Recent Aerospace News Recap

It has been a period of positive news for the local aerospace industry. There was the news that the 737 MAX was going to be built in the state and Boeing announcing its largest order in both dollar value and number of airplanes by Southwest Airlines. The airline ordered 208 737′s, which includes 150 of the new 737 MAX planes. Down in Renton, Boeing recently organized a celebration for employees for reaching a production rate milestone – 35 jets every 20 work days. That marks a significant increase from 14 per month back in 2003, and major increases are still expected over the next few years to meet demand for the new jets. Scheduled rate increases are expected to bring production up to 38 jets per month by 2013 and to 42 by 2012.

At the state level, three bills were passed during the end of 2011 special session to support the industry. These bills focused on the aerospace industry’s education and training needs and will better prepare Washington’s young people to be the next generation of aerospace workers and engineers.  The Washington Aerospace Partnership, which works to support and grow the aerospace cluster in Washington State, will be seeking additional legislation in 2012. Find out more here. 

Local company Alaska Airlines topped the Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat scorecard this year. The Middle Seat scorecard ranks major carriers each year on a number of key measures important to travelers: on-time arrivals, long delays, canceled flights, mishandled bags, passengers bumped from flights and complaints filed with the Department of Transportation.

There are also a number of aerospace conferences coming up in the region for those interested. The 2012 Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) Aerospace Conference will be held from February 6-8 at the Lynnwood Convention Center. The Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit will be held from March 12-15 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Hire America’s Heroes Career Day

On February 24, 2012, Hire America’s Heroes is hosting a career day in the West Club Lounge at CenturyLink Field. All job-seeking members of the Military Family including veterans from all conflicts, military transitioners, job-seeking National Guard and Reserve forces, Wounded Warriors, care-givers, military spouses, job-seeking Gold Star and Blue Star family members attend free of charge.

If you are a job seeker or company looking to attend, register here. 

Address:
CenturyLink Field
800 Occidental Ave S.
Seattle, Washington 98134
Phone at CenturyLink Field: 206-381-7655

End of year accolades for local companies

The Puget Sound Region is home to some great companies. Of course we think so, but it’s always nice to get recognition from people in other places. Each year the Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat blog releases a scorecard ranking major airline carriers. The scorecard considers such things as timeliness of flights, cancellations, lost baggage and complaints to rank the carriers. For 2011, our own Alaska Airlines was listed the best-performing carrier!

At the end of each year Consumer Reports puts together their “Naughty & Nice Holiday List”. This list of “Nice” and “Naughty” companies is developed through contributions from their reporters and editors covering shopping, travel, hospitality and telecommunications and measures companies based upon their customer service policies. Of the 10 “Nice” companies on the 2011 list, 4 are from the Puget Sound Region – Microsoft, Amazon, Costco and REI. In case you were wondering, no local companies were on the “Naughty” list.

In addition to being great to customers, local companies are also great to work for. Fortune magazine’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2012 list included 6 Washington companies – REI, Perkins Coie, Starbucks, Microsoft, Everett Clinic, and Schweitzer Engineering Labs.

Aerospace Industry Cluster Tour – February 10

Due to extremely high level of interest, the Aerospace Industry Cluster Tour has sold out! Please contact Jason Thibedeau at jthibedeau@psrc.org to get on the waiting list.

The Prosperity Partnership will lead an Aerospace Industry Cluster Tour on Friday, February 10^th from 8:00am-4:00pm. The Aerospace Industry Cluster Tour is an opportunity to learn about this exciting, impactful cluster firsthand.

You will hear about the latest trends and recent developments in the industry. Attendees will tour Boeing’s Renton production and visit Electroimpact, premier supplier of automated equipment to the worldwide aircraft industry. In addition, the tour will also cover some of the region’s aerospace training programs, including the Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center at Paine Field.

The cost to attend is $50 and includes lunch.

Contact Jason Thibedeau at 206.389.2879 or jthibedeau@psrc.org with questions.

Please forward this information to anyone you feel would be interested.

40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference

 Thursday, January 12, 2012 ~ 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ~ Washington State Convention Center

enterpriseSeattle’s 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference will address the opportunities, challenges and trends for 2012. Don’t miss your chance to join in the conversation, learn what lies ahead for the region, and connect with other regional leaders at the largest economic forecast event in the Northwest. Gain insight into critical business issues with timely forecasts from nationally recognized experts from The Conference Board, Puget Sound Economic Forecaster and Russell Investments as they cut to the bottom line at this must-attend event.

This year’s conference will also highlight the future of the aerospace industry in the region with a panel discussion moderated by King5 Aerospace Reporter Glenn Farley to include representatives from The Boeing Company, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Washington Aerospace Partnership, and the King County Aerospace Alliance. Additionally, the conference will feature both an Aerospace Innovation Showcase, and an Aerospace Workforce Showcase with displays from regional suppliers.

Click here for more details on the conference or to register

UW Service Gap Does Not Compute

Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times discusses the lack of capacity of the University of Washington to meet the demand for Computer Science enrollment.

