Brenda-Lee Karasik (brenda@nosc.mil)
Naval Command, Control Ocean Surveillance Center

Since the last newsletter, many opportunities have presented themselves to the region. The most exciting opportunity was our regional meeting in August, "Successful Partnering," highlighting successful partnerships with supportive training on how to establish these relationships. For those of you who were able to participate, you shared in the experience of forming value-added partnerships to achieve common goals. For those of you who weren't able to be there, you will be receiving a synopsis of the key points of the speakers and some general information. You'll find more information on the meeting inside the newsletter.

A key success of the meeting was the cooperation we received from other organizations that allowed us to stretch our dollars further. The University of California at Riverside provided the Region with free facilities, AV equipment, suggestions for speakers, use of their reduced price on-campus catering service and assistance from their staff to help make the meeting a success. The contacts made and the caliber of the presenters benefited the Region by offering new ideas and ways of doing business in these times of change and shrinking budgets. The examples used, showed how successful collaborations can be formed among the labs, the private and public sectors. These successes can be short-term, long-term, or whatever is required to get the job done.

I have been actively looking for ways to leverage the power and resources we have across the region to take advantage of opportunities that may be cost prohibitive for each of us to do separately, but doable if we pool our resources. One example was the regional ad placed in the next Technology Transfer Business magazine. Several labs took advantage of the reduced price to highlight their labs and plug into the regional ad that will benefit all of us If you have ideas for other ways to pool resources, please let me know.

For those of you who don't know, Cookie West, the Deputy Coordinator, retired last month. We all wish Cookie the best, but will miss her knowledge and support. Maybe we can enlist her for advice, however!

As we go into the new fiscal year, we'll be initiating special projects that will be available to assist all of you. Information will be sent out to request your input. We will be updating a generic brochure and one page sheets on all labs. This information will be placed on the regional home page for easy access by you and your customer. Your ideas are welcomed and encouraged to make the Region supportive of your lab. Let me know your thoughts.