Attracting Vermont College Graduates to Vermont jobs
A new student loan repayment program has recently launched to create an incentive for recent graduates of Vermont colleges to work for Vermont-based employers.
The Green Mountain Jobs and Retention Program, which was passed by the legislature last year, offers a $5000 loan repayment program to create an incentive for new graduates from Vermont colleges and universities to work in Vermont.
The program is managed by the University of Vermont and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). Spring 2023 graduates from a Vermont institution with a Bachelor’s Degree who work for a Vermont business and agree to live in Vermont for at least two years are eligible. Any graduate during the spring 2023 academic year from 12 private and state institutions with a Bachelor's degree can apply. Recipients will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.
This could be an additional recruiting incentive for Vermont tech businesses seeking to hire recent Vermont College graduates.
Additional funding for the incentive is included in the current workforce development bill under review in the legislature.
The Legislature continues to work on major initiatives such as paid family and medical leave, childcare and housing. There are differences between the Senate and the House’s approach to funding these priorities, with several new taxes on the table, including increases to payroll taxes for employers and employers, and an increase in the corporate tax.
Here are some additional items of note:
Cloud Tax
No specific bill with the Cloud Tax has moved forward so far. Although, the House Ways & Means Committee had tried to add the Cloud Tax to S.93, a bill that provides a sales tax exemption for the purchase of wood boilers. However, the tax could still could be added as a potential revenue source for major initiatives such paid family and medical leave, childcare, and universal school meals. We continue to advocate against the levying of a sales tax on “prewritten computer software accessed remotely,” known as the Cloud Tax, but perhaps best called a digital economy tax, because of the additional expenses it will place on Vermont businesses.
VEGI
The language in bill H.10 that dealt with an extension and study of the Vermont Economic Growth Incentive (VEGI) was added to S.94, a bill extending Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, both of which are managed by the Vermont Economic Progress Council (VEPC). The VTTA supports Vermont continuing to offer an economic incentive program for business.
Data Privacy Bill
The House Commerce Committee decided to defer on passing the data privacy bill H.121, after hearing from a range of industry stakeholders who raised concerns about the language and impacts. The committee may work on it this summer, and have a bill ready when they come back in January next year. The VTTA supports a bill that more closely aligns with comprehensive privacy bills in other New England states.
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Networking event May 4
Plan to join us for a VTTA networking event on May 4 at Queen City Brewery in Burlington. We’ll have beer and other drinks, pizza from Pizza 44, and plenty of time to connect with friends and new acquaintances.
VTTA member VTel, will give an overview of what’s happening with this leading Vermont telecommunications provider. We’ll also open the floor for an informal Open Mic session. Take a few minutes to introduce yourself, tell us about your business, or latest project, or ask for feedback. Have a question for the VTTA? We’ll take those too.
Jeff Couture
Executive Director
Vermont Technology Alliance
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VTTA Networking Event at Queen City Brewery
(May 4, 2023 – Queen City Brewery)
Plan to join the VTTA networking event on Thursday, May 4 at Queen City Brewery in Burlington. We’ll have QCB beer and other drinks, pizza from Pizza 44, and plenty of time to connect with friends and new acquaintances.
Kristen Bruso of VTTA member and telecommunications provider VTel, will give an overview and update on their business, and we’ll also open the floor for an informal Open Mic session.
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Open House Event at the University of Sherbrooke Innovation Zone
(May 11, 2023 – University of Sherbrooke, Quebec)
The University of Sherbrooke, just north of the Vermont boarder in Quebec, Canada, welcomes Vermont businesses to see and learn about working with their advanced technology facilities and resources at an open House on Thursday, May 11. Come and talk with research teams, explore the potential of Sherbrooke’s technological infrastructure, and develop business links.
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Reckless Ideas: This Changes Everything – A Discussion on AI
(May 16, 2023 – Generator)
As part of its Reckless Ideas series, Generator presents “This Changes Everything,” a discussion about artificial intelligence (AI). This free event features a moderated discussion with UVM panelists, Josh Bongard, Kathryn Cramer and Randall Harp.
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6th Annual Southern Vermont Economy Summit
(May 24, 2023 – The Hermitage Club)
The Sixth Annual Southern Vermont Economy Summit will be held May 23, 2023 at The Hermitage Club in Wilmington, Vermont. This annual event is a time for community, municipal, and business leaders across Southern Vermont to come together to think big, learn something new, ask questions, and connect. The 2023 Summit’s theme is “Forging Our Future.”
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Generator’s JumpStart Expo Night
(May 24, 2023 – Generator)
Join Generator May 24 from 5-8 p.m. to connect with innovation and entrepreneurship in VT.
The event will feature nine new Vermont startups, fresh out of Generator’s 12-week JumpStart entrepreneurial program.
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MindEdge & VTTA Professional Development Offering |
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Cybersecurity & CISSP® Learning Opportunity |
The cybersecurity program offers a range of introductory to advanced training for IT
professionals and cover topics like Cloud data security and cryptography, malware,
and risk management.
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Why Cybersecurity Training?
