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Tech Talkin' Govs: Part I

January 05, 2011

The 11th Annual Tech Talkin' Govs series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural Addresses across the nation. The first edition includes excerpts from speeches delivered in the following states:

New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State of the State Address, Jan. 5, 2011
"We must change the way we engage in economic development planning and execution. Those working at the local level know their area economies best and we will empower them through the creation of regional economic development councils that can coordinate and integrate state agency responses with local government and business activities to create jobs.

"These will not be advisory councils but instead planning and implementation councils that are empowered to allocate resources. ...

" ... While New York's universities rank second nationally in total research spending, they still lag behind other states' universities in finding ways to commercialize New York research. One of the most important tasks of the regional economic development councils will be to assist those institutions in transforming their research into meaningful economic activity.

"The initiatives the regional economic development councils undertake have to produce measurable results. Competition will drive how scarce economic development resources are committed. The regional economic development councils will use performance standards to determine how funds are distributed within their regions. At the same time, I will propose a fund where the regional economic development councils compete for $200 million of existing money to develop the best jobs development plan.

"This past year, New York allowed the state's Empire Zone tax credit program to expire and replaced it with a new, more targeted initiative called the Excelsior tax credit program. ... I will propose making several changes to strengthen the program.

"First, the Excelsior program offers a tax credit of $2,500-$5,000 per job for five years. My reform will give qualifying businesses a tax credit equal to 100 percent of the income tax receipts the state will collect from the companies' new employees for a period of ten years. ... Excelsior now promises new R&D tax credits, but makes them unavailable if the company is taking advantage of other New York State R&D tax credit programs. This limitation will be eliminated and allow companies to expand their R&D tax credits. ...

"... I will introduce a permanent Power for Jobs program, which ensures predictability and stability of supply with long-term contracts and incorporates efficiency incentives to reward such improvements. This will provide a valuable tool to help keep manufacturers in New York State, thereby growing the job base."

North Dakota
Gov. Jack Dalrymple, State of the State Address, Jan. 4, 2011
"In addition to approaching job creation through five targeted industries, we will now take a holistic approach, using five specific strategies that create jobs across all industries and sectors. ...

" ... The second strategy is investment in research and development, in both the private sector and the university system. ... That is why we have proposed a new model for public-private partnership called the Research Center of Excellence.

"Our third strategy is to foster a culture of entrepreneurship where all of our four-year universities operate business incubators that support startup enterprises of all kinds. ... This concept will be enhanced in the new Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence. ...

" ...The fourth strategy is to build, educate, and retain our workforce. ... This approach can be formalized into the new Workforce Center of Excellence. ...

" ...We must begin a new approach to funding higher education where we ask the board of higher education to develop a funding methodology that is based on the outcomes that education leaders and citizens would like to see from their college campuses. ...

" ... Energy is such a large part of our economic future that we have recommended a new Energy Division in the Department of Commerce to support all energy development, not just individual projects."

New York, North Dakotastate tbed, tech talkin govs, regions, tax credits, clusters, higher ed, entrepreneurship, workforce, energy