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By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER – A regional effort to boost New England firms' share of federal defense contracts drew support from Gov. John Lynch yesterday during a meeting of business, government and academic leaders at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
"We have the intellectual capital, we certainly have universities, we have the workforce, and as a region we can compete with any other region in the country," Lynch said.
"We enthusiastically support what you're doing, and we are willing to participate in any way we possibly can," the governor said.
The Waltham, Mass.-based Defense Technology Initiative is a partnership of high-technology business advocacy groups, including the New Hampshire High Technology Council.
Defense-oriented, high-technology companies depend on research and development for their competitive advantage and their products have a high value-added component and are less likely to be manufactured overseas. The company becomes more profitable, it creates jobs and helps with economic development," Lynch said.
Smaller firms, in particular, stand to benefit from the partnership.
"I think it's huge," said Matt Pierson, chairman of the New Hampshire High Technology Council. "It brings people together with other organizations and companies and educational institutions.
"It gives them a chance to collaborate throughout the region," he said.
Technology, ideas and jobs already flow easily throughout the region, Pierson said, citing for example, Waltham-based Foster-Miller, builder of the Talon military robot, which subcontracts to Granite State Manufacturing in Manchester, which builds many of the robots, and DTC Communications in Nashua, which provides communications systems for the robots.
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