For either advancement or changing careers, there are many reasons for Cybersecurity training, including a strong demand in the job market, the pay, and the opportunities.
For companies looking to protect their valuable data and information, Cybersecurity training has plenty of benefits. Cybersecurity training helps lessen the exposure to Cybersecurity risks, lowers costs due to lower frequency of cyber-related loss-incidents, and creates a positive staff
culture regarding cyber and information security.
VTTA members receive 10% off all courses
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Sample Course List
Certificate in Cybersecurity
Application, Data, and Host Security Scenarios
Real-World Cybersecurity Scenarios
A Manager's Guide to Cloud Computing and Cybersecurity
Access Control and Identity Management Scenarios
Asset Security
CISSP® Exam Prep Course
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Amid a Housing Crisis, Will Vermont Keep Paying People to Move Here?
(April 25, 2023 – VTDigger)
Desperate to lure young people into an aging state, the Vermont Senate in 2018 put forward a plan to pay relocation expenses for remote workers willing to move to the Green Mountain State. Gov. Phil Scott eagerly hopped on board, and in 2018, a $500,000 pilot program was signed into law.
The Legislature has reauthorized funding every year since then (save for 2020), for a total of nearly $5 million. And as part of their draft of the state budget for the next fiscal year, which is due to hit the floor Wednesday, Senate budget-writers have again recommended continuing the program, this time with $1 million.
“For me, it represents one tool in a toolbox that needs to have a lot of tools in it to deal with these still 20,000 open jobs in Vermont,” said Senate Majority Leader Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor.
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The Great Tech Migration
(April 18, 2023 – Huge)
Huge, Inc. highlights two unexpected places for the "great tech migration”: Burlington, Vermont and Bozeman, Montana. They note that new startup scenes are lighting up Bozeman, Montana and Burlington, Vermont — because both towns possess the ultimate prerequisite for growth. “Today, these cities are also home to thriving tech scenes, which have funneled cash into the local economies — for better and worse — and increased their allure as relocation destinations”
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InSpace and Southern New Hampshire University Announce Multi-Year Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Online Learning
(April 17, 2023 – InSpace)
InSpace, a Vermont-based virtual learning platform, and Southern New Hampshire University, announced a multi-year strategic partnership that will strengthen online learning by giving students more control over their online learning environment, empowering them to make meaningful connections with their peers, staff, and professors.
InSpace’s AI-powered, human-centered learning platform facilitates meaningful connections, conversations, and mentoring, enhancing SNHU’s educational experience for students, faculty, and staff. InSpace will launch new AI-powered features, including a virtual assistant that harnesses institutional knowledge to answer students’ questions in real-time.
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Inntopia Announces New Interactive Dashboard Software for the Travel Industry.
(April 20, 2023 – Inntopia)
Stowe, Vermont-based Inntopia has launched a new software dashboard, Destination Explorer, designed to assist Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), Convention & Visitor Bureaus (CVBs), and lodging suppliers.
This is the most recent innovation by DestiMetrics, a division of Inntopia that develops and manages forward-looking data products, reports, and services for lodging properties in resort destinations. This recent addition to their growing selection of programs will assist the travel industry with long-range projections for bookings.
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Home Outside Launches World’s First AI Landscape Designer
(April 18, 2023 – HomeOutside)
VTTA member Home Outside has launched what they say is the world’s first AI landscape design technology, called “Julie.” Home Outside has created visualization technology that reconstructs clients’ properties in 3D, then shows sustainable, beautiful recommendations that add curb appeal, privacy, shade trees, and plantings. “We’ve combined our design expertise, plant knowledge, and technological innovation to boldly advance the landscape industry and create a sustainable future,” says HomeOutside.
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Biocogniv Receives FDA Breakthrough Designation for Digital Diagnostic Tool
(April 7, 2023 – Biocogniv)
Biocogniv Inc, a Vermont-based innovator in digital diagnostics, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted their Sepsis aiMarker™ a Breakthrough Device Designation.
The company’s cloud-based digital diagnostic tool aims to help hospital providers identify patients with sepsis, or at increased risk of developing sepsis — the body’s extreme response to an infection — up to 72 hours in advance using only routine laboratory tests and vitals collected at the time of presentation to the emergency department. This Breakthrough Designation affirms the company’s belief in the potential of Sepsis aiMarker™ to significantly improve outcomes for patients at risk of sepsis.
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Mamava Reports Category Growth, Fueled by The Passage of The PUMP Act
(April 4, 2023 – Mamava)
With increased focus on working mothers and the passage of the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, demand for lactation accommodations has spiked, reports Mamava, the nation’s largest designer and manufacturer of lactation pods, and a VTTA member.
The company’s YoY revenue grew 180% in 2022 and its first quarter inbound lead volume, so far, is nearly double that of last year. The PUMP Act, which becomes enforceable on April 28, extends workplace breastfeeding rights to more than 9 million workers, including teachers, nurses, and agricultural workers, not previously covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
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Winooski Company Offers Security Scans of Online Software
(March 19, 2023 – VTDigger)
Josh Jennings had just left his first job out of college as an engineer at Winooski-based MyWebGrocer when he approached the company’s founders with an idea for a simpler way to make sure that the software businesses use is secure.
