| arizona international trade development, tucson economics, import , imported , importing , importer , export , exported , exporting , exporter , international trade , international trading , WTO, news arizona international trade development, tucson economics, import , imported , importing , importer , export , exported , exporting , exporter , international trade , international trading , WTO, news arizona international trade development, tucson economics, import , imported , importing , importer , export , exported , exporting , exporter , international trade , international trading , WTO, news arizona international trade development, tucson economics, import , imported , importing , importer , export , exported , exporting , exporter , international trade , international trading , WTO, news |
| .. |
 |
 |
 |
| . |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| STRUCTURE – HISTORY
In 2002, Dr. Mark Zupan invited us into the Dean’s office of the now Eller College of Management to tell him about our new idea for a sustainable economic development model for southern Arizona. “I’ll support you any way that I can.” So we invited Dr. Zupan to become a Board Member if ITDC ITDC had first introduced the concept of a new model to the Extended University Advisory Board in August of 2002. It represents a model that integrated all the talent, intellectual capital, and resources together into sustainable systems and products for local and global markets. Dr. Anita McDonald, Extended University Director, set up appointments starting in 2003 to meet with Deans of the respective Colleges to introduce this new model. Meanwhile, we sat down and compared notes with opinion leaders in the economic development community including Dr. Marshall Vest, Dr. Boris Kozolchyk and Bruce Wright. In 2003, ITDC incorporate as a not-for-profit corporation in the state of Arizona and took the year to compare notes about our model with leaders in the public, private, and educational sectors of our community. First we met the following Deans and Administrators: Dr. Eugene Sander, College of Agriculture and Life Science Dr. Tom Peterson, College of Engineering Dr. Joaquin Ruiz, College of Science Toni Massaro, College of Law Dr. Maurice Sevigny, College of Fine Arts Dr. Chuck Tatum, College of Humanities Kirk Simmons, Executive Director, International Affairs Ed Donnerstein, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Dr. Dick Powell, V.P. Research and Graduate Students Pat Jones, Director, Office of Technology Transfer Then we spoke with people in the public and private sectors about a model that would put interns behind the steering wheel of a process to whittle out the feasible from the impractical and develop viable and sustainable systems and products. We talked with Senator Kyl’s director, Hank Kenski, Representative Jim Kolbe, Mayor Bob Walkup, and Jan Lesher, Director of Governor Napalitano’s southern district. We talked with local leaders like Larry Hecker, John Munger, Bob Hagen, Michael Chihak, Henry Koeffler, Alaina Levine, Mike Hammond, John Carter, Mike Kasser, and we visited Thunderbird and their Career Services Office to find ways to work together. In 2004, we had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Gene Giacomelli, Director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) at the University of Arizona. With the convergence of engineering, plant science, and biotechnology, we felt that CEAC held the promise of a steady stream of sustainable opportunities. When we found out that there were not commercial applications for their research and development efforts, ITDC set up its first intern scholarship to team up with CEAC and write a business plan for its long-term future. We hired our first intern from Thunderbird, since the Career Services Office matched $5,000 dollar for dollar to pay for our first $10,000 intern scholarship. The results were fruitful. The second intern scholarship was co-sponsored by a member of the Eller College of Management MBA Advisory Board in a dollar for dollar match with ITDC. The second intern scholarship project was to identify local technologies that might be integrated together in new configurations for new markets. The results were not fruitful. Meanwhile, we continued to network in the public, private and educational sectors to identify more opportunities. We met and shared our vision for a new model in Arizona with Janet Napolitano’s Advisor, Noah Kroloff, Gilbert Jimenez, Director of Arizona Department of Commerce, John Mathis, Femi Barbarinde, and Glenn Fong from Thunderbird, and local leaders in the private and non-profit sectors such as Sara Smallhouse, David Cohen, John Byrnes, Steven Fell, David Cohen, and Bob Davis. In 2005, ITDC hired our third and fourth interns on scholarships matched by Thunderbird. For the third project, we interviewed 7 people and hired an intern to work with us to evaluate the feasibility of entering the grafted seedling transplant business. The results have been fruitful. The fourth project was to identify local technologies that could be integrated into an island resort retrofit to supply solar energy, water purification, and waste remediation at an affordable cost. The results have yet to pay off. Meanwhile, we continued to meet with local people to talk about the prospects for stemming the brain drain and providing high-skilled jobs with leaders including Karl Eller, Vicki Chandler, Prabhu Dayal, Joe Yuhas, Dee Riddle Harris, Florencio Zaragosa, Alberto Moore, Stan Abrams, Evan Hersch, and Robert Salvatore. In 2006, we hired our fifth intern from the MBA Program at the Eller College of Management that was sponsored by AmpliMed Corporation. The project was to delineate potential strategic and financial partners in Japan and Korea. The results proved fruitful, and we took the Chairman to Japan. Among the people that we met to talk about the promise of putting Arizona ahead of the curve included leaders including Gabrielle Giffords, Carl Schramm, Joel Kotkin, Gary Cramer, Sharon Megdal, Ken Goodman, Mike Hein Karen Uhlich, Leslie Tolbert, Jim Click, and Eric Neilsen. In 2007, we continue to meet with local leaders in the community to explore ways to work together and integrate the local resources for global commerce. We participated in Town Hall and had the chance to share our ideas with many local leaders. We also met with leaders including Carl Russell, Bob Beaudry, Lisa Lovallo, Bob Schwartz, Lena Saradnik, Paul Portney, Jules Harris, Kristin Almquist, Dwight Ferguson, Priscilla Storm, and Ray Woosely. In 2008, our first start up venture, Sonora Transplant LLC, was part of a team that produced successful results from a Science Foundation of Arizona planning grant to ramp up production of pharmaceuticals using tomato plants as a bioreactor. We have applied for a $2.5 million Strategic Research Grant to the Science Foundation of Arizona, a $300,000 Value-Added Production Grant to the US Department of Agriculture, and are in talks with The City of Tucson and Pima County on proposals for demonstration projects in the areas of waste water treatment, landfill waste to renewable energy credits and others. |
| ITDC - 520.299.4551 info@inno-tech.org |