VA Bio/Manufacturing Project Wins Award
Representatives from the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VaBIO) and the Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA) announced that the Virginia Bio/Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Project (also known as “The Virginia Council on Advanced Technology Skills), has been selected to represent Virginia as the winner of the 2007 Southern Growth Innovator Award, by the Southern Growth Policies Board.
The project was chosen from more than 100 nominees in the Southern region as an outstanding initiative in workforce development. As one of 14 ‘Innovators’ in the Southern region, the Virginia project will be publicly honored at this year’s Southern Workforce Summit in an awards ceremony and reception hosted by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt on Sunday, June 3, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis.
The Southern Growth Policies Board is a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Formed by the region’s governors in 1971, the Board advances economic development policies by providing a forum for dialog among a diverse cross-section of the region’s governors, legislators, business and academic leaders and the community-development sectors.
The Virginia Bio/Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Project
is funded by a $1,494,369 grant awarded to the Virginia Biotechnology Association last October and is part of a total $16.8 million nationwide investment by the U.S. Department of Labor for advanced manufacturing job training and economic development. A total of 186 groups applied for funding through the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative. Only 11 were selected to receive awards. The project, which is the only recipient in Virginia, is led by VaBIO in partnership with VMA and Training & Development Corporation of Bucksport, Maine. The goal of the project is to create a new employer-validated certification system and an innovative employer-designed training program for advanced manufacturing technicians.
The private sector companies that are involved in the project include Alcoa, Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals, Honeywell, Merck, Micron Technology, Inc., Novozymes Biologicals, Corning, and Philip Morris.
“This project is a true collaboration between numerous trade associations, as well as the public and the private sector, with the combined mission to prepare the workforce of the Commonwealth for the 21st century economy. It demonstrates that we are on the threshold of creating a business cluster of advanced manufacturing employers in the Roanoke Valley, western Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Jill Loope, assistant director of economic development for Roanoke County. The project was nominated by the Roanoke County Department of Economic Development.
For more information, please visit the project webpage: http://www.vabio.org/virginia-bio-advanced-manufacturing-project/ or contact Mark Herzog, Executive Director of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, at 804-643-6360.
