The USC ETTC is proud to announce that it has recently been acknowledged publicly as a founding sponsor of the Hawaii Technology Trade Association (HTTA). The role of the ETTC in establishing HTTA was recognized at an awards luncheon that was part of the Hawaii organization's HiTech Hawaii@2000 conference held in Honolulu October 11-12, 2000. The theme of the conference was "Connecting to the New Economy." Executive Director Ken Dozier represented the ETTC at the awards luncheon and accepted an engraved crystal plate from HTTA. According to Dozier, "This is part of our effort to raise NASA's visibility in Hawaii. We are looking for dynamic partners in Hawaii to help the ETTC transfer NASA technologies. We hope that the HTTA can help us locate these partners." The Hawaii Technology Trade Association (HTTA) is a statewide, private-sector membership organization formed specifically to support Hawaii's growing technology industry. HTTA industry members represent a variety of technology sectors, including Information Technology, Telecommunications, Software, Biotechnology, Health & Medical Technology and Ocean/Earth/Space Sciences. HTTA's members also include professional services and educational organizations that actively support Hawaii's technology industry. Membership is statewide with members from Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, as well as Oahu. HTTA's mission is to grow the technology industry in Hawaii by fostering and facilitating a healthy business, funding, educational and governmental environment for Hawaii's technology companies. Specific measures involve: ¨ Supporting and assisting existing local technology companies to prosper and grow ¨ Facilitating the local development of more technology-related businesses ¨ Encouraging more mainland and international technology companies to establish a presence in Hawaii. ETTC actively supports the establishment and successful operation of technology infrastructure organizations such as HTTA. With such infrastructure in place, it becomes easier for ETTC to accomplish its goal of transferring and commercializing technologies from its customer base of technology owners, including NASA, private sector companies, USC and others.