Annual Report 2024

World Trade Center San Diego

Introduction

Launched as the international affiliate of  San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation  (EDC) in 2015 by its three license holders (City of San Diego, Port of San Diego, and San Diego County Regional Airport Authority),  World Trade Center San Diego  (WTCSD) serves as the regional leader on trade and investment by cultivating a pipeline of export-ready firms, maximizing foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities, and enhancing San Diego’s global identity and connectivity. 

We know a globally connected economy creates quality jobs, and makes the San Diego region more prosperous, competitive, and resilient.

Core Pillars

  • Exports: Supporting exporters creates quality jobs and builds resiliency in small businesses. WTCSD grows regional exports by facilitating sustainable connections to customers and markets for local firms.
  • Investment: Foreign investment strengthens competitive industry clusters and enables the expansion of local companies. WTCSD assists investing companies and supports international air service expansion.
  • Global Identity: A strong global reputation for innovation makes the region more competitive and connected. WTCSD communicates the impact of global trends on the regional economy and stewards relationships with the markets that matter most for growth.

Exports

Priority: As the region's Export Specialty Small Business Development Center (SBDC), WTCSD cultivates a pipeline of export-ready firms, and supports these companies in their efforts to grow in international markets.

Exports: By the numbers

Since program inception in 2015.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and the WTCSD team with the MetroConnect VII cohort

MetroConnect VII cohort kicks off 2024

WTCSD launched the seventh iteration of its flagship export accelerator  MetroConnect  at the beginning of 2024, which selects 15 export-ready companies through a competitive application process and equips them with cash grants and in-kind resources, such as translation software, workshops, and flight discounts, to access international markets. Since its inception in 2015, MetroConnect has helped San Diego-based companies across a variety of industries generate more than $96 million in new export sales. WTCSD's seventh cohort aims to build on that previous success.

MetroConnect VII began with a kickoff event that brought together representatives from the 15 selected companies, local business leaders, and program partners. The kickoff was an opportunity to celebrate the launch, introduce the newest participants, and award each company with their initial $5,000 grant for export activities. The event also provided networking opportunities for cohort members to connect with peers, industry experts, and program partners, such as trade offices.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Juli Moran (Deloitte), and WTCSD Executive Director Nikia Clarke present initial $5,000 grant to Aquacycl COO Jill Litschewski

MetroConnect VII introduces tailored tracks with leading sponsors

MetroConnect VII separates participating companies into three industry-specific tracks for tailored support: Strategic technology, health-tech, and consumer goods. Sponsored by MetroConnect's presenting sponsors—JPMorgan Chase & Co. for consumer goods, Deloitte for health-tech, and Booz Allen Hamilton for strategic technology—this new approach ensures that cohort members receive industry-relevant guidance, maximizing their potential for international growth.

In addition to presenting sponsors JPMorgan Chase & Co., Booz Allen Hamilton, and Deloitte, MetroConnect VII is made possible through the generous support of its key program sponsors, including Qualcomm, San Diego and Imperial SBDC Network, SYSTRAN, Japan Airlines, and Lufthansa.

Together, these sponsors provide critical resources and expertise to help MetroConnect companies expand into international markets and strengthen San Diego's position in the global economy.

MetroConnect workshop series and focus on export growth

Throughout 2024, MetroConnect VII companies participated in a series of workshops designed to enhance their export capabilities. These workshops covered a wide range of topics, from navigating international regulatory challenges and export controls to forming strategic international partnerships to assist expansion in global markets. With the workshop series complete, companies are now focused on executing their international growth strategies, leveraging the skills and knowledge acquired from the program thus far.

MetroConnect and WTCSD continue to provide support through personalized one-on-one advising, tailoring guidance to each company's unique needs and helping them expand effectively into their target markets.

“At the start of the MetroConnect program, we lacked the resources and knowledge needed to successfully conduct business internationally. As part of the cohort, we received a variety of resources and valuable insights into navigating global markets. Thanks to MetroConnect, we have successfully entered the European market and expect to continue our international growth with the support and funding opportunities provided by the program. MetroConnect is an absolute must for any small company looking to expand internationally!”

