Published: 11.30.2007

U.S. News lauds 5 Tucson high schools, 2 in top 20

By George B. Sánchez

Published: 11.29.2007

UA’s program is top-ranked

Ugallery.com is the result of an idea generated by students at the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the UA’s Eller College of Management.

Don Piper, one of the center’s three mentors in residence, said students come up with a wide range of potentially marketable projects. Other recent undergraduate ideas include “a Web site to allow local Tucson residents to post assistance needs with their computer and students bid to help, a special geo-thermal heat pump system, ‘Bartab,’ a debit card where you can buy your friend a drink by posting a special icon on their Facebook, and a UA bike rental with a kiosk so anyone can rent a bike at their leisure.”

The center is consistently ranked among the best programs of its kind in the nation.

Published: 11.28.2007

$5M U.S. grant to help train for S. AZ tech jobs

By Michelli Murphy

Five million dollars may not go far, but a new federal grant that size should help some local workers succeed in globally competitive high-tech fields, officials said at a kickoff luncheon Tuesday.

“The dollars may not be significant, but the effort is,” said Larry Hecker, an attorney active in local economic-development efforts. “You can’t stand still in economic development. You have to move forward.”

A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration will fund Southern Arizona’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative, to be carried out by a four-county partnership called Innovation Frontier Arizona.

The grant will fund educational programs in Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties to prepare the region’s work force for high-tech, high-wage jobs. Among the programs:

Published: 11.12.2007

Innovation center nurtures regional business start-ups

By Michelli Murphy

Just like racing turtles, startup companies don’t always make it to the finish, said Dave Dunlap, founder of the language-learning software provider Coccinella Development Inc.

“Little businesses are like a bunch of turtles racing to the beach. If you’re weak you’ll probably die, and even if you’re strong, it’s hard to make it,” he said.

Dunlap’s “turtle” made it, thanks in large part to the Arizona Center for Innovation, or AzCI, a high-tech-business incubator at the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park.

Launched in 2003, AzCI has graduated five full-time clients and has worked with several student companies from UA’s Eller College of Management.

Center clients “graduate” after moving through a structured business-development program, which usually takes two to three years to complete.

Published: 11.06.2007

Manufacturer plans Tucson plant

Latitude Corp., a metals firm, may employ 50

By Gabriela Rico

A Wisconsin-based metal-manufacturing company will open a plant on Tucson’s West Side, the Tucson company hired to build the facility has announced.

Latitude Corp.’s plant will be built at 949 W. Silverlake Road, near Interstate 10 a bit north of the freeway’s junction with I-19. A 55,400-square-foot facility is planned.

Latitude is expected to employ up to 50 people when it opens in the spring, according to Tucson-based Indevco Construction Inc., which said it has been named general contractor for the project.

Based in Verona, Wis., a suburb of Madison, Latitude specializes in precision metal fabrication, water jetting and certified welding.

Published: 11.05.2007

Northrop to get $14.7M for Hunter work

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of Sierra Vista has been awarded a $14.7 million incremental contract as part of a $50.2 million contract for logistics support for the Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle program.

The work for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command will be performed in Sierra Vista and is expected to be completed by the end of October 2008, the Defense Department said.

Published: 11.02.2007

Entrepreneur honor to Raytheon leader

Louise Francesconi, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, was presented with the Thomas R. Brown Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award at the IdeaFunding workshop for Southern Arizona entrepreneurs Thursday.

The award was created in honor of Tom Brown, founder of Tucson-based Burr-Brown Corp., and goes to people who provide entrepreneurs with leadership and encouragement.

The release of the Tucson Commercialization Resource Directory by the UA Office of Economic and Policy Analysis was also announced at the Idea Funding workshop. The database lists providers of business startup services and can be accessed online at www.tcrd.arizona.edu.