Funding Will Provide Increased Opportunities for Local Businesses to Collaborate with University Researchers, Developing New Technologies and Creating Jobs

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif) announced that California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to expand its Technology Center. Cal Poly’s Technology Center provides space for technology-based R&D companies on the campus to foster the exchange of technical knowledge and expertise between the educational and business communities. Capps, a long-time supporter of Cal Poly and its Technology Center, wrote a letter to the Commerce Department earlier this year in support of the university’s grant application. She also toured the Center with campus officials and local business leaders this summer.

“I’m so pleased to announce this important federal grant for Cal Poly and its Technology Center,” said Capps. “Cal Poly is a first-class research institution developing the cutting edge technologies of the future. The funding to expand the Technology Center will allow more local high-tech entrepreneurs and businesses to take advantage of this innovative work as they develop and commercialize their products. This is an investment that will help create high-quality, high-tech jobs here in our community that is critical to economic growth.”

“Cal Poly’s new Technology Park - an innovative effort of the University to play a more active role in local economic development - is a home on campus for technology-based businesses engaged in applied research and development. This key asset for the region will help our local economy become more entrepreneurial and innovation-driven, said Susan C. Opava, Ph.D, Dean of Research and Graduate Programs at Cal-Poly.

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