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SpatialNews.com Press Release
STIA Receives $700,000 US Department of Labor Grant to Promote Spatial Technologies
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Washington, DC – The Spatial Technologies Industry Association is launching a study of workforce readiness for jobs in the fast-growing spatial technologies industry, utilizing a nearly $700,000 grant recently awarded by the US Department of Labor. The grant comes from President Bush’s High Growth Job Training Initiative and is one of nearly $4.9 million in grants that US Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced at Spatial Tech 2004, STIA’s annual symposium that was held this past September in Orlando.
STIA Board of Directors Chairman Harry Voccola, Senior Vice President of Chicago-based NAVTEQ, said the Labor Department’s support underscores the importance of the fast-growing spatial technology industry to the nation’s economy.
“Spatial technology is a rapidly growing industry sector with long-term prospects for continued growth,” Voccola said. “Already the growth of the industry has outpaced the number of individuals with training in this area. The Labor Department grant is a strong first step in filling the demand for workers in this field.”
The Labor Study is just one way that STIA is promoting spatial technologies and their application in the public and private sector. Voccola said that in the coming year, the association will host monthly policy breakfasts with members of Congress and key officials from the executive branch to discuss spatial technology applications and the issues that must be addressed to implement such applications.
These monthly policy breakfasts will continue and expand the dialog that was launched at STIA’s SPATIAL-TECH 2004, which was held in Orlando this past September. This year the annual symposium focused on the role of spatial technologies in the nation’s homeland security and emergency management mission.
The conference featured high-level discourse among an impressive array of senior-level policy, political, academic and industry speakers, including US Senator Bill Nelson, Florida Lt. Governor Toni Jennings, and Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily DeRocco.
According to STIA Board Member and Oracle Group Vice President Jack Pellicci the conference “was a unique opportunity to get the views of Florida's first responders and their state leaders on how spatially enabling their enterprises would improve their ability to plan for and respond to natural disasters such as the four consecutive hurricanes they experienced, the last of which was occurring as the conference opened.”
Established in 1996, the Spatial Technologies Industry Association (STIA) is dedicated to increasing the participation of commercial geospatial technology companies in public policy decision-making, the legislative process, and regulatory actions that directly affect the vitality and success of the geospatial industry in the United States.
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