoring, and even to thwart anti-aircraft missiles targeting a commercial jetliner or military aircraft. As if to prove the point, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory awarded a $5.7 million contract last week to Daylight’s subsidiary, Daylight Defense, for “emerging requirements for directional infrared countermeasure systems,” i.e. thwarting anti-aircraft missiles.

—Connect CEO Duane Roth discussed several new initiatives at San Diego’s non-profit organization for technology and entrepreneurship. The plans include forming an “Innovation Institute” to be headed by

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.