Automation Alley recently received a multi-million dollar shot in the arm, thanks to a $5 million grant from the U.S. Dept of Labor.
The Troy-based economic accelerator agency plans to use the funds to make high-level IT training available to local partner companies, such as HP Enterprise Services and Lakeside Software. Those growing firms have committed to hiring hundreds of new employees in Metro Detroit.
"The need is significant in our region," says Charles DeVries, senior director of business development for
Automation Alley. "If you look at our job board you will see lots of openings for high-end IT jobs."
Automation Alley will work with
Oakland Community College and the Michigan Works! agencies of Oakland County. IT techs and computer programmers have been in high demand throughout the entire economic downturn as the tech world has shifted more toward mobile devices. Automation Alley officials see creating and attracting the talent to fill out those jobs as the key to economic competitiveness for the near term.
"Talent is the economic battleground of the future,"DeVries says. "Whoever has the talent will win."
Source: Charles DeVries, senior director of business development for Automation Alley
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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