The second program is the talent accelerator, which is so important to our economy. It's UCSD's pre-college training programs for underserved communities. It can draw upon communities that may not have participated in this space before like Sherman Heights and Barrio Logan. This is for children in middle and high school, providing them coding academies and giving these kids an opportunity to think this could be for them. Some of them may have never even thought of this. It gets into the economic-development strategy of a rising tide floats all boats, but that's not necessarily true in underserved communities. We want to put special emphasis on that. They could be the talent of the future. I give UCSD credit for wanting to serve underserved communities.

The third area is the entrepreneur exchange, to let entrepreneurs have the mentorship they need to excel.

We've started recognizing talent, and talent wants to be in urban not suburban settings. We need to provide them an environment they're attracted to so companies will locate Downtown.

GlobeSt.com: How do you see the startup community influencing real estate?

Michell: Dramatically. We've talked about highly amenitized buildings—you want to make sure you have a gym in your condo or apartment complex—but now we're talking about highly amenitized communities, too. Each building doesn't have to have everything, but you can have several blocks that have it all, and that makes an amenitized community. Development has to understand that. This is the case with Makers Quarter, and it has evolved in their plans. Underground Elephant has four or five olive trees, including a 100-year-old olive tree in the middle of its space—they craned them in. This creates an environment that's really cool. People are proud to work there. It's an understanding of what today's workforce wants. Cool space is what these companies are looking for, and everybody has a different definition of cool, so everybody is trying to define what is tomorrow's cool.

GlobeSt.com: Is the county as a whole doing enough to encourage startups?

Michell: Yes. North County has Innovate 78—an innovation corridor from Oceanside to Escondido that's a hub for a really cool area and space. Cruzan has MAKE in Carlsbad. The Mesa is continuing—there may not be a lot of space left in the Mesa, but it continually reinvents itself to be cutting edge. Scientists are coming to San Diego to take advantage of the spectacular quality of life, so we bring them up on the Mesa, into Downtown, to Carlsbad, and they get it. Our quality of place is superior, and we're leveraging that to get world-class talent.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this topic?

Michell: I love the fact that when I'm Downtown, people are able to bring their dogs to work. We're seeing that it's becoming a really workforce-friendly submarket.

SAN DIEGO—Each building on a block doesn't have to have every amenity, but putting everything residents and tenants need in one area of a neighborhood makes it highly amenitized, Downtown San Diego Partnership's president and CEO Kris Michell tells GlobeSt.com. After the city joined with the rest of the county in celebrating Startup Day Across America on August 4, we spoke exclusively with Michell about how Downtown San Diego is a catalyst for regional growth, how startups influence real estate and what the county as a whole is doing to help startups thrive.

GlobeSt.com: How is Downtown San Diego a catalyst for regional economic growth?

Michell: It really goes back to Startup Day. About two years ago or three years ago, we worked with Congressman Scott Peters to launch San Diego's first Startup Day in Downtown San Diego. The idea was to celebrate the ingenuity and entrepreneurship taking place Downtown. Since that first one, we've really seen Downtown grow. Today, our organization has a startup advocate Andy White, whose sole focus is to create an ecosystem in which startup companies can thrive. A lot of companies have grown Downtown: Underground Elephant, Portfolium, UCSD coming Downtown through our collaboratory for Downtown innovation. This is going to strengthen the connection between the Torrey Pines Mesa and Downtown and the regional's larger economic goals by providing services and resources to train the workforce and locate startups within the urban core. Dr. Mary Walshok is helping us do this.

Forty years ago, when UCSD and the scientists were creating all those wonderful things, Mary co-founded a program called CONNECT to help commercialize discoveries that helped built out the Mesa, so she sees Downtown the same way. Companies that are doing the creating are in Downtown San Diego in the software space. They want to connect Downtown entrepreneurs with the scientists, so they are holding roundtables and discussions; analytics and mathematics and engineering together are changing the world. It's big data, but more importantly, how do you take it down to usable bites to mean something?

The second program is the talent accelerator, which is so important to our economy. It's UCSD's pre-college training programs for underserved communities. It can draw upon communities that may not have participated in this space before like Sherman Heights and Barrio Logan. This is for children in middle and high school, providing them coding academies and giving these kids an opportunity to think this could be for them. Some of them may have never even thought of this. It gets into the economic-development strategy of a rising tide floats all boats, but that's not necessarily true in underserved communities. We want to put special emphasis on that. They could be the talent of the future. I give UCSD credit for wanting to serve underserved communities.

The third area is the entrepreneur exchange, to let entrepreneurs have the mentorship they need to excel.

We've started recognizing talent, and talent wants to be in urban not suburban settings. We need to provide them an environment they're attracted to so companies will locate Downtown.

GlobeSt.com: How do you see the startup community influencing real estate?

Michell: Dramatically. We've talked about highly amenitized buildings—you want to make sure you have a gym in your condo or apartment complex—but now we're talking about highly amenitized communities, too. Each building doesn't have to have everything, but you can have several blocks that have it all, and that makes an amenitized community. Development has to understand that. This is the case with Makers Quarter, and it has evolved in their plans. Underground Elephant has four or five olive trees, including a 100-year-old olive tree in the middle of its space—they craned them in. This creates an environment that's really cool. People are proud to work there. It's an understanding of what today's workforce wants. Cool space is what these companies are looking for, and everybody has a different definition of cool, so everybody is trying to define what is tomorrow's cool.

GlobeSt.com: Is the county as a whole doing enough to encourage startups?

Michell: Yes. North County has Innovate 78—an innovation corridor from Oceanside to Escondido that's a hub for a really cool area and space. Cruzan has MAKE in Carlsbad. The Mesa is continuing—there may not be a lot of space left in the Mesa, but it continually reinvents itself to be cutting edge. Scientists are coming to San Diego to take advantage of the spectacular quality of life, so we bring them up on the Mesa, into Downtown, to Carlsbad, and they get it. Our quality of place is superior, and we're leveraging that to get world-class talent.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this topic?

Michell: I love the fact that when I'm Downtown, people are able to bring their dogs to work. We're seeing that it's becoming a really workforce-friendly submarket.