– Jill Litschewski, COO, Aquacycl

Export SBDC and STEP grant successes

In 2021, WTCSD became the host center for San Diego's Export Specialty Small Business Development Center (SBDC). This partnership has allowed WTCSD to expand its export support beyond the 15 companies participating in the MetroConnect program each year and establish a healthy pipeline of export-qualified companies. This year, the team supported 120 companies in a variety of ways, from one-on-one counseling to webinars to in-person seminars with experts from around the country.

In 2024, WTCSD set a goal of securing at least $50,000 in State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) funding for San Diego-based companies. So far, it has successfully assisted seven companies in navigating the application process, resulting in $39,476 in awarded funding. With additional companies in the second round of applications, WTCSD is on track to meet its $50,000 target by the end of the calendar year. STEP grant support remains a key part of WTCSD's export advising activities and commitment to helping San Diego businesses grow globally.

BIS Export Compliance Roadshow

In April, WTCSD worked with the San Diego & Imperial District Export Council and US Commercial Service to host an Export Compliance Roadshow. The daylong seminar—attended by 60 exporters and hosted at the University of San Diego Knauss School of Business —featured government speakers from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, Customs and Border Protection, and half a dozen private sector experts.

ASBDC Conference

AI was the theme for this year’s America’s SBDC Conference, held in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout the week, WTCSD team members attended sessions highlighting various AI tools that could be leveraged to produce positive impacts for small businesses. The team also connected with peers in export specialty centers around the country.

San Diego & Imperial SBDC at the ASBDC Conference in Atlanta, GA

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Priority: Maximize foreign investment opportunities for the region by building and institutionalizing linkages with strategic markets abroad, as well as better leveraging local companies, partners, and assets.

FDI: By the numbers

KLM announces direct flight to Amsterdam

KLM announced this 3x weekly service, following a years-long effort by WTCSD and SAN to build and maintain business relationships with this equally innovative region. Work led by WTCSD in the past two years included a mayoral trade mission (2022), permitting and incentive support for a new ASML facility (2023), and an Urban Dialogues series which brought high level government and business leaders to San Diego from throughout the Netherlands (2024).

"When a community shows up in a city where we are trying to get air service, it makes a huge positive impact on the airline. The airline recognizes that the community will support the flight. Thanks to EDC and WTCSD for your part in bringing KLM’s Amsterdam service to San Diego International Airport. It’s been a multi-year effort and we couldn’t have done it without you."

—Kimberly Becker, President & CEO, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority

BIO International Convention

WTCSD Director Lucas Coleman presents to Korean life sciences companies at the Seoul Bio Forum during BIO Convention

WTCSD capitalized on the influx of foreign life sciences companies visiting San Diego during the 2024 BIO Convention by hosting an Invest in San Diego breakfast at BCG's downtown offices.

Against the scenic backdrop of San Diego harbor, Mayor Todd Gloria addressed the audience of more than 100 global attendees, welcoming and encouraging them to explore our vibrant region over the course of the week. Those remarks were followed by a life sciences ecosystem overview from WTCSD’s Executive Director Nikia Clarke. Finally, a panel of life sciences companies—Neurocrine, Avidity, Eli Lilly, and Element Biosciences—participated in a panel discussion moderated by Biocom.

East Asia and Northern/Western Europe were the top regions represented by companies in the audience.

SelectUSA in Washington D.C.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the plenary session at this year's SelectUSA conference in Washington, D.C.

WTCSD attended the SelectUSA foreign direct investment conference in Washington DC. As part of a 40-member California delegation, WTCSD team members hosted foreign companies from a variety of innovative industries at the California Pavilion and attended informative sessions on international trade and investment priorities. Breakout sessions included updates on legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act, as well as introductions to new data tools for tracking foreign investment.

Global Identity

Priority: Enhance the San Diego region’s reputation and visibility to underpin investment retention and attraction efforts, as well as global connectivity goals.

Rep. Scott Peters, WTCSD led Singapore trade mission to strengthen economic ties in Asia

In order to foster vital global economic partnerships, Representative Scott Peters, San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo, and WTCSD led a delegation of business and civic leaders to Singapore to promote San Diego’s key industries and to establish and strengthen business relationships across biotechnology, medical devices, advanced manufacturing, and urban infrastructure.

Rep. Scott Peters speaks at Maritime & Port Authority (MPA) Singapore

As the U.S. strengthens its alliances in Southeast Asia, San Diego finds in Singapore an economy with shared expertise in knowledge-intensive industries, including artificial intelligence, medical device manufacturing, and information communications technology. Singapore boasts satellite operations for some of San Diego’s premier innovators including Qualcomm, ResMed, and Illumina.

