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The Francoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation commits to the future by:

• Preparing ����ɫ��ҹ University of California students, faculty and other stakeholders for significant roles in a globalized society to create a sustainable and significant impact in society through entrepreneurial ventures.
• Unleashing passionate creativity and disciplined design thinking through the cutting-edge curriculum, academic and non-academic programs, and dynamic activities, leading to innovative entrepreneurship that serves the greater good and needs of the many.

The Lepage Center has joined the Harvard ����ɫ��ҹ School Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) Affiliate Network. This allows the Lepage Center and the Barowsky School of ����ɫ��ҹ (BSB) to incorporate the Microeconomics of Competitiveness course, designed by Michael Porter and HBS faculty, into their undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs. It also opens a network of 100 educational institutions in 67 countries to ����ɫ��ҹ faculty, staff, and students.

The Lepage Center has joined the Babson College Collaborative for Entrepreneurship Education. Babson College is widely acknowledged as a leader in Entrepreneurship education, frequently being ranked #1 by US News and World Report. Becoming part of the Babson Collaborative will provide faculty and students at ����ɫ��ҹ and the Barowsky School of ����ɫ��ҹ at access to Babson’s pedagogical resources. It also opens a network of 34 member institutions in 24 countries to ����ɫ��ҹ faculty, staff, and students. 

The Lepage Center has joined the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC). The PNC was founded at UC Berkeley to facilitate exchanges between universities and institutions in the Pacific Rim. It is now run by Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, one of Asia’s leading academic institutions. By joining the PNC, the Lepage Center strengthens ����ɫ��ҹ’s ties with Asia and its innovative businesses and thinkers.

The Director of the Lepage Center, Dr. Wayne de Fremery, was chosen Chair-Elect of the History and Foundations of Information Science Special Interest Group at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), the foremost professional association in North America for information science. Dr. de Fremery looks forward to deepening his association with ASIS&T and, through his relationship with the information science community, to building a solid IT foundation at the Lepage Center to support its mission of enabling global innovation.

The Lepage Center became a Platinum Sponsor of Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures (MSIV), which is the first regional capital fund devoted to supporting Marin and Sonoma startups. By supporting MSIV, the Lepage Center contributes to the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the North Bay while offering the Barowsky School of ����ɫ��ҹ (BSB) the ability support local entrepreneurs with their scholarship and students the ability network with local innovators.

UC Berkeley’s Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to be Housed at ����ɫ��ҹ’s Lepage Center for Global Innovation

Human connection is at the heart of any entrepreneurial endeavor. Technology is a driver of innovation. Pioneering research on the use of new technologies to map connections among people and the places they inhabit has taken place under the auspices of a UC Berkeley research unit known as the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) since 1997 when it was established by Professor Lewis Lancaster, a scholar of Buddhism, and Michael Buckland, a former Dean of the School of Information and Professor of Information Science. 

This pioneering research will now be undertaken at ����ɫ��ҹ through the Francoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation. Housing ECAI at the Lepage Center for Global Innovation promises to invigorate Marin’s local entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing access to a global network of pioneering humanists using the most advanced technologies to understand how people connect with one other and the places they live. ECAI at ����ɫ��ҹ also promises to provide ����ɫ��ҹ students with opportunities to make use of the latest theories and tools for understanding human connection, as well as opportunities for exchange between the world’s most innovative humanists and the Marin business community.   

Please check back for more information about this new Lepage Center program. If you would like to become involved, please don’t hesitate to contact us at: wayne.defremery@dominican.edu.

The Director of the Lepage Center organized and lead a 10-day trip to South Korea, giving students and faculty the opportunity to learn about global innovation and entrepreneurship first-hand. The trip included visits to innovation centers at leading universities, startups and established KOSPI-listed companies, as well as cultural K-POP performances and historic sites. Many students reported that the experience was “transformational.”

The Director of the Lepage Center and the Director of the U.S. Commercial Service (USCS) in the North Bay/San Rafael, held a successful community outreach event on the topic of the North Bay Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and International Trade. The USCS and the Lepage Center plan to co-host additional events with the long term aim of rebuilding an export association in the North Bay.

The Lepage Center and the U.S. Commercial Service hosted a Roundtable on clean energy and environmental technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa that included Mlamli Mjambana, an industry expert in energy who works with U.S. companies attempting to enter the African market. Companies from the San Francisco Bay Area, including EGS, 3rd Stone Design, Arrgh Manufacturing, GK Advisors, Pegasus Power Solutions, Asoba, and Nippon Steel Trading, exchanged ideas about the future of clean energy in Africa. The Director of the Lepage Center, Dr. Wayne de Fremery, Dr. Vafa Saboori, Director of the MS in ����ɫ��ҹ Analytics at the Barowsky School of ����ɫ��ҹ, and Elizabeth Krauth, Director of the U.S. Commercial Service North Bay office, were also in attendance.

The Lepage Center and the U.S. Commercial Service (North Bay and San Francisco offices) hosted Power Africa at a Roundtable that included John Hansen, director of the Private Sector Engagement Team for Power Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development (), Dr. Dan Kammen, a pre-eminent figure in the climate and RE worlds, as well as representatives from Bluedesal, ErgSol, Asoba, Noria Energy, Cross Boundary, Terabase Energy, All Power Labs, and Nippon Steel Trading.

• Leslie Blodgett, Founder, bareMinerals
• Michael Volpatt, Serial Entrepreneur
• Joe Shekou, Owner, JHS Properties
• Skelly Wingard, CEO, By the Bay ����ɫ��ҹ