Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. proposes to design, support and implement, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, National Association of Manufacturers, and the Southern Growth Policies Board, two major symposia, one in the South and the other in the Northeast that will focus on how two-year educational institutions can better meet the technical skill needs of modern, high value, high performance manufacturers. The proposed symposia are intended to inform education and training policy makers about changes and opportunities in technical occupations in advanced manufacturing, to deepen their understanding of the emerging industrial modernization system, to identify obstacles and opportunities to improve performance, and to develop a clear vision of how to make those improvements. Those invited will include presidents of member colleges, chancellors of state systems, and directors of state modernization programs, school-to-work transition programs, and economic development agencies. Each chancellor will be asked to submit names of others, e.g., presidents, legislators, board members, to be invited from their respective states. The host organizations in the South will be the Consortium for Manufacturing Competitiveness, a group of leading technical colleges started and incubated by the Governors and legislators of the southern states under the Southern Growth Policies Board and, in the Northeast, a new alliance of college systems. The objective of each is to accelerate and support industrial modernization with improved technical education and services that build demand for and help small and medium sized manufacturers better utilize technical skills
