Our Spokane team has been working with business and other university leaders to grow the University District in Spokane. One of the efforts led by Avista Utilities is to support a Smart City initiative and bring IBM to Spokane. Recently a group led by Avista, the mayor of Spokane, City Council president and four of the area universities traveled to San Francisco to visit the Watson Center. It was an eye-opening experience and we hope to be able to collaborate and bring science, research and job opportunities to Spokane.
We are also working with GSI and its Vision 2030 initiative to bring and create a health care and life sciences industry hub. It is a very focused group from the medical industry, businesses and the universities. We have been asked to serve on committees that consist of health and medical sciences education, bioscience research and business development, academic and industry infrastructure and branding and marketing. We will be able to have the Regional Health Partnership, CoMotion and UW External Affairs all populate these committees.