“There may be no place where the gap between politics and reality is wider right now than the UW’s computer science department. Politics these days is all about shrinking. How can we retrench, reduce or reset. But even the lecture halls aren’t big enough to contain what’s actually going on in high-tech education.”

Full article here.

State of Manufacturing in Washington Summit

Join Impact Washington on January 10, 2012 for their 2nd annual State of Manufacturing in Washington Summit. This summit will focus on the importance of manufacturing in Washington and its impact on our economic growth, now and in the future.

Click here to reserve your seat at this important event. 

Featured at this event will be: 

• Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee, who will speak on his manufacturing policy for the state and will answer questions from attendees
• Doug Woods, President of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, discussing the Manufacturing Mandate national manufacturing strategy 
• Results of the 2011 State of Manufacturing in Washington poll of over 400 manufacturing CEOs statewide
• Results of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 Job Sector Survey

Location:
Bell Harbor Conference Center
2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66
Seattle, WA 98121

Date:
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012
7:30 AM – 10:30 AM

Washington Clean Technology Alliance Luncheon, Working with the US Military

The luncheon will feature a panel discussion featuring leaders from the U.S. military, Washington cleantech business, and economic development organizations on how clean technology companies can engage the U.S. military and the Department of Defense for business expansion. Cleantech startups and established players can learn more about the opportunities in one of the world’s largest energy markets: America’s armed services.  Expert panelist presentations will be followed by a chance to ask questions.  

The Washington Defense Partnership, the ongoing military group at PSRC, strongly supports increasing opportunities for local companies to contract with the defense department.  The military’s growing focus on clean technology offers the perfect opportunity for more of our region’s businesses to become involved in contracting opportunities.  We are excited about this event and the connections that can be made. Click here to register.

Northeastern University Coming to Region

The Seattle Times reported that Boston based Northeastern University has plans to open a Seattle campus in 2012. The campus will likely focus on graduate and professional programs in fields such as technology, science and health. One of the reasons that Northeastern University is opening a Seattle campus is the gap between employer needs here and the graduates coming out of local institutions. “The employer community can’t find the talented workforce based on the number of graduates coming out of the existing institutions,” said Sean Gallagher, Northeastern’s senior strategist and market development officer. (Read more)

Regional Economic Strategy – Opportunities Workshop Recap

On October 5, more than 75 community leaders gathered for an Opportunities Workshop at the Dome Room at the Arctic Club in Seattle. This workshop is an important element in the update to the Regional Economic Strategy, which relies on a comprehensive economic data analysis and a consensus-based strategic planning process.  

“The Prosperity Partnership’s strength comes from our partners,” said Bob Drewel, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Regional Council, “and they came together to share their best ideas on how we can shape the economic future of our region. We appreciate our partners continued efforts to advance regional economic development planning.”

Workshop participants enjoyed hearing about the research and data gathering being completed to help inform the update to the Regional Economic Strategy. TIP Strategies began with an occupational analysis to identify talent clusters to compare to the existing industry landscape. This analysis will help identify programmatic strategies the region can use to better support job growth and local industries. Occupations were measured by eight criteria, including job quality, critical mass, momentum, stability and outlook. Aerospace, Logistics and Infrastructure, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Business Support and Social Development emerged as the most promising from this analysis.

Promising occupational clusters and how they relate to industry clusters

Breakout roundtable discussions formed around economic opportunities that exist in the region and how to take advantage of them. Discussion topics included opportunities related to main economic drivers such as talent, innovation, industry, infrastructure and other regional assets. These discussions will help guide the development of the Regional Economic Strategy.

Working groups were formed on these topics: higher education and workforce, aerospace, business climate, physical infrastructure, and entrepreneurship and innovation. They will meet over the next few months to help further define strategies.

Stay tuned for more information on the Regional Economic Strategy update, which is scheduled to roll out in 2012.

Puget Sound region wins Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge

On September 26, enterpriseSeattle announced that was awarded $1.2 million in federal funding through the Federal Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a multiagency competition launched in May to support the advancement of 20 high-growth, regional industry clusters.

Investments in this challenge came from three federal agencies, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration, and the Small Business Administration, with technical assistance coming from 13 more agencies.  This funding recognizes how the Puget Sound region is on the leading edge of creating the types of public-private partnerships that can help support business innovation. The funding will go towards the establishment of the Washington Interactive Media Accelerator (WIMA) and the furthering of enterpriseSeattle’s Washington Interactive Network (WIN) targeted at supporting the interactive media industry in Washington State.

“The interactive media industry in Washington State currently has more than 150 companies that employ more than 15,000 people,” said Jeff Marcell, President and CEO of enterpriseSeattle. “The funding provided by this grant will allow us to continue our work in support of the interactive media industry, creating an accelerator and programs that will continue to attract jobs and capital investment to our region.”

Read the enterpriseSeattle press release.
Read more about the award at the EDA website.