Further, Singapore has poured $12.8 billion in FDI into the U.S. since 2019 in industries such as manufacturing, information communications technology, and energy. The U.S. has matched that amount, investing $12.5 billion during the same time period. Looking closer, Singapore is the #10 country investing venture capital into San Diego by deal count, just behind Denmark and India (2014—2020), primarily in the medical equipment and technology industries.

Singapore also shares in San Diego’s binational identity, with Singapore-Johor seeing nearly 1.6x the number of border crossings per day compared to San Diego-Tijuana’s border (450,000 and 283,000, respectively).

Rep. Scott Peters and the San Diego-Tijuana delegation visit the Singapore-Johor Woodlands Border Crossing

Highlights from the trip included:

  • Spotlight on San Diego event, introducing major San Diego projects and opportunities to an audience of 70 Singaporean investors and business leaders
  • Meeting with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan to discuss investments in innovation, border infrastructure, and more
  • Small, high-growth San Diego companies visited Singapore’s institutional investment firm that funds innovation worldwide
  • Port of San Diego called on a number of shipping companies in order to attract more liner service to San Diego
  • The City of San Diego explored housing policy and infrastructure with the Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore’s Ministry of National Development, and the developer firms that partner together to house every Singaporean

The 2024 delegation included leadership from the Port, Airport and City of San Diego, UC San Diego and San Diego State University, large global employers like Qualcomm, Illumina, Cubic, ResMed, Austal, and Mitsubishi Electric, and small, high-growth innovators like Biolinq and Visaic. Additionally, the delegation included tourism powerhouses like the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and ecosystem partners from across the binational region like Connect, the Chamber, the Tourism Authority, Tijuana EDC, and the Prebys Foundation. See full trade mission recap  here .

“As the City of San Diego’s Economic Development Committee Chair, I have two key goals: creating high-paying jobs and lowering costs for families in our city. I was proud to partner with WTCSD on the Singapore trade mission, which focused on bringing advanced technology, high-skill workers, and robust tourism and investment to our local region."

—Councilmember Raul Campillo, City of San Diego (D7)

”Our recent trip to Singapore stands out as one of the most rewarding experiences I have had on a trade mission during my time with the Port of San Diego. Being able to interact with customers and different members of the trade delegation truly elevated the experience. The Port team was thrilled to share insights and explore future collaborations with current and prospective maritime customers."

—Commissioner Ann Moore, Port of San Diego

2024 San Diego to Singapore binational delegation

Governor of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea visits SD

Governor Kim with Governor Newsom

In following up from WTCSD's 2023 trade mission to South Korea, Gyeonggi Province Governor Dong-yeon Kim visited San Diego as part of a weeklong tour of California.

While in San Diego, Governor Kim visited City Hall, UC San Diego, Illumina, Biocom, and even threw out the first pitch at a San Diego Padres game.

In addition to helping coordinate the San Diego leg of Governor Kim's agenda, WTCSD supported the Korean government's efforts to arrange a meeting with California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Global Competitiveness Council (GCC)

Convened quarterly by WTCSD, the GCC is a group of senior San Diego business, academic, government, and civic partners that drives a comprehensive regional global engagement strategy and seeks to position San Diego as a thought leader on issues related to trade, investment, and competitiveness. The GCC advises on WTCSD programming, issues periodic trade and investment policy recommendations on behalf of the region, and generates public support, financial resources, and coordination mechanisms for San Diego's broader global engagement strategy. 

In 2024, the GCC held quarterly meetings focusing on WTCSD's trade mission to Singapore, the impact of Mexico's federal elections on San Diego businesses, a deep-dive into Qualcomm's innovation in the wireless communications space, and updates on the redevelopment of Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport—and welcomed San Diego International Airport's Kim Becker and Qualcomm's Monique Rodriquez as GCC co-chairs.

The GCC visits Qualcomm in March to learn about the latest frontier in wireless communications technology


WTCSD Stakeholders

WTCSD Board of Directors

Global Competitiveness Council

Founding Partner Appointees

Council Members

  • Monique Rodriguez — VP of Government Affairs, Qualcomm, (Co-Chair)
  • Scott Russel — Principal (Americas West), Arup
  • Jennie Brooks — Executive VP, Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Jason Jager — Senior Partner & Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group
  • Neil Bence — VP of Encology and SD Site Head, Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Emily Cowley — Head of UK Government Office in San Diego, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
  • MaryAnn Pintar — Chief of Staff, Office of Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA 50th)
  • Daniel Hedstrom — VP & Chief Innovation Officer, Cubic Corporation
  • Juli Stone Moran — Managing Director, Deloitte
  • Jae Park — Partner, Dentons
  • Jereme Sylvain — EVP & Chief Financial Officer, Dexcom
  • Jake Leach — COO, Dexcom
  • Monica Hovey — Executive Assistant, Dexcom
  • Zabrina Johal — Business Development Executive, General Atomics
  • Ashley Van Zeeland — VP of Corporate Development, Illumina
  • Mark Field — VP & Head of Software, Insulet
  • Tracy Murphy — President, IQHQ Inc.
  • Maritza Diaz — CEO, ITJ (formerly ITjuana)
  • Takatoshi Oda — Account Manager and Passenger Sales (Southwest Region), Japan Airlines
  • Bambos Charalambous — Regional Lead (Private Banking), JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Aaron Ryan — Managing Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Kristina Sojung Kim — Of Counsel, KS Kim Law, PC
  • Martina Hupach — Regional Sales Manager (Southwest US), Lufthansa German Airlines
  • Zafer Sahinoglu — General Manager MELIC Ventures, Mitsubishi Electric USA
  • Rho Cauley Bruner — Director of Programs, Northrop Grumman
  • Javier Gomez — Director of Global Affairs, Office of Mayor Todd Gloria
  • Jorge Goytortua — President & CEO, Otay Tijuana Venture LLC
  • Mike LaFleur — VP (Maritime), Port of San Diego
  • Greg Borossay — Principle (Maritime Business Development), Port of San Diego
  • James Perkins — Chief Operating Officer, Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP
  • Dennis Doucette — Partner, Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP
  • Carlos Nunez — Chief Medical Officer, ResMed Inc.
  • Daniel Fitzgerald — Regional Director, San Diego & Imperial SBDC Network
  • Hampton Brown — VP of Revenue Generation and Marketing & Innovation, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
  • Kenia Zamarripa — Executive Direct of International Affairs, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
  • Mark Ballam — Managing Director (CIBER), San Diego State University
  • Nate Kelley — Research Director, San Diego Tourism Authority
  • Tiffany Yarling — Manager (Corporate Communications), Solar Turbines Incorporated
  • John Paul Barraza — CEO (Americas), Systran
  • Jim Johnston — Site Head & VP, Head of GI/Inflammation Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda San Diego
  • Barbara Wight — CFO, Taylor Guitars
  • Rene Sanchez — Global Logistics Sr. Manager, TaylorMade Golf Company
  • Cristina Hermosillo — President, Tijuana EDC
  • Aron Davidson — Director (San Diego & Imperial), U.S Commercial Service
  • Thomas Reott — Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Tijuana
  • Peter Cowhey — Former Dean of GPS, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
  • Tyler Baldridge — Manager (Global Market Access & Regulatory Policy), Viasat, Inc.
  • Steve Brass — President & COO, WD-40 Company
  • Pilar Dieter — Managing Partner, YCP Solidiance

WTCSD Founding Partners


Blogs & Case Studies

To learn more about World Trade Center San Diego,  visit our website .

Since program inception in 2015.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and the WTCSD team with the MetroConnect VII cohort

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Juli Moran (Deloitte), and WTCSD Executive Director Nikia Clarke present initial $5,000 grant to Aquacycl COO Jill Litschewski

San Diego & Imperial SBDC at the ASBDC Conference in Atlanta, GA

WTCSD Director Lucas Coleman presents to Korean life sciences companies at the Seoul Bio Forum during BIO Convention

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the plenary session at this year's SelectUSA conference in Washington, D.C.

Rep. Scott Peters speaks at Maritime & Port Authority (MPA) Singapore

Rep. Scott Peters and the San Diego-Tijuana delegation visit the Singapore-Johor Woodlands Border Crossing

2024 San Diego to Singapore binational delegation

Governor Kim with Governor Newsom

The GCC visits Qualcomm in March to learn about the latest frontier in wireless communications technology