The East Bay Bio Network (EBBN) is an all-volunteer effort that brings together local professionals working in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. As the group notes on its Meetup page, "the East Bay is not only home to many biotech companies, but also is a home for our families. EBBN is committed to providing networking opportunities in the East Bay, from Alameda to Livermore."

"This year, we decided to focus on biotech startups and entrepreneurs/entrepreneurism as an area of opportunity development for our members," says Yolanda Fintschenko, an EBBN co-organizer and a co-founder of digital branding agency FounderTraction.

"We partnered with i-Gate i-Hub and the cities of Dublin and Pleasanton to highlight investment and biotech entrepreneurs in the Tri-Valley part of the East Bay via the NextTech speaker series. We have also partnered with the City of Alameda and are looking for other East Bay regional partners to highlight the opportunities and resources available for biotech entrepreneurs all over the East Bay."

The NextTech Speaker Series was created to connect Bay Area founders, investors, executives, and technology developers to the life sciences community in the Tri-Valley and greater East Bay. The speaker series is designed to bring "a unique perspective on how to succeed in an innovation economy evolving beyond Silicon Valley," according to the i-Gate website. New speakers in the series will be announced in early 2018.

"The NextTech speaker series is important because it highlights the level of investment and growth in biotech in the Tri-Valley, particularly in the area of in vitro diagnostics and bio analysis," says Fintschenko. "When people think biotech startup, they typically think of Santa Clara or South San Francisco. It is important for people who work or invest in biotech to learn about the opportunities in the East Bay and the emerging biotech hub in the Tri-Valley, particularly in Pleasanton."

Since January 2016, more than $243 million of investor money has flowed into Tri-Valley biotech and health tech companies, according to Fintschenko, who notes that "many people do not know yet about the existence of this increasingly important biotech hub, nor about the wealth of local talent available to health tech and biotech companies here in Pleasanton."

As a volunteer-only organization, EBBN's commitment "stems from a desire to help people find opportunities for career and personal growth in biotech near where they live," says Fintschenko. "Having Hacienda businesses and our local anchor biotech companies in the Tri-Valley willing to host, sponsor, and publicize our events is an integral part of developing our local workforce in biotech."

EBBN, i-Gate, and Innovation Tri-Valley are among the groups behind the tech and biotech networking event called Tri-Valley Tech Connect, which will be held on February 6, 2018 in Pleasanton. The event "aims to help the region's most innovative people connect with career opportunities close to home so they can spend less time commuting and more time on things that matter," according to its website.

Fintschenko recommends that Tri-Valley businesses sign up to participate in the networking event before the end of 2017 if they are interested in "mining local talent" that is currently working in Silicon Valley and South San Francisco.

For more information about the East Bay Bio Network, visit www.meetup.com/East-Bay-Bio-Network.

For more information about the NextTech Speaker Series, visit www.igateihub.org/nexttech-speaker-series.

For more information Tri-Valley Tech Connect, visit www.trivalleytechconnect.org.