The Coachella Valley Economic Partnership continued its listening tour Sept. 18 when it hosted the third Blueprint 2.0 Town Hall in conjunction with its monthly Renewable Energy Roundtable at UCR Palm Desert. The town hall focused squarely on energy issues, while two previous events -- in Cathedral City and Indio -- covered a wider range of topics, including healthcare, education, transportation, tourism, and the Salton Sea. About 60 participants attended the UCR Palm Desert event, exchanging ideas, hopes, and expectations around the resources and technologies that could propel the energy sector to become a greater source of local innovation and jobs. The town hall events stir the discourse needed to inform the Coachella Valley Economic Blueprint 2.0, a revision of the document created in 2009 that set the framework to strengthen the economy during the recession. Read The Desert Sun report about the latest town hall.

Seco Sys, a water management technology firm with offices in the Coachella Valley iHub, will begin deploying its smart metering and control products in the Coachella Valley in October, when it introduces its state-of-the-art platform at the American Leak Detection annual trade show in Palm Springs. Seco Sys won the Silver Award at the World's Best Technology competition in 2013 for its scalable platform that enables remote cloud-based website access and control for each water-using device. The system, which includes a patent-pending solar-powered HydraPod, provides visual information, data analytics, alert notifications, and remote valve control for commercial and residential applications. The firm's pilot project at an HOA community in Rancho Mirage provided the tools that reaped a water savings so significant that its technology became eligible for a $750-per-irrigated-acre rebate from the Coachella Valley Water District. "With our system, property owners have real-time water usage information," Seco Sys CEO Hank McCarrick says. "The platform is well positioned to help relieve not only California's current water crisis but also those around the world. Our initial focus will be on large commercial and residential landscape operations, recreational uses including golf courses, commercial, industrial, institutional and landscape management as well as residential uses." At the Coachella Valley iHub, Seco Sys enjoys coaching and support that helped McCarrick refine the company's business model, navigate financing options, and confront the challenges of manufacturing and bringing the product into target markets.

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Riverside has approved a $15,000 contribution to produce videos promoting career pathways in the healthcare field. The intent is to introduce students to different careers in healthcare and steer them to high school career academies and work-based learning opportunities in the Coachella Valley. The videos will be available in English and Spanish and distributed in a variety of media throughout the region. Each will feature students, teachers, and health and medical professionals demonstrating how students can explore healthcare careers in the classroom and in the professional setting. CVEP will partner on the project with Desert Regional Medical Center, JFK Memorial Hospital, Eisenhower Medical Center, Desert Health Care District, Kaiser Permanente, and the region's three unified school districts.