Tri-Cities Tech Business Update

October 2012 Issue

Tech News and Notes

Washington Policy Center small business forum

Join Washington Policy Center (WPC) and business owners from around the state to vote on recommendations that may affect the future of Washington's small business climate. WPC's Center for Small Business is hosting its biennial small business forums with our statewide business groups and chambers of commerce throughout the state. WPC policy experts and business leaders will gather to discuss the important issues facing businesses, such as health care reform, regulation, and workers' compensation. Read more...

Washington State announces small business credit initiative

The Washington State Department of Commerce has announced a new Small Business Credit Initiative using more than $19 million in federal funding to create three new state programs. The Capital Access Program (CAP) will encourage lenders to make loans to businesses that fall just short of conventional business lending standards. The Craft3 Fund combines federal funding with private capital to create a fund which will target small businesses in underserved communities. The W Fund is projected to be a $25 million venture fund that will invest in early-stage life science, biotech, medical device, alternative energy, and information technology companies emerging from the University of Washington and other research centers in the state. Read more...

New warehouses near the TCRD

The first of four planned 20,000-square-foot high-bay warehouses with loading docks is under construction near the Tri-Cities Research District with completion scheduled for October 2012. They are 32-feet eve-height clear-span warehouses with heat and fire sprinklers. The warehouse can be split into a mixture of suite sizes, each with a loading dock as well as an at-grade truck door at the rear of the building. For more information, contact Dirk Stricker at dirk@dirkstricker.com or 509-430-8535.

New Human Resource consulting firm

HR Works, LLC, has opened in Richland, offering independent human resource management consulting services to businesses throughout southeast Washington. Services include hands-on human resource project management including policy and procedure development, assistance with the management of employee relations issues including disciplinary actions, navigating legal compliance concerns relating to employees, crafting custom safety and training programs, and more. Businesses that can benefit from HR Works' services include those needing to develop and/or implement human resource functions or policies to protect their assets and better serve their employees. For information, visit http://hrworks4u.com/.

Danger: America is Losing its Edge in Innovation

In an article on Forbes.com, former Lockheed Martin chairman and CEO Norm Augustine discusses the importance of science and engineering to the path of success. In fact, he writes, scientists and engineers are celebrities in most countries. They're not seen as geeks or misfits, as they too often are in the U.S., but rather as society's leaders and innovators. Read more...

PTAC Counselor Achieves Nationally-Recognized Certification

Ashley Bennington-Coronado with the Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) has reached the nationally-recognized Certification Level 1 with the Association of PTAC. With the help of PTAC, Washington State companies have won millions of dollars in federal, state and local contracts and subcontracts. Read more...

Tech Opportunities and Resources

SBA launches new market research web tool

A free web tool from the Small Business Administration called SizeUp allows small business owners and startups across the country to search industries by location in order to map competitors, suppliers, and promising advertising spots. It helps businesses identify new customers and compare their performance against other businesses in their industry with data collected from hundreds of private and public sources. Read more...

Solar energy system prize competition

As part of the Energy Department's SunShot Initiative, which is working to make solar energy competitive with other forms of energy without subsidy by the end of the decade, the Energy Department announced the start of a new competition to make it faster, easier, and less costly to install rooftop solar energy systems. The SunShot Prize makes a total of $10 million in cash awards available to the first three teams that repeatedly demonstrate the non-hardware costs, or price to plug in, can be as low as $1 per watt for small-scale photovoltaic systems on American homes and businesses.  Read more...

Impact Washington launches new "Made in Washington" program

Seattle Business Magazine: Impact Washington, a state-supported program that offers educational and consulting services to Washington manufacturers, has launched a program to encourage and support companies that manufacture locally. Impact Washington will offer a "Made in Washington" logo that companies manufacturing a substantial portion of their product in Washington State can use for promotional purposes. Impact Washington will also create a directory of local manufacturers to encourage purchasers to buy local. Read more...

13 ways to nail your pitch to angel investment groups

An article on Geekwire.com discusses things the author wishes he had known when he started pitching his startup company to angel groups. In addition, an applicant screener shares his thoughts. Read more...

Tech Dates and Deadlines

Technology Showcase

October 5. The Innovation Showcase helps bridge the gap between research and commercialization by highlighting the most promising discoveries and new technologies ready for commercialization in Washington. The quarterly event, held in Seattle and attended by a cross-section of the state's startup leaders, promotes the idea sharing and networking that helps turn research into results. Showcase attendees include investors, service providers, serial entrepreneurs, and others in the commercialization field. Read more...

Workshop: How to Start a Business

October 8. The "How to Start a Business" workshop (known as Start Smart) continues to be a big success. It has outgrown the space generously provided by the City of Richland and is moving to the Bechtel Room at TRIDEC. Two dates remain in 2012: Oct. 8, and Dec. 10. The 2-hour practical and interactive workshop explores how to save time and money by planning now for your business success. Participants develop an action plan and also receive a step-by-step workbook. The workshop begins at 6:30 p.m. Each date is the same workshop and each class size is limited. Read more...

Workshop: Understanding Government Contracting Solicitations

October 9. The state and federal governments purchase millions of dollars worth of products and services from small businesses each year. Attendees of this free workshop will gain useful tools that will assist them in better understanding complicated government solicitations. Offered by the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, the workshop will be from 9:00-10:30 a.m. at the Tri-Cities Business & Visitor Center. Read more...

Career Fair

October 11. WSU Tri-Cities is hosting a Career Fair, open to the public, from noon to 4 p.m.  No pre-registration is required for attendees. The free event will feature: 60+ companies seeking employees and interns; representatives from graduate schools; 45-minute workshops on Job Search Strategies, Resume Writing Tips, Interviewing Skills, and How to Start Your Own Business. There will also be free "Resume Doctors" to provide professional, personalized advice on resumes. Read more...

PNNL This Month

Cooperation, collaboration good for the soul

With the pace of life at a ludicrous speed and the increasingly commonality of people working independently, we're becoming a bit more isolated from one and another. This is where the new "co-working" concept comes in. Co-working tosses out the notion that working independently means doing so in isolation. It is, at its core, shared working space. What it provides seems to be much more than that. Read more...

Fisher elected president of the Health Physics Society

Darrell Fisher, a radiation scientist with the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been elected president of the Health Physics Society, a 5,000-member, internationally recognized scientific organization of professionals who specialize in radiation safety. Read more...

Twin PNNL houses prove efficiency of insulated windows

Tri-City Herald: PNNL has collected its first energy efficiency research data from a pair of new houses sitting on the Richland campus. One house is typical of a Tri-City home. Its energy use is compared to its twin, where the latest in energy efficiency features are evaluated. Read more...

Got News?

We invite your contributions! We will consider items that fit the mission of this publication, including your tech-related news, awards, and notices of upcoming events. Please send text and photos to Andrea McMakin or call (509) 372-6013.

Tri-Cities Tech Business Update is published by the Economic Development Office at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Each month, we send you an e-mail message, giving you the link of news, tips, awards, upcoming events, and other information about local technology-based businesses and organizations that support them. With business and community partners, our goal is to build and diversify the Tri-Cities economy—adding skilled jobs in primary-sector industries that bring in outside dollars. Currently, more than 1,100 tech-related businesses, investors, and economic development stakeholders subscribe to the newsletter, mostly in the Mid-Columbia area and the rest of the Pacific Northwest. This newsletter (RL-P00-009) supports DOE-Richland's vision for the future of the Hanford Site and surrounding area through the creation of research opportunities, new industries, and new business clusters