FRESNO (KMJ) – Fresno’s Mayor Ashley Swearengin hosted a tech summit Wednesday, with leaders in agribusiness, education, tech, and finance, talking strategy on how tech innovation can grow business for Valley Ag.
Around a hundred participants at the Fresno Convention Center were involved in the event, called “Riding the Crest of the ‘Third Wave’ in the Food Capital of the World,” being held in association with the Fresno Food Expo, the largest regional food show in the nation.
The theme of the discussion is based on a book written by Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO and chairman of America Online, called “The Third Wave” which describes the opportunity ahead for entrepreneurs to use technology to revolutionize every aspect of our lives, including food.
The strategic summit included remarks and insight from Dr. Joseph Castro, President of California State University, Fresno, local business leader Pete Weber, Irma Olguin, co-founder of Bitwise Industries, and Barry Bedwell from the California Fresh Fruit Association and other experts to identify how technology expertise and innovation can create opportunity for Central Valley agribusiness.
“Half the room are agriculturalists and agribusiness leaders, the other half are software entrepreneurs, and established tech companies here in Fresno area. We just wanted to mash them all up – get them talking to each other and see how we might find more software and technology solutions to meet the challenges that our food and our agribusiness leaders are facing, knowing when we do that it sparks innovation, that sparks business creation and economic wealth for our region.” – Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
The Mayor says if this event proves successful, it can be considered a pilot to spur other future workshops.
“The whole idea is to strike that match, and see an economic fire lit in the greater Fresno area, we know we’ve got all the ingredients, we need a good recipe to see some innovation come out of the agribusiness arena.” – Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
