Knowledge Transfer Alliance

Jessica Currier

3/26/10

At the University of Maine Orono, one particular class had an interesting guest speaker. On March 26, 2010, the Microeconomics 120 class, taught by Professor Caroline Noblet, got the privilege of listening to Hugh Stevens and Anne Akoa present to them the Knowledge Transfer Alliance program.

The Knowledge Transfer Alliance program or KTA is coordinated under the University of Maine’s Business Assistance Program and directed by Hugh Stevens. The programs initiative is to help Maine communities and businesses overcome and prevent hardships due to economic recession and natural disasters, like floods.

Stevens is a graduate student at the University of Maine and is a small business owner himself. He started off by explaining to the class how small businesses make up the majority of the market, and that they learn the business by imitating other businesses. Sometimes, the businesses do not think how to market their own product, and they have a difficult time running their business. Stevens explained that sometimes small businesses will have a greater total revenue compared to profit, making bankruptcy a possible future outlook for the business. Stevens concluded by saying that one of the things that KTA does is help businesses determine how they will market their product, aiming to lead the business to success.

Akoa, the assistant director of KTA, did a brief presentation of the program and discussed how they go in and help businesses build a framework for their future. They have 40 consulting hours with the business and also help with networking. Akoa listed off many of the different fields of businesses that KTA helps with, for example, marketing, engineering, and accounting businesses.

KTA is granted 1,827,000 dollars by the Economic Development Agency. The program is a great advantage for this area and all the help it is contributing to local businesses is helping during these hard economic times.