By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff Monday, July 27th, 2009

When University of California, Santa Barbara, Chancellor Henry Yang spoke at a UCSB economic forecast event in April, his remarks underscored how deeply embedded the university is in the business community.

“Our faculty, staff, students and alumni have all been a fundamental part of the development of the Central Coast’s high-tech economy,” he said, adding that “more than 90 local companies have been created by UC Santa Barbara alumni.”

For UCSB as well as Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo — and to a lesser extent California State University, Channel Islands — spinning off businesses has become the name of the game.

The full version of this column is only available to print subscribers. To view everything the Business Times offers, see this week’s print version or SUBSCRIBE for $49.99 today.