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Boise State TechHelp seeks small appropriation to sustain Studio Blue director role and reports industry impact metrics
Summary
TechHelp at Boise State requested a modest $5,000 budget augmentation (0.03 FTP) to support its Studio Blue director position; the program said it measures success using national manufacturing-extension impact metrics and serves small and medium manufacturers statewide.
Kevin Campbell, Legislative Services budget analyst, presented TechHelp's budget and said the program is a Boise State-based collaboration that provides engineering, design and manufacturing assistance to Idaho businesses.
Brad McDonald, TechHelp executive director, described Studio Blue as the new product development arm of TechHelp and said the program measures outcomes with standardized impact metrics used across the national manufacturing extension partnership network: retained and new jobs, sales gains, cost savings, investments, client counts, and net promoter scores. "We are, primarily, focused on small and medium sized manufacturers across our entire state," McDonald said.
TechHelp's FY2026 request includes $5,000 (approximately 0.03 FTP) to sustain the Studio Blue director position as grant funding declines. McDonald said Studio Blue provides significant student workforce experience—students may accrue large numbers of project hours—and that TechHelp partners with Idaho State University, University of Idaho, and the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance to deliver services statewide.
Committee members asked how TechHelp measures success and requested the impact metrics; McDonald said TechHelp reports quarterly on ten impact measures and offered to supply the committee's office with the metrics and recent quarterly report. He described recent grant funding cycles and said TechHelp had high quarterly performance relative to previous quarters.
No formal vote was recorded in the hearing; the $5,000 request is a modest operating ask the program brought forward in the FY2026 budget materials.
