Burbank Chamber of Commerce Presents Burbank Economic Summit

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(Photo by Ross A Benson)

Over 250 people gathered on Thursday morning at the new Ikea in Burbank to hear about the digital and technological future in store for Burbank in the surrounding areas in the future.

(Photo by Ross A Benson)

Burbank’s Chamber of Commerce presented the summit that brought out many industry leaders from finance, health care, along with digital and streaming technologies in today’s entertainment landscape.

Tom Flavin, Burbank Chamber of Commerce CEO was the Master of Ceremonies for the day and presented a strong line-up.

First up was Ikea Store Manager Jeff O’Shaughnessy who hosted the breakfast and taunted his largest in the USA Ikea Store. He talked of some of the advancements in building the store in more of a green environmental footprint to the area.

Bank of America’s Barbara Bagley gave an economic forecast as to where they see the economy headed and where it has been. Talk about the latest tariffs and what it is doing the economy was prominent in her forecasting of both the present and the future. She remained optimistic.

A presentation followed about “How Southern California Could be the Next Great Tech Ecosystem & What You Can Do in Your Community to Make This a Reality” by Andy Wilson and Eric Eide of the Alliance for SoCal Innovation.

They forecast that the average person will touch technology 4,900 times per day and once about every 18 seconds. Things such as E-Sports, Smart Homes and increased mobility through electric vehicles, which he expects to double in the next three years, will soon be upon us.

(Photo by Ross A Benson)

Speakers wanted to point out that cybersecurity is one of the largest concerns facing everyone right now and will be a constant battle for years to come.

Burbank Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy was next to speak and touted One-Burbank which offers Burbank businesses reliable fiber networking services which will allow Burbank businesses incredibly quick speeds to securely share data, video, and voice traffic at speeds of 20 MBPS to one GBPS without costly additional equipment.

Burbank’s Mayor also pointed out that thanks to the voter improved additional sales tax, that the City’s in a great position for years to come to improve infrastructure and fund pensions.

(Photo by Ross A Benson)

The last part of the summit included a panel discussion entitled, ” The Technology Future is Now in Burbank”. David Knight of the Chamber’s Board moderated the panel which included: Matthew Deuel from Walt Disney, Pam Allison of Warner Bros., Christine Rodriguez of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Evan Rogers of Petrol Advertising and Max Lopex of Apartment D.

(Photo by Ross A Benson)

Among the panel, the largest consensus was that expanding content, the use of virtual reality and the implementation of 5G technology is currently here now but only in its infancy. Social Media platforms and streaming content will become much more mainstream, whether it is in E-Sports of just recorded content.

Charles “Bud” Alleman, a Partner with KKAJ, LLP – Certified Public Accountants and Burbank Chamber Board Member, was very happy with the summit, “Tom Flavin has brought new life into the Chamber. The panel was excellent, with new advances coming, innovation will follow.”

Burbank City Councilmember Sharon Springer commented, “This was a great inaugural event, the panel was informative and very knowledgeable.

There was a lot to keep in mind moving forward”.

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