Congressman Weldon is a founder and key leader of a collaborative four-state initiative composed of regional leaders from academia, industry, government and support organizations known as the SMART (Strengthening the Mid Atlantic Region for Tomorrow) Caucus. Consisting of eight Senators and 41 Representatives from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the SMART Caucus enables its members to work together to improve the attractiveness of federal scientific research and development dollars.
The SMART region pools its resources to ensure that the outstanding research facilities and scientists in the Mid-Atlantic region receive appropriate recognition. Through effective partnerships, universities and companies in the SMART region will be able to out perform their counterparts in other parts of the country. Weldon continues to support initiatives like SMART to bolster local science and technology research.
The SMART initiative’s website is: http://www.smartstates.com
SMART Legislation
Congressman Weldon plans to introduce legislation creating a federally chartered four-state compact intended to solidify the SMART organization and promote economic development in the areas of science and technology in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Similar to a multi-state economic development compact or a port authority, this agreement would benefit from direct oversight and support from the states – a clear advantage for leveraging state investment in regional efforts.
The SMART Interstate Compact bill merely consents to the agreement. As is the case for all interstate compacts, the states will be responsible for agreeing to and enacting legislation that would create the entity. New Jersey has already enacted such legislation. Naturally, the finalized compact would not be approved without extensive debate in each state legislature on the procedures and circumstances on how each state shall be affected.
For the SMART concept to succeed, it is important that the SMART Caucus be fully utilized by every Member in the four states. Our initiatives should reach all four corners of the region and include every field of science and technology. Individual districts, as well as individual states, are not capable of attracting the necessary resources our research institutions require to play the prominent role they can and should in our country.
SMART Region/GUAM Region International Collaboration Program
The SMART Region/GUAM Region International Collaboration Program is a unique broad-based initiative designed to facilitate relationships, exchanges, and business opportunities, foster collaboration, and further economic development. Capitalizing on the infrastructure developed in Central Asia by Omni Communications, Inc., a U.S. company in the SMART Region, a virtual highway was created to provide distance education, telemedicine, e-commerce, e-government, e-science, and e-law, as part of a broader regional economic development initiative, with the SMART Region (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) as the gateway to the United States, and the GUAM Region (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) as the gateway to Central Asia.
In October 2005, Weldon participated in a U.S. Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce Event talking about Azerbaijan and SMART: http://www.usacc.org/news.php?nid=635&cid=0
