Jacobs Talent Initiative

Tech San Diego has partnered with San Diego’s universities to improve the local talent pipeline, including talent access to internships, research and collaborations, while building tools to help local companies find qualified workers.

Irwin and Joan Jacobs are active supporters of the San Diego tech and engineering community and have graciously donated to a three-year grant that will allow Tech San Diego’s newly renamed Jacobs Talent Initiative to assist local small-to-mid-sized tech companies to recruit, attract, and retain world-class talent. The goal of this partnership between Tech San Diego and San Diego’s local universities is to increase the number of students who select the region as their career destination. The Jacobs Talent Initiative is primarily funded by a grant from Irwin and Joan Jacobs.

“Talent is the number one barrier to growth for the region’s small and mid-size companies, which are at a disadvantage when it comes to sourcing university talent. For far too long, the best and brightest local university graduates have led an exodus from San Diego every spring to other tech clusters, including Silicon Valley, Seattle, New York, and Austin. We need to engage these students with the local tech community; our regional tech cluster is among the most vibrant in the world, so there are plenty of opportunities here for graduates.”

– Kevin Carroll, Tech San Diego’s Executive Director.

Initiatives Include

UCSD Faculty Relationships

Tech San Diego will continue to develop an on-campus presence through the Jacobs Talent Initiative. The Jacobs Talent Director, Emma Hareas, spends time on UC San Diego’s campus to collaborate with students, faculty members, and engage in research projects. Tech San Diego members will also provide curriculum guidance for technology-related disciplines through initiatives such as the Coffee with the Chair series.

Tech San Diego Campus Events

The Jacobs Talent Initiative partnered with UC San Diego on a series of on-campus events, which includes a mix of compelling and career readiness events, to highlight the regional tech economy. Our goal is to engage students directly in a multitude of activities and to increase awareness of the regional tech community. Through the Jacobs Talent Initiative, Tech San Diego also implemented a new student event initiative to allow UCSD students to attend select membership events.

UC San Diego Student Groups

Through the Jacobs Talent Initiative, Tech San Diego partners with several UCSD student groups on campus such as the Data Science Club (DS3), Eta Kappa Nu (Engineering Honors Society), Women in Computing, Association of Computing & Machinery, and the Computer Science & Engineering group to name a few. The purpose of these partnerships is to help students understand regional technology career opportunities and facilitate networking opportunities with industry professionals.

Data Science Collaboration

The Jacobs Talent Initiative works closely with the UCSD Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI) and the UCSD Rady School of Management. Dr. Rajesh Gupta, Director of HDSI, and Robert S. Sullivan, Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD, both serve on the board of directors at Tech San Diego.

If you are interested in participating in the Jacobs Talent Initiative and using our services to help recruit talent, please fill out this survey:

For more information on the value that interns have brought to San Diego companies, see the below example from Certona.

If you are interested in creating an internship program, download the Resources Document below.