COMING SOON - the Innovation Bridge
[university In December, President Yao approved the creation of the Innovation Bridge, a new applied research institute at the University. The Innovation Bridge is a faculty-led effort designed to foster sustainable and robust collaboration between the University and Navy commands at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC). Acting as a portal, The Innovation Bridge will facilitate and catalyze partnerships, providing a structured pathway for engagement.
During our first year, we will focus on a few specific efforts that include
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promoting academic engagement with Fathomwerx programming such as Coastal Trident, the Fathomwerx Summit, and Project R,
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facilitating participation in command-specific programming such as the Navy Summer Faculty Research and Sabbatical Leave Program and summer student internships, and
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creating opportunities for academia to interact with Navy engineers through Fathomwerx programming.
The Innovation Bridge will work to expand Fathomwerx programming beyond just Cal State Channel Islands to all regional Universities in San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and Kern County.
At another level, the Innovation Bridge will support economic development activity in the region by leveraging our knowledge of unique regional assets (including Naval assets) that enhance the region’s competitiveness for industry and that boost the region’s ability to prepare the its workforce to meet industry needs. Our work in this area will include
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inviting regional professional organizations to schedule member meetings on the University campus,
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supporting efforts to attract autonomous air mobility companies to the region,
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convening stakeholder conversations about industry challenges and how we can leverage loccal talent and creativity to solve them, and
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working with industry and education providers to identify and support upskilling programs for students and members of our workforce.
Work of the Innovation Bridge has begun, and we expect a public launch of the Innovation Bridge at the Fathomwerx Summit on October 15th, 2025. If you want to stay informed about the work of the Innovation Bridge, subscribe to our notification email list by clicking here. (This low tech sends me an email, and I will add you as a subscriber. Soon, we’ll have a hands-free way for people to subscribe!). This low-volume email list will let you know about upcoming Innovation Bridge activities before they happen and will share with you reports on recent work.
The Innovation Bridge is going to be an exciting addition to University efforts to connect with the region as a partner and facilitator. If you have thoughts on what the Innovation Bridge can do for and with the community, send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, Jason Miller, Ph.D. Innovation Bridge Director