They decided to found SOOS, which offers software composition analysis. That enables companies to run scans of their software to detect vulnerabilities.
“It was really important that someone could come to our site and be up and running, scanning their software, within minutes,” Jennings said. He said he also wanted a company of any size to be able to run the software — so it had to be affordable.
“It’s for the millions and millions of companies worldwide who build software in-house,” said Eric Allard, SOOS’s chief technology officer.
“If you go to the store and you pick up a box of cake mix and you want to know what’s in it, you’re going to look at the side and there’s going to be an ingredients list,” Allard said. “That’s what we generate. We look at your software and we create an ingredients list.”
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Beta to Offer Fixed-Wing Electric Plane with Quicker Path to Market
(March 14, 2023 – Seven Days)
Beta Technologies plans to produce a more conventional version of its experimental electric aircraft that it can sell to customers sooner, the company announced.
The CX300 aircraft will use a very similar frame and battery system as Beta’s primary prototype, Alia, but without the extra rotors that allow for vertical takeoff and landing. The CX300 will fly like a fixed-wing plane that uses airstrips.
Much of the South Burlington-based company’s flight testing so far has been conducted in fixed-wing mode. It has flown more than 22,000 miles in this configuration, Beta said in a press release.
The company thinks it can get the CX300 aircraft certified and delivered to its initial customers in 2025, potentially a year earlier than Alia, for which the path to Federal Aviation Administration certification is more complicated.
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Vermont Technology Alliance Membership Update
The Vermont Technology Alliance works on behalf of its members and is able to carry out its mission through the support of its membership.
Not a VTTA member yet? Then why not join now? Find more information and register here. You can also contact us at admin@vtta.org.
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EBlock is a leader in the wholesale automotive market, providing sellers and buyers with a streamlined digital platform that combines the energy and immediacy of a physical auction together with the convenience and efficiency of a digital one.
EBlock is an online vehicle auction where vehicles are bought and sold in 60 seconds. Our technology gives automotive dealers the opportunity to inspect and sell vehicles in a live online auction from their own dealerships. Our goal at EBlock is to streamline and simplify the car buying, selling, and appraising process, and we believe our end-to-end solution is second to none in the industry.
Through our EBlock and EDealer brands, E INC has built a reputation for creating a company—and a culture—that thrives on fearlessness, curiosity, and ingenuity. From Software Development to Sales to Client Services, our departments work together to help bring E INC’s vision to life. They function across both the EDealer and EBlock brands to create intuitive and inventive experiences for all our clients.
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Useful Information & Links |
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VTTA Members Named Best Places to Work
Congratulations to the VTTA member businesses that applied for and named Best Places to Work for 2023: Bytes.com, Chroma Technology, Comcast, DominionTech, Gallagher, Flynn & Company, Instrumart, Northern Digital (NDI), OnLogic, Stone Environmental, and Vermont Information Processing (VIP)
The awards are presented by VermontBiz and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont State Council, (SHRM); the Vermont Department of Economic Development, and Workforce Research Group.
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The Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) Accepting Applications for Actuator Technology Startup Program
The Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) in Springfield, VT is currently accepting applications to participate in its Actuator program. Actuator is BRIC’s free 10-week, entrepreneurial incubator program designed to help participants launch technology startups in Vermont. The curriculum is a mix of remote and in-person modules and gatherings, connecting participants online and in its hub locations in Springfield and Randolph, VT.
Actuator provides participants with a suite of tools and insights to build a “founders mindset” for a lifetime of entrepreneurship. This includes exposure to different business models, its tech transfer NASA partnership, and the skills to connect with the community and support a start-up ecosystem.
The deadline to apply is May 15. Find more information and sign up here.
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Vermont Womenpreneurs Summit Call for Presenters
The Vermont Womenpreneurs Summit will be held June 7 at Bolton Valley with the theme Aspire.
Applications are open for women-identified and led businesses to share their business stories on their stage; transgender and BIPOC small business owner voices are welcome to apply.
Find the application and videos from last year’s summit here.
Applications are due May 7.
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Online Professional Development Courses
The VTTA has partnered with MindEdge to offer easy-to-access, affordable, online professional development courses. Whether you are looking to expand your skill set, earn professional credits, or learn something new, these courses are an option to gain essential and in-demand skills on your own time, at your own pace, and from any location. As a bonus, VTTA members save 10% on all offerings.
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VTTA Career Center
Vermont Technology Alliance member companies are hiring, and when you visit the Career Center on the Vermont Technology Alliance website you can browse and search for these job openings and subscribe to updates. The Career Center on average features 300+ tech and non-tech jobs with Vermont Technology Alliance member businesses. Jobs available from VTTA members are listed at no charge in the Career Center as a member benefit.
Find the Career Center here.
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Advertise in the Vermont Technology Alliance Newsletter
Feature your business or organization as a sponsor or with an ad in this newsletter and support the VTTA.
Each month reach an audience made up of leaders, innovators, supporters and partners of Vermont’s growing and dynamic tech sector.
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The VTTA Thanks Its Member/Sponsors
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