BRADENTON, Fla. -- The BarCamp Sarasota-Bradenton Spring 2013 Conference event is being held at the Manatee Technical Institute’s new campus today, Saturday, May 4th, 2013.

Today, Dec. 21, 2012, BarCamp Sarasota hosted former U.S. Army Special Ops officer Kirk Burton at the Broadway Bar and Restaurant for a "Lunch and Learn" talk about how innovative solutions are helping to improve the speed and effectiveness of government research and development. He spoke to current events, the fiscal cliff, and how defense spending has a large role to play in curbing future federal budget deficits. Smarter R&D and acquisition strategies figured large in his outline culminating in several examples of how to improve the speed of technology development using simplified contracting and rapid prototyping. Finally, he outlined how the government provides funding for small groups of entrepreneurs to work out problems with great effect and how people right here on the Suncoast can take advantage of those resources and opportunities.

BRADENTON - The Spark Group held an economic development summit Friday at the brand new Manatee Players Theater in Bradenton.