Mark your calendars. A Stakeholder Meeting for the first-ever IT Career Awareness Program will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 6 at National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) in Mandan.

The purpose of the lunch meeting will be to kick-off the IT Career Awareness Program initiative with an overview of the initiative, a review of the Energy Career Awareness Program that the IT program is modeled after, and a roundtable discussion on stakeholder roles and participation.

Whether you are a confirmed partner or just want to learn more about the program, please make plans to attend.

According to research conducted by two workforce-related state agencies, securing an educated and skilled IT workforce for the future and creating awareness of the state’s IT career opportunities are two significant IT workforce needs. Currently, there is no statewide program to address these issues. The goal of the first-ever IT Career Awareness Program is to inform students, parents and educators of IT career opportunities in North Dakota and develop a world-class IT workforce for the future.

A full proposal for the program can be viewed here.

Pre-register by Nov. 30 at www.itcnd.org or by contacting Deana Wiese, ITCND executive director, at 701-355-4458 or office@itcnd.org.

Hope to see you there.

It is not too late to participate in the 2nd Round of Innovate ND.  The statewide initiative is designed to help entrepreneurs turn innovative concepts into profitable new business ventures.  Enrollment in the program runs through Nov.15 and can be completed online.

“North Dakota’s future depends on our ability to cultivate entrepreneurs and grow businesses from within our state,” says North Dakota Governor Hoeven.  “This is a call to all innovators and entrepreneurs.  We invite anyone with a business idea – big or small – to enroll in Innovate ND and get help developing that idea into a business plan and ultimately, we hope, into a viable new North Dakota business.”

ITCND members Ntactive, LLC and Tao Interactive were two of five winners of the first annual Innovate ND entrepreneurial contest held earlier this year.

Ntractive produces small business management software that is designed to automate, organize and improve business processes for small companies.  "It is a great honor to receive this award," Ntractive founder and chief technology officer Justin Bartak says, "We consider it a great validation of the hard work and creative problem solving that we've applied to the whole Elements SBM project. The entire process has helped us move the business forward beyond the development stage it was focused on prior to entering the contest."

Dale Jensen, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ntractive said following the event, "We find great privilege in being among the finalists. I hope that everyone who participated in the InnovateND contest continues on the path to realizing their business goals."

Tao Interactive is a software development company that caters to small businesses and allows clients to create dynamic websites with advanced features at a fraction of the cost.

The program is organized by the Governor, the North Dakota Commerce Department, the UND Center for Innovation, the NDSU Research and Technology Park, as well as public, private and tribal entities statewide.

For more information, visit www.innovatend.com or contact Justin Dever at the North Dakota Department of Commerce, 701-328-5300 or jdever@nd.gov.

ITCND co-hosted the 2007 Great Plains Technology Conference on Oct. 8-9 in Fargo, along with U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan and the Chamber of Commerce Fargo Moorhead.  The conference featured a business-to-business focus and included the ITCND IT Awards Program, five keynote presentations and numerous workshops, which ITCND assisted in planning.

Dr. Anthony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), opened the ninth annual Great Plains Technology Conference on Oct. 8 with a keynote session that offered a glimpse into the future development and use of technology.  Tether featured some of the major projects DARPA is currently working on, including the development and use of robotic automobiles to replace soldiers in combat and the development of prosthetics that are fully integrated into the human nervous system for human-like endurance and actuation.

DARPA is the principal Agency within the Department of Defense for research, development, and demonstration of concepts, devices, and systems that provide highly advanced military capabilities.  DARPA’s high-payoff, innovative research and development, however, continues to influence development in the private sector, generating products that have since come to benefit the general public, one example being the Internet.

Kyle Warwick, senior marketing communications manager for Microsoft kicked off the second day of the event with a demonstration of Microsoft’s highly interactive technology, Surface.  In a sit-down session with Senator Byron Dorgan, Warwick showed how this technology will be used to break down the traditional barriers between people and technology, changing the way the public interacts with technology.

The conference also included presentations from keynote speakers Jonathan Adelstein of the Federal Communications Commission; Frederick Smith, chair, president and CEO of FedEx Corporation; Robert Carter, executive vice president of FedEx Information Services and chief information officer of FedEx Corporation; and Dr. Thomas Hunter, President and Laboratories Director of Sandia Corporation.

Click here to view archived streams of the GPTC keynote sessions.

Click here to view archived streams of conference content made available to North Dakota students via the Interactive Video Network (IVN) system and by streaming live online sessions.