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New Roles in Technology Commercialization Identified for NW States
A call for action for states from the Northwest region was the result of Linking Regional Resources, a conference of approximately 150 business, government, national laboratory, and university representatives held in Seattle.
The roles for the states and federal labs were identified after two days of updates and brainstorming on the status of five Northwest market sectors: information technology, biotechnology, extractive industries, agriculture and food processing, and forest products. Participants discussed challenges and strategies for technological success. The group agreed that there is a need for states “to play a role in coordinating and integrating technology commercialization and development” within the region.
According to the conference proceedings, participants identified the three concepts with potential for the greatest impact:
- Create a Northwest S&T Council to “integrate or coordinate the science and technology activities in the Northwest, including state-specific positions and advisory groups as well as science and technology investment programs
- “Establish a Northwest seed fund to provide capital to companies in local areas lacking access to capital resources or for investment in resource-based businesses transitioning to new economy business methods using DOE funding
- “Seek investments in rural community infrastructures for communications technology including high-bandwidth internet connection. The term 'rural electronic-ification' was coined to describe this program, following the lead of the U.S. rural electrification initiative in the mid-20th century.”
Dr. Lee Cheatham, Executive Director of the Washington Technology Center, agreed to guide followup on the action items over the next 12 to 18 months. For more information, Dr. Cheatham can be reached at cheatham@u.washington.edu.
The conference was sponsored by the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Details of the conference proceedings, including specific session results and contacts for implementation are available on-line at http://www.pnl.gov/lrr/proceedings
Our thanks to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for alerting us to this story through their newsletter, INews.
Washington