34th I.D. Leads 3M Event
St. Paul - 3/23/2010 - - "New Business Development for Defense" was the theme for the Defense Alliance quarterly meeting on March 23rd. The event was held at 3M's Innovation Center in St. Paul. The morning gathering included 180 members of the Defense Alliance, and included tours of the unique Innovation Center following the gathering.
Brigadier General David Elicerio, U.S. Army was the keynote speaker. General Elicerio is the deputy commanding general of the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard (the "Red Bulls"). The Division is just returning from a year in Iraq where it was the lead unit for Ground Forces Iraq. The general spoke about progress on the ground, and the need for continued and improved collaboration between the military and the defense industry that supports it.
Three speakers came to the event from Montanta as well. Dr. Will Swearingen, Ray Friesenhahn and Al Diebert spoke about their respective Department of Defense small business programs, MilTech and TechLink. The morning's content wrapped up with a review of ongoing state initiatives to regain Minnesota's leadership in science and technology that it once had; speaking about the Midwest Energy Technology Alliance and the Minnesota State Science & Technology Initiative were state Senator Kathy Saltzman, Representative Tim Mahoney and the director of the Office of Science and Technology, Betsy Lulfs.
The presentation briefs, and an overview of the DoD 2011 budget can be found on the "Resources" section of the website.
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