PITTSFIELD — Over the past few months, as people have become more comfortable with in-person events, the Berkshire Innovation Center has come alive and become the hive of activity that we always envisioned it to be.
Nearly every day different groups are in the building — business and governmental leaders for a public event, educators for health care providers for professional development, incumbent workers for a technical training, or community organizations for a themed workshop. This buzz is critical to the network we are activating, as it is often organic collisions that lead to new connections, knowledge spillovers, and the first sparks of innovation.
Of all the groups that come through our doors, it is hard to beat the enthusiasm brought by the young adults that we work with. Whether it is a middle school student participating in a robotics challenge or a high school class coming in for a technology demo day, the excitement that young people bring is contagious and energizing.
This energy is critical as we work to catalyze and spark innovation and sustainable growth of technology-focused companies in our region. In short, our work is aimed at reducing any frictions that impede the growth of these industries in our region, and harnessing the
interest and enthusiasm of the many talented young adults in Berkshire County is central to our collective success.
Every advanced manufacturer or other technology enabled company we work with — every single one — has vocalized concerns around finding the skilled talent they need to grow.
Regionally, hundreds if not thousands of jobs remained unfilled, and many of the companies
most aggressively looking to hire today have plans to expand dramatically over the next five to 10 years. This talent gap is a friction that continues to hold back our region, particularly as growth opportunities are so robust in sectors such as the life sciences, aerospace and defense, clean technologies, and digital design.
With all this said, I can’t help but feel a disconnect between what I am hearing from employers and what I am seeing when I meet the young people who come into the BIC. It is 100 percent true that employers have a slew of open positions and that more positions will continue to come online every year.
On the other hand, I don’t see a lack of “talent.” The students we see are unbelievably smart and technologically savvy. Give them a computer and they can program it. Give them a machine and they can take it apart and put it back together. If given a problem, they can either solve it or will take to YouTube and figure out how to solve it. They are impressive, articulate and purpose driven, and can accomplish amazing things when their interest and curiosity are piqued.
I don’t see a lack of talent. I see a lack of awareness, specifically in relationship to technical career paths. Over and over again, I meet students who are passionate about technology, but not aware of the incredible companies we have in the Berkshires, the type of work they do, the skillsets they are looking for, or the opportunities for career growth that they offer.
More fundamentally, most students I meet aren’t aware that their interests, whether it be video gaming, audio engineering, or building Lego robots, have embedded them with skills that could be translated into rewarding career paths. If they are even aware that manufacturing jobs exist, most visualize these jobs as a stereotypical “dark, dirty and dangerous” factory position.
The reality is that the manufacturing jobs available today are more like those offered at a facility in Pittsfield that I visited last week — one that engineers, designs, and makes components for the largest medical devices companies in the world, components made in a Class A clean room that a doctor will ultimately insert into a patient during hip replacement surgery. Jobs like this could only be described as "safe, sterile and sophisticated,” and provide incredible opportunities for growth and quality of life.
The BIC and our partners in industry and academia are cognizant of this disconnect and are digging in to build awareness, change perceptions, and help prepare our young people for the jobs of today and the jobs of the future. We want to inspire the next generation, so that we can harness their talent and they can find rewarding career paths.
To that end, this month we were thrilled to welcome the latest cohort of students to our Berkshire E-Talent Accelerator — or BETA — program.
BETA is an intensive six-week experiential learning platform designed to connect students with local businesses, work with them to explore idea development and business strategies, and give them the opportunity to engage with the technologies offered at the BIC and our member companies. The program seeks to build a direct pathways to technical careers in our region, offering a solution that is based on driving awareness and building a more diverse workforce. Key to the program is the holistic approach we take — one that embraces strong collaboration among employers, community leaders, nonprofit partners, educators and the students themselves.
In addition to touring a slew of advanced manufacturers and other technology-focused businesses, visiting facilities such as the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at the University of Massachusetts,and conversing with numerous industry mentors, this year’s group will also learn to work in agile, enabled project teams and will take a deep dive into the principles of entrepreneurship.
Thanks to the generous support from our core program underwriters — Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Taconic Foundation, and the McGraw Foundation — and community sponsors including Berkshire Money Management, Lee Bank Foundation, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank,
MassHire, Lenco Armored Vehicles, Molari Employment Services, David Rosenthal, and the Blackrock Foundation, students will receive a stipend to participate, which makes the program more accessible to those that otherwise must work. Moreover, thanks to a new partnership with Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, students can walk awaywith three transferrable college credits free of charge.
Past participants in the program have gone directly to jobs or internships with BIC member companies or are continuing their education with some of our closest academic partners, including Berkshire Community College, MCLA, Williams College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute.
Collaboration is core to everything we do at the BIC. It is the special sauce that turns the BETA program into something truly dynamic, an experience that one student recently described as “transformative.” This collaboration starts with our industry and academic partners, but it also takes community buy-in, which is evident from the sheer number of organizations that are supporting this effort and other similar efforts in the region.
We are excited to get to know our newest BETA cohort and introduce them to BIC stakeholders throughout the Berkshires, and beyond. We are also grateful for the support of the community and are eager to grow the program in lockstep with community partners who are working hard to build awareness, change perceptions, and inspire the very talented young adults in the
Berkshires.
We want the next generation to learn here, work here, and be aware of all the opportunities that exist here.