Greater good Campaign – Supporting Higher Education in Washington

The Seattle Times Co. recently announced the Greater good Campaign, a year-long public service effort in support of Washington State’s higher education institutions. The campaign is aimed at reinforcing the broad positive contributions of Washington State’s higher-education system on Washington’s job creation and quality of life.

With existing and proposed cuts to Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions, state funding for these institutions has dropped by nearly 50% since the 2007-2009 biennium. In real dollars, Washington state will invest less in these institutions in the 2011-2013 biennium then it did in 1989-1991 while serving 32,000 more students.

Quality education for all our citizens is vital to sustaining prosperity in our state and region. Not only does Washington’s economy benefit from having a more educated workforce, there is a return on investment on state money spent on state universities. For every $1 that the state invests in the University of Washington, more than $22 is generated in the total state economy.

In 2010, Governor Gregoire convened a Higher Education Funding Task Force to develop a plan to ensure the long-term sustainability and accountability of our state’s four-year higher education institutions. Now that the Task Force has delivered its proposal, the Prosperity Partnership is mobilizing support for these recommendations, as well as to ensure that the state continues to invest in higher education in the upcoming biennial budget. For more information on the Higher Education Funding Task Force, or to join click here.

Global Health Industry Cluster Tour Recap

On Friday, September 9 the Prosperity Partnership led a group of interested individuals on a Global Health Industry Cluster Tour.

A sold out tour group ditched the bus and took to the streets for the first ever walking industry cluster tour. The reason this was possible is the success of the South Lake Union neighborhood as a hub for global health organizations. Participants saw the inner workings of a number of global health organizations and spoke with representatives of others.

We kicked the day off at the South Lake Union Discovery Center where we heard about this dynamic neighborhood – past and future developments, investments in transit, transportation infrastructure and new public spaces. From there we went to Seattle BioMed, where we learned about their work developing innovative solutions to combat the world’s deadliest diseases and toured their research facility.

Lisa Cohen of the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) gave a presentation on the local global health sector and talked about the Global Health Nexus, Seattle initiative. Global Health Nexus has been working to bring the Seattle region’s global health community together to build a platform for enhanced collaboration, public awareness, and action.

The next stop was the Institute for Systems Biology. What is systems biology? Well, I’ll defer to John Aitchison, Phd who gave the following presentation on the subject. Also, during the tour of the facilities, attendees got to see someone in a highly secured room dissecting a mosquito.

Vulcan Real Estate sponsored the tour’s lunch discussion where participants were broken up into tables with representatives from major area global health organizations. There were representatives from Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth, Infectious Disease Research Institute, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, SightLife, University of Washington Department of Global Health, and World Vision.

Participants finished off the day with a tour of PATH. Even with such a full day, we still only scratched the surface of how important the global health sector is to the world and the local economy.

More information:
• South Lake Union Development Update 2004-2010
• Global Health Strategic Mapping and Economic Opportunity Portfolio, from the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) and City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development (OED)

Job Growth and Development Activity in South Lake Union Surpass Expectations

“The success in South Lake Union with the life sciences and global health sector is an example of successful public-private partnership. We are committed to continued engagement with industry and community leaders on issues of job training, power reliability, zoning, transportation infrastructure and urban design to continue this momentum,” said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

The City of Seattle issued a press release detailing the city’s actions to continue to support  the creation of jobs in the healthcare, global health and life sciences industries. Read the press release here.

To read the South Lake Union Development Update (2004-2010) click here.

Prosperity Partnership Global Health Industry Cluster Tour

The Prosperity Partnership is leading a Global Health Industry Cluster Tour on Friday, September 9^th from 8:00am-2:30pm. This walking tour is being sponsored by Vulcan Real Estate, a major driver in developing the South Lake Union neighborhood into a biotech hub.

The Prosperity Partnership is coordinating this event with help from the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA), a statewide alliance of global health organizations, and Global Health Nexus, an initiative of WGHA that works to increase public awareness of global health. The Global Health Industry Cluster Tour is an opportunity to learn about this exciting, impactful cluster firsthand. Attendees will tour global health organizations, and hear from a panel of experts on partnerships in the industry and upcoming events – all as part of an effort to learn about opportunities to grow this part of our economy. 

The cost to attend is $45, and includes lunch. We are still finalizing the itinerary, but we will be meeting at the South Lake Union Discovery Center and traveling through the South Lake Union neighborhood visiting PATH, Seattle BioMed and the Institute for Systems Biology. We’ll have representatives from many organizations within the global health community including Seattle Children’s, the UW Department of Global Health, and World Vision. Final details and logistics will be emailed before the event, but the South Lake Union Discovery Center is acessible by public transportation, and parking is available at the PATH headquarters, or at 2200 Westlake Avenue.

Attendees will have the unique opportunity to learn abouthow they can get involved with Global Health Nexus, an initiative of WGHA in partnership with the Prosperity Partnership and the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association.

Slots are filling up fast. Click here to register for this event by Friday, September 2nd: