BOULDER - Private-sector companies can help keep the region's research sector strong in light of federal budget cuts, according to Clif Harald, executive director of the Boulder Economic Council.

Federal budget cuts known as sequestration threaten Boulder's federal labs and universities, Harald said. He plans to address those threats with program topics at the 2013 Boulder Economic Summit, being held from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, at the Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus.

Speakers are slated to discuss the role of research universities such as CU-Boulder and Colorado State University as economic drivers as well as how to cultivate more collaboration between research institutions and private-sector companies.

"Colorado has very robust aerospace, clean-tech, bioscience and other industries that routinely collaborate with the universities and labs," Harald said. "What are the opportunities facing the research institutions in the future, with enhanced collaboration with those industries?"

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., CU-Boulder chancellor Phil DiStefano and Ken Lund, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, are among speakers scheduled at the event.

The "sequestration" that started March 1 is affecting a variety of government and nongovernment programs across the nation. It is the mandatory cuts that cordon off money from programs that may have been authorized by Congress but now is prohibited from being spent.

The Boulder Economic Council, an arm of the Boulder Chamber, is putting on the event. For more information and to register, go online at http://www.cvent.com/events/2013-boulder-economic-summit/event-summary-d660318a6f5b4a919bdd46de243f4b1c.aspx.