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WIRED Initiative

The Center for Space Entrepreneurship

Organization: eSpace

venture_11.jpgGrant Round: Workforce Innovation I

Program’s Objectives: The Center for Space Entrepreneurship program has three components: Straight-to-Space will provide high school graduates and dislocated workers with career and technical training for aerospace companies.  Super Co-Op will engage University of Colorado’s engineering students with study, paid industry experience, and pathways to careers in aerospace.  Entrepreneurial Space Company Incubator will place college students in internships with start-up companies to learn entrepreneurial skills.

Individuals Served: We are early in the WIRED grant, and even though the programs are not fully established, we have a handful of people that are now working within our Straight to Space and Super Coop programs.  The individuals in the Straight to Space program have not previously been in the aerospace industry, and are being trained for aerospace positions.  Super Coop currently has the first students involved in its immersion Coop program, where they work intimately within an eSpace company while they receive their engineering education, creating an extremely well-qualified member of the aerospace workforce.

Success Story: Through our “Straight to Space” program, a technician in a non-aerospace field was given on-the-job training.  His inherent skills blended with his training to create one of the best aerospace technicians in our company.  He is now in a lead role managing other “Straight to Space” trainees.  Even though he did not have aerospace roots, he has developed into a key leader on the manufacturing floor.

Quote: “Space continues to capture our imagination.  It is exciting to be able to work in an industry that is at the leading edge our exploration of the unknown and is considered by many to be outside their reach.  But it is not.  Working in aerospace requires creativity, attention to detail, and a desire to work on a product that must not fail.  If an individual has a passion for space, and a personality that resonates with the required disciplines, there are great opportunities that do not require a four year college education.”
-- Scott Tibbitts, Executive Director, eSpace

Collaborators: University of Colorado, Air Force Research Laboratory, Workforce Boulder County, Denver School of Science and Technology, Centaurus High School, Microsatellite Systems Incorporated, and SEAKR Engineering.