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Hi Tech Transportation Incubator Holds Open House

4 June 1999

Hi Tech Transportation Incubator Holds Open House; Celebrity-Narrated Clean Air CD-ROM Debuts At State's First "Green" Campus

    CAMARILLO, Calif.--June 3, 1999--

    WestStart-CALSTART, Ventura County APCD, CSUCI, Ventura County
    Economic Development Association Co-Host Open House and Clean Fuel
    Vehicle Showcase to Build Advanced Transportation Industry

    Ventura County's new advanced transportation technologies business incubator officially opened its doors on California's first "green" campus, California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) Thursday, tapping into the growing high tech industry in the region.
    Co-hosted by WestStart-CALSTART, the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, CSUCI and the Ventura County Economic Development Association (VCEDA), the event celebrated the official opening of WestStart-CALSTART's third California-based office and small business incubator. The VCAPCD also unveiled Air World, the celebrity-narrated CD-ROM clean air kiosk, a new educational tool showing the relationship between transportation and clean air.
    "We are excited to be opening our third California office and business incubator in Ventura County, especially at the state's first totally "green" campus, California State University, Channel Islands," said Michael J. Gage, President and CEO of WestStart-CALSTART. "By locating our new Technical Development Center in this important geographic area, WestStart-CALSTART will be better able to tap into the growing number of high tech businesses in Ventura County and help nurture those businesses associated with the advance transportation industry."
    The WestStart-CALSTART Technical Development Center (TDC) is a small business incubator for start-up companies in the advanced transportation technologies industry. The goal of TDC is to help these companies develop, fund, manufacture and market advanced transportation products and services. The TDC located at CSUCI has 52,530 square feet of workspace, which includes offices, research and development, and production areas with high bays and rugged flooring. Companies locating in the TDC must be providing or developing advanced transportation products or services, possess a viable business plan, be commercially viable in three years or less, demonstrate potential for producing California jobs, and ability to pay low participation costs.
    Welcoming WestStart-CALSTART to CSUCI was Handel Evans, President of CSUCI. "We are pleased to have locate their new office and business incubator here on our campus," said Evans. "The partnership we have already established through our collaborative work to make CSUCI a totally "green" campus will certainly strengthen as the synergy between the university and the advanced transportation industry grows in the coming years.
    WestStart-CALSTART is assisting CSUCI create a "green" campus by providing a clean transportation plan for the site. The focus of the plan is to reduce traffic congestion and emissions by maximizing the use of electric bikes, clean fuel vehicles - electric, natural gas, and other clean fuels, - advanced transportation systems, and innovative transportation planning concepts. In developing the transportation plan, WestStart-CALSTART was able to identify and secure approximately $4 million in funding from outside sources, including over $50,000 from VCAPCD to help convert the campus fleet to alternative fuel vehicles. Much of the success is the result of strong working relationships forged with local agencies, such as the VCAPCD, the Ventura County Transportation Commission, the California Energy Commission, and Environment Now.
    Providing the clean air perspective for the need for the advance transportation industry, clean fuel vehicles, and more "green" campus programs, was Richard Baldwin, Air Pollution Control Officer for the VCAPCD who unveiled Air World, the District's new educational CD-ROM clean air kiosk. "This is the first public information project of its kind in the country," said Richard Baldwin. "We're very excited about sharing it with other air agencies nationwide."
    Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air World is a celebrity-narrated interactive CD-ROM housed within a kiosk, which shows viewers the link between their transportation choices and air pollution. Using video, photos, graphics and animation, viewers explore different topic "worlds" which describe part of the air pollution story. When finished, the viewer can print out a list of local air quality-related resources to take with them. The VCAPCD Air World kiosk will be available to the residents of Ventura County as it is placed in a variety of public venues including shopping malls, county fairs, and schools. However, the CD-ROM is designed to run on a multimedia platform and can be customized for national use by local air agencies.
    Small businesses, particularly high tech businesses, have been critical to the growth of the advanced transportation technologies industry in California. They have provided significant economic benefits to their local communities including the creation of jobs and capital development. Stressing the importance of this type of economic activity to Ventura County was Penny Bohannon, President of the Ventura County Economic Development Association (VCEDA). "Business is the economic life blood of any community. Efforts to bring more businesses to our county and help those already here are always welcome. We are excited that WestStart-CALSTART will help make that happen."
    The Ventura County Economic Development Association is a non-profit 501(C)(3) established in 1949. It is an issues-oriented organization representing the general business and industry community in the Ventura County region. Since 1949 VCEDA's mission has been to serve as a strong, focused advocate on behalf of business. VCEDA works to assure careful planning combined with wise management of resources continues to enhance the economic viability of the region as well as the fine quality of life enjoyed by those living and working in Ventura County.
    WestStart-CALSTART is an advanced transportation technologies organization that focuses on developing new, clean technologies and solutions in transportation. Working with private partners worldwide, WestStart-CALSTART provides technology development and demonstration, industry analysis, marketing, business development and fleet implementation services. Its expertise includes electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and fuel-cell technologies.

    Editor's Note: For more information about the WestStart-CALSTART business incubator, contact Alan Lerchbacker, Vice President, WestStart-CALSTART at 626/7445600. For more information about Air World, contact Barbara Page, Public Information Manager, VCAPCD at 805/645-4515.