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TechHelp seeks small appropriation to keep Studio Blue director after federal grants decline
Summary
TechHelp at Boise State described impact metrics and asked the committee for a modest state appropriation to sustain a Studio Blue center director position as a federal grant that funded the role expired.
Brad McDonald, executive director of TechHelp at Boise State University, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that TechHelp provides applied engineering, design and business assistance to small and medium-sized Idaho manufacturers and that the Studio Blue new-product-development program contributes workforce training and client-facing projects.
TechHelp is primarily funded through personnel revenue (the presentation shows personnel-dominated spending in its budget). McDonald said Studio Blue is maturing and that a federal grant that helped fund the Studio Blue director expired in September of last year, leaving a funding gap. The department requested a modest state appropriation of $5,000 to support the center director’s salary in the current budget request; McDonald said the request reflects the limits of what could be requested in the annual process.
McDonald described how TechHelp tracks outcomes through national “impact metrics” used by the Manufacturing Extension Partnership network: new and retained jobs, sales growth, cost savings, investments, client counts, gross revenue associated with projects and net promoter scores from client surveys. He said those metrics are third‑party validated and that TechHelp has a strong recent record on client satisfaction.
Committee members asked whether the requested funding would support a full-time director and how success is measured. McDonald said the longer-term goal is a fully funded, permanent position to ensure predictable staffing and greater student engagement: “If I were to look over the horizon, I believe that Studio Blue's value is going to continue to increase because we're seeing the demand signal from our small and medium sized manufacturers,” he said.
Lawmakers asked for TechHelp’s impact metrics and quarterly reports; McDonald agreed to provide the data and performance summaries to the committee.
No formal committee action on TechHelp’s modest appropriation request was recorded during the hearing.
