News
Nasdaq official advises Idaho to develop potential
MATR Sponsor (view all)
Idaho´s economic development efforts should take advantage of the
state´s already existing assets, the Nasdaq stock market vice
president said Tuesday.
Michael Journee
The Idaho Statesman
Chief among those assets are the thousands of patents and
innovations developed by scientists at the Idaho National
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in eastern Idaho, Al
Berkeley told a Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
“INEEL and other national laboratories have really bright people
focused on very tough problems, usually for the purpose of national
defense,” he said.
The fruit of INEEL´s work could become the nucleus for any number
of private commercial enterprises which will, in turn, draw similar
business to the area, Berkeley said.
These “tech clusters” based on INEEL technology have already
begun to form in eastern Idaho, but are far from reaching their potential, he said.
In addition to INEEL, the state university system, the heads of large Idaho corporations such
as Micron Technology, government leaders and other Idaho institutions could be brought
into the effort of developing ideas for these or other innovations, Berkeley said.
“These are the guys who know what kind of assets you have that can be developed,” he
said.
He was invited to speak at the luncheon by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
The idea of technology transfer, or using technology developed for government programs
for private commercial applications, isn´t a new one.
Crapo said he and other state leaders have been talking about it off and on for a while now,
in various contexts.
But now, Crapo is drawing on Berkeley´s expertise in market development to help focus the
efforts and enlist other state leaders in the discussion and planning of commercializing the
developments.
The plan fits well with state leaders´ goal of improving the value of the laboratory, which
dodged a bullet earlier this year after Department of Energy officials had recommend
closing it down as a cost-cutting measure.
In the end, political leaders secured the laboratory´s future by persuading Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham to shift its focus from environmental-management to nuclear energy
research.
Before the shift, INEEL had lost about 900 of its nearly 8,000 employees to budget cuts.
To offer story ideas or comments, contact Michael Journee
[email protected] or 208-377-6465
MATR Supporters (view all)
Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.