The Aerospace States Association (ASA) an association of state Lt. Governors and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) representing aerospace manufacturers have signed a historic agreement to grow high paying jobs, increase economic development and inspire America’s youth to join the aerospace workforce of the future.
ASA Chair, Alabama Lt. Governor Kay Ivey said “America’s aerospace industry is our nation’s and our states’ lifeblood. It provides for national security, provides transportation for our economy, and provides the ability to explore space, the next frontier. The aerospace industry grows our state economies, employs more than one million high-paying jobs, and is a source of innovation and inspiration for our youth to enter our STEM workforce.”
“Our agreement with ASA complements AIA’s efforts at the national level and helps us expand our reach into individual states and regions,” said AIA President and CEO David F. Melcher. “We look forward to working with state elected officials and listening to their concerns to ensure we have the infrastructure and political support needed to grow our industry. We have had engagements with state officials through our workforce education summits and at international airshows; working with ASA allows us to broaden our efforts and increase our visibility with all of ASA’s members.”
What a collaboration between AIA and ASA will do for American aerospace and defense:
Help inform aerospace state officials of the challenges and opportunities facing our industry and better position them to wisely legislate, regulate and engage with an industry that has been a growth engine for our economy for more than a century.
Educate and train aerospace professionals (the next generation of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs) who will develop the next generation aviation system and pioneer the frontiers of space.
Develop, test and incubate new technologies across a wide spectrum of corporate, academic and private innovation infrastructures.
Sponsor aerospace conferences and business roundtables to enable networking among key aerospace leaders.
Facilitate attractive tax structures, leverage venture capital and seed public-private partnerships to promote entrepreneurship and expand space enterprise.
Convey the multiple scientific, educational and commercial benefits of space exploration to the general public.
AIA and ASA will be collaborating closely at events like AIA’s Supplier Management Council meetings in Cincinnati, Fort Worth and Tucson later this year, as well as ASA State chapter events. These meetings will provide opportunities for industry and state and regional officials to interact and better understand how to support each other’s activities to our mutual benefit. In addition, AIA’s Team American Rocketry Challenge and ASA’s Real World Design Challenge programs are collaborating to promote and provide resources for the events this year and find ways to further the collaboration in the future.
