SSTI Digest

Geography: California

TBED People

Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab.

TBED People

John Dixon, director of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, a cornerstone in the state's life sciences initiative, has resigned to join the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.

TBED People on the Move

Joe Raguso has left the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency to become vice president for strategic and corporate partnerships for SRI International. Raguso served the agency as Deputy Secretary for the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation.

New NSF Institutes to Strengthen Mathematics as Base for National S&T

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is establishing three new research institutes that are designed to help strengthen the mathematical sciences as the backbone for U.S. scientific and engineering research. The three centers are expected to receive $24 million over five years. A fourth $9 million award renews for six years the operation of an existing mathematical center that integrates education with research.

Recent Reports: Calfornia Analyzes R&D Activity on County Level

The California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA) has released A County Level Analysis of California's R&D Activity 1993-1999, which, for the first time, offers California state and regional policymakers a county-by-county, instead of statewide or national, analysis of research and development trends.

State & Local Tech-based ED RoundUp

California

A $30 million tax break tentatively approved by the state Board of Equalization will benefit the software industry but hurt other groups, the San Jose Mercury News reported Tuesday. Software companies, which have lobbied for years with state tax officials on the tax code covering maintenance contacts, has wanted the tax on the contracts eliminated, the article states. Under existing law, entire contracts are taxed.

People

Lewis Attardo is the first director of the new Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance. Attardo formerly was a Florida-based private business and economic development consultant.

Fuel Cells Increasingly on States' Radar

Ohio Proposes to Join Race With the growing need to identify cleaner sources of power, coupled with recent advances in alternative energy technologies, many states are targeting science and technology investments toward fuel cells. California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York all have made investments in fuel cell research demonstration or commercialization projects through energy related research funds. Michigan launched its fuel cell strategy in April (see the April 19, 2002 edition of the SSTI Weekly Digest).

California's Best TBED Programs Identified

With a large land mass and a population surpassing the 21 least populated states and the District of Columbia combined, California has scores of public programs and nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging technology-based economic development on the state, regional, local and sub-local levels. Best practices in the field, then, could have applications in a number of other states and communities.



Last week, Governor Gray Davis announced the 12 winners of the 2002 Governor's Technology & Innovation Awards, which honor non-profit organizations, public-private partnerships, educational institutions, individuals, and philanthropic programs that help foster California's tech-based economy in exemplary and innovative ways. The program is administered by the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation of the California's Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency.



Award winners — which include a business incubator, a high school principal, a workforce training program, community tech-access programs, a public-private science education collaborative, a trade organization, and a science learning center — will be featured in a "Governor's Technology & Innovation Compendium of Best Practices." Recipients include:

People

Sacramento's economic development director, Andy Plescia, is moving on to become a private development consultant.

People

Marguerite Wilbur has been named president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley.

Symposium to Reveal 'Patterns' Shape the Network Society

More than 60 presentations on patterns, or solutions to problems in a given context, figure to be the highlight of CPSR's 8th biannual Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) symposium, "Shaping the Network Society: Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change," being held May 16-19 in Seattle.



CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) describes patterns as observable actions, empirical findings, hypotheses, theories or best practices that exist at all levels. Patterns can be global or local and theoretical or practical, according to CPSR. Some of the presentations at the DIAC-02 symposium have particular relevance to state and local tech-based economic development affects, including:

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