(“T minus 10…9…8…”)
Imagine that a spaceship landed right here in Texas, promising to leave behind not only advanced technologies and related production resources, but also a group of 1,200 highly intelligent, skilled, and (let us assume) benevolent visitors.
The spaceship alluded to is as real as you are. It represents any one of the spacecraft from NASA’s Space Shuttle Program (now scheduled for retirement). The E.T.s in this case are Engineers & Technical personnel recently separated from the program on October 1st. The question is: What can be done by Texas communities to employ the skills, workers and resources being released by NASA before someone else does?
Bexar County and the Greater San Antonio area are home to numerous firms in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and biomedical engineering. We also have excellent institutions engaged in biomedical and other specialized research. Many of these entities could benefit either from employing some of the highly skilled workforce about to be released, or from the commercialization of newly available NASA resources via strategic partnerships.
No one in Texas would wish for NASA to dissolve a program with so many talented positions and high tech assets. However, it is incumbent upon Texas communities to retain and redeploy these highly valuable resources, so that other innovations and industries may advance. If we are strategic and creative enough, we can use these resources to help take us to a better future.
The spaceship will indeed be leaving shortly. Will we do all we can to hitch a ride to the stars?
For more information, contact:
Bob Mitchell, President of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership
(Bob@bayareahouston.com, 832.536.3255)
Grady Giffin, Employer Initiatives division of the Texas Workforce Commission
(grady.giffin@twc.state.tx.us, 512.936.2390)