Boulder Economic Council » News Articles

Area serves as laboratory for outdoor firms

bec — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:50:57 +0000

June 11, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – Open space throughout the Boulder Valley, and the surrounding foothills and mountains, provide a natural laboratory that draws outdoor companies here, industry leaders said Tuesday morning. Whether it’s creating “barefoot” running shoes such as those made by Newton Running Co. Inc. or Xero Shoes, both in Boulder, that outdoor laboratory is important, they say. (more)

Denver-Boulder ranks high for STEM jobs

bec — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:49:11 +0000

June 10, 2013 – Denver Business Journal – Nearly 23 percent of Denver-area employees work in jobs requiring a high level of science, technology, engineering and math knowledge, which is greater than the national average. About 297,130 workers in the combined Denver and Boulder metropolitan areas held jobs requiring knowledge in technical, or STEM, skills, according to 2011 job-figure data gathered by The Brookings Institute for a study released Monday. Those STEM workers are among the total of 1.3 million workers in the Denver area. (more)

12 area firms among ‘companies to watch’

bec — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:47:02 +0000

June 7, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – Twelve companies based in Boulder and Broomfield counties are on the Colorado Companies to Watch list for 2013. The program recognizes 50 second-stage companies that are developing valuable products and services, creating quality jobs, enriching communities and creating new industries throughout the state. (more)

Chamber chief unveils blueprint for innovation

bec — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:34:59 +0000

June 7, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – The Boulder Chamber has a plan to help keep generating the innovation magic that makes the local business community so special. Innovation Blueprint 3.0 includes five key points. One point is a plan for a conference cetner and a separate building where entreprenuers can meet to exchange ideas, according to John Tayer, president of the Boulder Chamber. Tayer rolled out the plan to about 50 listeners Tuesday, May 28, against the backdrop of the city’s signature Flatirons mountains at Chautauqua Park. As a follow-up, Tayer wants anyone in the community interested in the plan to sign up online at TeamBoulder.org to become involved. The other four points to the plan: Strengthen the city’s business innovation network; advance innovative policy solutions; promote innovation; and increase investment in innovation. (more)

Hopes, fears collide at econ summit

bec — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:10:44 +0000

June 7, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – Encouraging news of recovery and collaboration went hand in hand with worries about the impact of sequestration of federal funds during the 2013 Boulder Economic Summit. For the more than 200 people who attended the event, held May 30 at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Wolf Law Building and sponsored by the Boulder Economic Council, the summit was a roller-coaster ride featuring the highs of economic promise from new technological discoveries and the lows of limitations imposed by sequestration of already-allocated money from Washington to fund that research. (more)

Boulder Chamber launches ‘Innovation Blueprint’ to drive economic development

bec — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:34:38 +0000

May 28, 2013 – Daily Camera – The Boulder Chamber on Tuesday announced a comprehensive plan aimed at driving economic development in Boulder by bolstering activities such as networking, entrepreneurial efforts and fund-raising. Under the Chamber’s Innovation Blueprint 3.0 program, a group of businesspeople, residents and municipal leaders will work together as “Team Boulder” to advance five components: Stengthening the “business innovation network”, Advance innovative policy solutions, Promote Boulder innovation, Increase innovation investment and Build innovation infrastructure. A website, teamboulder.org was established to serve as a hub for the Innovation Blueprint 3.0 program. (more)

Udall wants drone test site in Colorado

bec — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:24:40 +0000

May 29, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – Sen. Mark Udall is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to get a new drone test site location in Colorado, he said Wednesday. University of Colorado-Boulder officials organized a state application for the new site – one of six unmanned-air-craft-system test sites planned to be built this year in the United States. Unmanned aircraft are commonly called drones. Udall, D-Colo., made the announcement during remarks he made at the 2013 Boulder Economic Summit at the Wolf Law Building on CU-Boulder campus. (more)

Polis touts education, predicts less funding

bec — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:49:09 +0000

May 29, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – All high school students may have to be fluent in computer science to graduate – just as they are in current core subjects such as math, English and social studies – if U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has his way. “Human capital” is key in an intellectually based economy, Polis said, specifically as it relates to students learning about science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects. Students need to learn computer-science concepts to help them find jobs when they graduate, said Polis. (more)

Gains cheered, pain feared for aerospace

bec — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:45:47 +0000

May 29, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – Large public and private universities haven’t yet felt the major impacts of federal budget cuts known as sequestration – but they will soon, said Stein Sture, vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Speaking as part of a panel on the aerospace industry at Wednesday’s Boulder Economic Summit at CU’s Wolf Law Building, Sture said those schools are projected to see about a $20 million cut in federal research money by the end of the year alone, about half of which will come from the aerospace and space science disciplines. (more)

Chancellor: Cuts imperil research at CU

bec — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:42:17 +0000

May 29, 2013 – Boulder County Business Report – University of Colorado’s Chancellor Phil DiStefano lauded the work being done at CU on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, project scheduled to launch late this year and explore the Martian upper atmosphere. Then, as the opening speaker of the Boulder Economic Summit on Wednesday morning at CU’s Wolf Law Building, he warned that such drivers of innovation and economic vitality in the state are in danger if steps aren’t taken to strengthen ties between research universities, the state and federal governments, and the private sector. (more)