Earlier this year, WMS client Ocean Protein was named best in community relations for 2008. The Puget Sound chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) awarded the company, along with its communications firm, Happonen Communications, with a 2009 Totem Award recognizing the best in PR for the region.

The Obama administration signaled in its fiscal year 2010 budget outline released in February 2009 that it would invest in new strategies to boost the commercialization of basic research and development, allocating $50 million in new funds to the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Program to boost the development of new regional innovation clusters. Tellingly, however, administration officials also decided to significantly increase funding for a 20-year-old program—-the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program—-which helps our nation’s small- and medium-sized businesses remain globally competitive by encouraging applied innovation through a variety of projects.