California Groundbreakers

California Groundbreakers and Comstock's Magazine partnered up to present "Innovation City" at the CLARA auditorium on January 23, 2017. **** Before he left office, former Mayor Kevin Johnson put a plan in place to jumpstart Sacramento's innovation economy. That includes investing $1 million in local companies via the city’s RAILS grant program, which stands for Rapid Acceleration, Innovation and Leadership. So what's next? If Sacramento wants to succeed in becoming an innovation hub, what needs to happen now? Mayor Darrell Steinberg, kicked off the talk with his hopes and plans for jump-starting innovation in Sacramento. Then a moderated Q&A with some RAILS grant winners and other innovators about how they're helping to turn Sacramento into an innovation city. PANELISTS * Brian Collins, chief advisor to the accelerator program at I/O Labs, which received a $250,000 RAILS grant * Alona Jennings, co-founder of Operation Innovate, a program that gives digital badge certification in STEM careers to Sacrame