The California Space Authority (CSA) has invited CCST to join in implementing a workforce development project funded by a new $15 million U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) initiative, Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED).
CSA is a nonprofit corporation representing the commercial, civil, and national defense/homeland security interests of California's diverse space enterprise community in four domains: industry, government, academia, and workforce. Thee WIRED project focuses on a 13 county economic region comprising the "California Innovation Corridor", an area of California that has a wealth of world-class research centers and technology companies, but limited support for entrepreneurial advancement. In addition to the need for greater financial support for further developing new ideas, the 13-county region - stretching from Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego County - has also experienced a decline in manufacturing jobs. That creates an opportunity to retrain workers in new skills and transform manufacturing to meet new technology demands.
The DOL initiative is part of an ongoing federal level focus on U.S. economic competitiveness, particularly in the areas of science and technology, stemming in part from the National Innovation Initiative launched in 2003 by the Council on Competitiveness, and reinforced by warnings in reports such as the National Academies' Rising Above the Gathering Storm and the President's American Competitiveness Initiative. The grant award is designed to strengthen worker training programs and create new jobs.
CSA will lead the program and focus on three key objectives:
- Build and support sustainable entrepreneurship,
- Support industrial rejuvenation for the manufacturing value chain and supplier competitiveness, and
- Develop technical talent.
In addition to CCST, the CSA coalition includes over 60 partners, including regional organizations such as the Bay Area Economic Forum, and private companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and NASA. CCST's role will involve, among other things, developing an economic model that leverages federal science and research assets, developing profiles on workers within the federal lab system already employed in high-impact areas, and outlining how local workforce investment boards could interface better with economic development professionals, education, and industry to ensure science and tech-savvy workers for the future.
