9418848 Huskamp This Metacenter Regional Alliance (MRA), through its SEED (Stimulating and Enhancing Entrepreneurial Development) program, will address the following, identified as barriers to accelerating the transfer of computational technology to individual small businesses: - the inherent risk in devoting precious corporate energy to the adoption of new technology - the amount of staff time that must be invested to explore applications of this technology - the need for training, consultants, and computing time - accessibility of these services. A model for small business outreach in North Carolina will be implemented based on the academic allocation model currently in use by the metacenter. Additional states will be recruited in the following years, and will leverage expertise from existing partners, previous project experience, and the resources already in place at the MRA. The Southern Technology Council will take the lead in recruiting new states in the SEED program. Participation form the metacenter is crucial to the success of this program. With this linkage to the metacenter, the SEED program can connect small businesses to national resources that are normally not accessible to them.
