February 15, 2022 - The St. Louis Business Journal recently published an op-ed written by Jeffrey Mazur, executive director of LaunchCode, encouraging state officials to reinstate the Missouri Research and Development Income Tax Credit. In the feature, Mazur outlines an increased need for a technically skilled workforce due in part to the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic. With the reinstatement of the R&D tax credit, Missouri would become more competitive by offering our businesses an incentive to conduct research & development right here in the state.
“Previously proposed legislation has been written to ensure these effective credits would be reinstated and available to businesses of all sizes, including small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses,” Mazur writes. “While there are a number of businesses across the state that have research agreements with universities throughout the state, this credit encourages even more investment by businesses of all sizes to work on projects with our state’s research institutions.”
Boeing is a proud, long-term partner of LaunchCode, a local nonprofit offering free education and job placement opportunities for diverse, inventive and motivated tech talent. The organization helps to bring a diverse set of technological skillsets into the workforce pipeline through nontraditional ways, allowing companies like Boeing to remain on pace with rapid advancements in technology.
Since 2015, Boeing has invested more than $900,000 in LaunchCode programs, and placed more than 66 apprentices at Boeing St. Louis – 41 are now full-time hires.
As Mazur concluded, “Technology is a cornerstone of how we live and work.” At Boeing, we could not agree more. We have a need for diverse and skilled tech talent, and we are grateful for the opportunity to invest in them.
You can read Jeffrey Mazur’s full op-ed here.
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