Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand sponsors RPI conference
Saratogian.comTuesday, Mar 18, 2008
By Kathryn Caggianelli
TROY – A stronger link has to be created in upstate New York to get small business innovations into the federal and state marketplace. That was the premise behind a conference Monday that drew close to 200 area entrepreneurs and their colleagues to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The event was sponsored by Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson, and was a spin-off from of an economic summit convened in Saratoga Springs last August.“A top priority of mine in Congress is to help create good, high-paying jobs in our community,” Gillibrand said. “Each year over $400 billion in federal and state contracts are awarded throughout the country to small businesses.
Our region has been at the bottom 10 percent of those contracts.” The bulk of contracts belong to the U.S. Department of Defense (D.O.D.), which last year accounted for $155 billion of the $400 billion contract total. A lot of untapped potential exists here in Tech Valley, Gillbrand said.
