4_CWU Tech Transfer Agenda 20260519

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40 | Old Heat CERB Feasibility Study IDENTIFICATION OF TARGETED INDUSTRIES The following section translates Old Heat’s four core objectives into specific industry applications and technology-driven strategies. Each targeted sector and institutional program described below contributes to one or more of these objectives: creating high-wage employment, commercializing and diffusing technology statewide, reusing state assets efficiently, and demonstrating a model for replicable Eastern-Western Washington economic alignment. Together, these activities illustrate how the project’s governance, facilities, and programs convert those objectives into measurable economic outcomes. The Old Heat project is structured to target firms and sectors that can transform the regional economy through accelerated growth, high-wage job creation, and innovation spillovers. Rather than filling space with any tenant activity, Old Heat explicitly filters for industries that align with three strategic imperatives: 1. Creation of high-wage, high-skill jobs that increase household prosperity and regional competitiveness. 2. Technology diffusion and innovation spillovers, ensuring new capabilities extend into existing businesses and the wider community. 3. Compatibility with Central Washington’s institutional and physical infrastructure, including CWU’s research and talent base, regional transportation and logistics systems, and the proposed Advanced Competitive Technology Institute (ACTI). CURRENT STATE AND NATIONAL GAP AND WHY OLD HEAT IS A STEP TOWARDS MEETING THE GROWING NEED The Old Heat–Bowers Field development model serves as both an on-ramp for existing firms to adopt new technologies and expand their competitiveness, and a launch pad for new ventures that require applied research support, skilled labor, and scalable facilities. Earlier, in Section A, this project was discussed as an instrument to fill the gap between available workforce and resource capabilities, SECTION C and the larger state and national demand markets. This project’s focus on building highly skilled labor and destinations where it is best valued also fits with the increasing demand to reshore manufacturing activities into the United States. Aerospace, for example, as a primary industry activity in Washington State presents an opportunity with particularly high potential for reshoring into the Central Washington Region, with the Old Heat Project being a protype for funneling activity back to the US. Currently the aerospace industry is importing supply chain factors from outside the state and nation. For this example, in aerospace we are focusing on aircraft engine (NAICS 336412) and aircraft parts (NAICS 336413) as aircraft assembly requires large facilities, and the primary aerospace ecosystem in Washington focuses on Boeing as the final assembly enterprise. Of the total U.S. aircraft engine parts manufactured, sale and value of shipments were $35.4 billion (2021), and 49% was imported from out of the U.S. ($17.24 billion). For components needed to build aircraft listed as “Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment” by the U.S. Census, the sale and value of shipments were $28.4 billion (2021). Of this, 42.5%, or $12.06 billion, was imported. This amounts to lost jobs and a lost tax base. This project is meant to serve as a funnel for reshoring production and using Kittitas County’s resources towards increasing state and national capacity by transitioning production and innovative activity to other local and proximate regional locations. The lower estimation of impact is of Old Heat serving as a facility for aerospace manufacturing itself. In this case, the estimate of revenues is $17 million a year. The following section breaks out the rationale, regional fit, role, and tech diffusion, by industry: 1. AEROSPACE AND PRECISION COMPONENT MANUFACTURING • Rationale: Ellensburg’s location along the I-90 corridor places it within reach of Washington’s aerospace hubs (Seattle, Kent, Renton) while offering significantly lower land and facility costs. Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers face pressure to locate outside Puget Sound but still need access to skilled talent and university partnerships.