"We need your help."

That was the message Tuesday evening as a Tijuana businessman asked San Diego-area leaders to help promote the high-tech conference taking shape across the border.

Tijuana Innovadora 2012, planned for Oct. 11 –21, aims to build on the achievements of the first conference, held 16 months ago.

That conference drew such luminaries such as Al Gore, Carlos Slim, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Biz Stone, the founder of Twitter.

They and other industry leaders spoke about the advances occurring in their respective fields – with many citing Tijuana's role in that innovation.

José Galicot, a veteran Tijuana entrepreneur, spoke to several dozen business, cultural and civic leaders who gathered at the Mingei Museum at Balboa Park.

He reviewed why Tijuana natives and "adopted children" had organized the first conference: To raise awareness that the city was much more than a place plagued by drug violence, that it was a metropolis using cutting-edge technology to create a wide variety of products for U.S. and other world markets.

He said that 700,000 people attended the 2010 conference, with 100 national and international companies participating in some way.

In Tijuana, too, the hundreds of volunteers from all sectors who had come together for more than a year to organize the conference wanted a way to continue its work and decided to hold a second edition this fall.

"What started out as a conference has become a movement," he said.

But there was not enough participation from San Diego County, Galicot said.

He stressed that Tijuana and San Diego share one economic region and what benefits one side of the border benefits the other as well.

That's why organizers have formed a binational committee to encourage San Diego-area participation in this year's conference. The meeting Tuesday was to introduce the committee and begin a conversation with local leaders about what organizers could do to encourage San Diegans to attend.

Several leaders said many people were afraid to visit Tijuana because of the perception that it is dangerous and that organizers "have to hold their hand" to get them to attend the conference.

Drug-related violence, particularly murders, has dropped significantly in the city since its peak in 2008 and 2009. Still, many San Diegans are reluctant to visit Tijuana.

Several of the leaders suggested that bus transportation be provided from the border to the conference. A plan is being developed to do that, Galicot said.

Others suggested organizers reach out to college students, who are the next generation of leaders.

One leader said that organizers needed to do a better job of explaining the economic benefits of doing business in Tijuana, not just touting its role in innovation.

And another said they simply needed to do much more advertising of the event in the county.

Still others urged that organizers tap cultural organizations, like the Mingei Museum, which have programs that reach out south of the border, to promote the conference.

"Culture has no borders," one leader said.

Tatiana Martinez, who coordinates the binational committee, said representatives were available to speak to individual groups and companies. She may be reached at tatiana.martinez@tijuanainnovadora.com.

The committee members are Flavio Olivieri, executive director of the Tijuana Industrial and Economic Development Corp., James Clark, director of the Mexico Business Center of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce; Viviana Ibañez, Marketing and Programs Director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce; Mario Lopez, director of the Economic Development Council of Tijuana; and Pely Guevara, CEO of the marketingfirm of Red Corp. Alliances.

Organizers will hold three more meetings in San Diego -- April 10, June 12 and Aug. 14 -- all at the Mingei Museum.

Meanwhile, Tijuana Innovadora 2012 is taking shape. The conference aims to present world-class leaders, like its predecessor. Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, is one of the confirmed speakers.

The ten-day conference will highlight advances in such areas as bio-medical devices, automotive, consumer electronics and green technologies, much like the first edition did.

There also will be sessions focused on themes such as culinary arts, where Tijuana is beginning to be known on the world stage.