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For anyone using public transit in major metros that is using some sort of smart card or payment vending machine, it's more than likely from Cubic which is based in SD too. They have like 70% of the global market for smart transit cards.
All the major metro's are at minimal economic hubs on a national scale, with the upper extreme going a step further and being international or global hubs. For the most part all of those metro's monopolize nation wide industries or at the worst have a substantial stake in them to the point they can influence the national market, not just their surrounding regions and are almost unequivocally hold the bulk of corporate HQ's in the US
Despite it's relatively large population... San Diego simply does not, nor can it throw around that type of economic weight.
You did not understand the purpose of my post. First off, I already stated that I don't believe San Diego is a major city (see post #21). It's definitely on the cusp of being one and, if it accomplishes a number of major initiatives in the next few years, will be unquestionably a major city.
My argument was that San Diego doesn't belong in a lower tier than Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, or Detroit...especially when that tier is Sacramento, Nashville, Portland, etc.
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All of those cities (SD included) are major regional metros, just not major national/global ones.
Atlanta - $397 Billion GDP
Seattle - $392 Billion GDP
Miami - $354 Billion GDP
*Greater San Jose region sits at $331 Billion*
What does this have to do with my comment or the comment I was responding to?
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Now I know economic's is nowhere near as simplistic as A>B>C=D as some industries take precedence and all are interconnected, but GDP gives you at minimum a good sense of the economic weight/power a metro can throw around
Right, which is why San Diego belongs in the same tier as Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Detroit...
For anyone using public transit in major metros that is using some sort of smart card or payment vending machine, it's more than likely from Cubic which is based in SD too. They have like 70% of the global market for smart transit cards.
They designed London's fare payment system...which is now contactless and mobile as you go!
San Diego is a global hub in two areas. 'Hub' meaning that if you're in that industry, you have to go through the hub at some point.
- Cell phones - The entire global cell phone industry is based around technology developed in San Diego by Qualcomm. They are more dominant than Microsoft was in OSs. Hence, every major cell phone company in the world has representation in SD. This is extending to wireless communications more broadly. San Diego is the wireless capital of the world. Most people are unaware of this because they don't understand the guts of their cell phone.
- Life sciences/biotechnology - San Diego is one of the big three biotech clusters in the world. Specifically, in the area of genomics, SD is a Mecca. If you work in biotech at some point you'll go through SD. If you work in genomics, you probably work in SD.
In what areas are Phoenix and Denver national or global hubs, for example??
San Diego is a global hub in three areas:
- Telecommunications
- Biotech/life sciences
- Defense
It's also the busiest border crossing in the world and a critical part of national trade/movement.
Phoenix could literally disappear and no one would notice. It's only significance is an airline hub...that is pretty underwhelming. It has a comparable amount of international destinations to San Diego, a non-hub.
Denver is a big fish in a small pond. Its perceived relevance is more a result of not having competition than being important. What is it a hub for?
San Diego has historically struggled to build certain industries (and acclaim) because it often suffers from a brain drain to LA and SF. Actually, that's the same case with college sports as well.
San Diego is doing a better job at keeping its young and highly skilled workforce, which is making a huge difference.
San Diego's innovation/tech sector has been around for awhile, but has changed over time. [list]
San Diego has historically struggled to build certain industries (and acclaim) because it often suffers from a brain drain to LA and SF. Actually, that's the same case with college sports as well.
San Diego is doing a better job at keeping its young and highly skilled workforce, which is making a huge difference.
Yes, I'd like to add that San Diego is actually now benefiting from a brain drain from Silicon Valley. Tech workers from Silicon Valley are now flocking to San Diego as a cheaper alternative.
I know San Diego is one of five metro areas that contributed to 90% of Life Science jobs.. however, where did all this growth come from?
Is it mostly recent?
The San Diego industrial biotech cluster was 'birthed' about the same time as in SF with the formation of a company called Hybritech in 1978. This company was successful in developing the PSA test based on antibody technology. The company was bought by a big pharma company for $600M, which was a lot of money back then. The employees funneled this money into a lot of new startups. There are now about 1200 biotech companies in SD
Some say the biotech cluster was formed in the 50s and 60s with the founding of the Salk Institute, Scripps Institute and UCSD on Torrey Pines Mesa. Later came the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Institue, La Jolla Intitute and others. At this point, Torrey Pines Mesa is the largest concentration of medical research in the world.
San Diego also has a very large medical device industry. A common business model is to do R&D in SD and manufacture in TJ.
San Diego is a global hub in three areas:
- Telecommunications
- Biotech/life sciences
- Defense
It's also the busiest border crossing in the world and a critical part of national trade/movement.
Phoenix could literally disappear and no one would notice. It's only significance is an airline hub...that is pretty underwhelming. It has a comparable amount of international destinations to San Diego, a non-hub.
Denver is a big fish in a small pond. Its perceived relevance is more a result of not having competition than being important. What is it a hub for?
I like San Diego just fine and won't retort to bashing it, it's not my cup of tea personally as I love sports and find the outdoors access limitations there to be a turnoff.
Much like most cities not named (NYC, Chicago, SF, LA, or Seattle) there's plenty going on in Phoenix if you know a little bit about it.
Who would notice if it's gone?
Just around 5 million today and another 100K moving to in each year. If you've ever used Dial soap products, Petsmart, Sprouts, Kona Grill, PF Changs, UHaul, ColdStone, Limelight, Go Daddy, ZipRecruiter, Ping Golf clubs, Taser, or Best Western then you've done business with a Phoenix based company.
Or if you've been to Barrett Jackson (or the other collector auctions during AZ auction week), the Fiesta Bowl, Spring Training, the largest attended PGA event, the largest Arabian horse show in the world, plan to be at the 2023 Super Bowl, the 2024 NCAA finals, visit the largest musical instrument museum in the world, or one of the top Native American museums.
There's a reason why Sky Harbor is the 13th busiest airport in the country... "the airport's strong demand base and level of origin and destination enplanements"
San Diego’s rate of growth actually surprises me in that I think it’s a destination city which has obvious appeal worldwide and it surprises me there aren’t hoards of skyscrapers going up and more tech flooding in. Is the cost to do business simply so high that it firewalls more rapid investment?
For instance, a skyscraper boom would make a lot more sense in San Diego than, say, Vancouver BC which is beautiful, but arguably doesn’t have the more headline features of San Diego (“perfect” weather, more comfortable beaches, one of the world’s best universities, etc). Obviously the markets vary tremendously.
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