Mayor Daniel Bianchi, Berkshire Bank Foundation Director Lori Gazzillo, BIC Chairman Stephen Boyd, BIC Executive Director Ron Jane.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Bank Foundation is supporting the Berkshire Innovation Center with a $40,000 gift.

 

Lori Gazzillo, director of the foundation, presented the check on Wednesday to the BIC board. The money will be used to provide internships for local students with member companies in the center and help build a website.

 

"We think it is a great resource and asset to the community," Gazzilo said. 

 

The innovation center is being built at the William Stanley Business Park with a $9.75 million state grant. The center will act as a research and development center for a number of educational organizations and businesses, providing access to new technologies for the advanced sciences and life science fields.

 

Berkshire Bank's donation will provide $750 for each intern the member companies hire from the area. The goal is to help fill the skills gap in the county, which has left many companies short of qualified candidates for employment.

 

"We have an issue with retaining and attracting college students to stay here," Gazzillo said.

 

Additionally, the money and Berkshire Bank employees will help build out a new interactive website for the center. The website is expected to go live in conjunction with the opening of the center. The groundbreaking is expected this fall and the center will open next October.

 

"Berkshire Bank has taken a leadership role," said BIC Executive Director Ron Jane. "We're going to work hard to make sure this is successful."

 

Repeating a mantra said numerous times by BIC officials, Chairman Stephen Boyd reiterated that for the center to be successful it takes "everybody being in the boat together." The concept stemmed from a photo of a rowing team working together.

 

"We're not going to change the future without all being in the boat together," Boyd said, crediting Berkshire Bank with rowing its oar.

 

The grant is the second largest the organization has received. General Dynamics previously granted the board $50,000.

 

"We're bullish about the future. We think the innovation center is a harbinger of good things to come," Boyd said.

 

Mayor Daniel Bianchi envisions the center as a key to economic revitalization. He was particularly excited about the internship programs that he envisions will bolster the educational pipeline from the new Taconic High School through Berkshire Community College and then into local, growing companies.

 

"It is a wonderful thing for the city," Bianchi said. 

 

Bids to construct the building are due in October and the design plans are being finalized as the cost estimations are refined. 

 

Berkshire Bank's gift will help immediately as the website and content is created and intern programs roll out. But, Gazzillo said that won't be the end of the bank's role in the center.

 

"We don't want to write a check and walk away. We really want to be a partner," she said.