LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles emphasized the tech industry's growing importance as an economic driver at its third regional investor's conference.
The Playa Vista location of last week's conference was picked to highlight two economic growth areas: tech and real estate development.
Southern California's so-called Silicon Beach has reached a level of saturation that the region can legitimately be considered a tech hub, according to tech industry panelists at the event.
In his keynote speech, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city has benefited from $7 billion in land-use investments in the last year and has watched its burgeoning tech industry take off. City officials were not just encouraging investors to buy the city's municipal bonds, but to make private equity investments as the city looks to increase public-private partnerships.
The second day of the conference kicked off with a P3 panel in which City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana and representatives from Los Angeles World Airports and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority talked about projects they have planned and how private partners would help make those projects a reality.
The event drew 250 people, organizers said.
Garcetti said a Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation report released last year found Los Angeles County supported 368,600 high-tech jobs, more than anywhere else in the country, including Santa Clara County, with 313,300 such jobs in the heart of Silicon Valley.
"My administration has worked diligently to foster this sector – and sectors long ignored like the film and aerospace industry," Garcetti said.
The technology industry in Los Angeles has reached the level of maturity where entrepreneurs, who did well, are investing in their second and third companies, said J.J. Aguhab, chief product officer at Fullscreen, a Playa Vista-based multi-media company.
New York would not let the banks leave, Detroit would not let the automotive industry leave, but somehow "we let our signature industry be eroded," Garcetti said referring to the entertainment industry. He said he has been working to return the city's film industry to its former glory by creating a tax credit program to woo television and film production that has abandoned L.A. for other states and Canada.
Los Angeles' tech companies concentrate on content, Santana said in an interview.
When Los Angeles decided to attract technology companies, it went after firms that are a good match with its most well-known industry – entertainment. The city also has been home to companies significant in the video game industry for more than a decade.
Playa Vista, just north of Los Angeles International Airport, has drawn tech companies like Yahoo south from the original Silicon Beach hubs in Santa Monica and Venice.
Yahoo just announced plans to open a 140,000-square foot building in Playa Vista in January.
In Playa Vista, almost all of the development surrounding the site of the conference is brand new. But Playa Vista has hosted tech companies for more than a decade. The video gaming company Electronic Arts moved to Playa Vista in 2003 – and smaller companies in the same sector followed.
Garcetti coined the Silicon Beach phrase to describe Los Angeles' growing significance as a
The city began hosting investor conferences in 2012, hosting them in even years.
It has held each one in vastly different regions of Los Angeles, physically emphasizing the diversity of the city's economy, according to organizers.
It held the first one at LA Live, the entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles, where the convention center is located. Two years ago, it held the event in Universal City. That year's events included tours of Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures.
The conference set-up is similar to 10 live road shows back-to-back on not just the City of Los Angeles and proprietary departments like the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports, but also Los Angeles Unified School District, which is completely autonomous.
It saves investors from having to make individual trips to Los Angeles to meet with each of the city's bond issuers, Garcetti said – joking that he is not trying to discourage people from visiting.
The city had 45.5 million visitors last year – and also attracted several companies to relocate their headquarters, he said.
"If you are a global business, you can't afford to not be in Los Angeles anymore," he said.
