Tech Talkin' Govs: Part III

The third installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana and Michigan. Our first two installments were in the Jan. 9 and Jan. 16 issues of the Digest.

Georgia
Gov. Nathan Deal, State of the State Address, Jan. 17, 2013
“Two years ago, we worked together to save our HOPE Scholarship program. As a result, it remains one of the most generous state run scholarship programs in the nation. It is also keeping our best and brightest students in Georgia.

“Today, I am happy to say that my budget will increase the Hope Scholarship by 3 percent over last year, bringing the total funds going to Hope in FY 2014 to nearly $600 million.”

Hawaii
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, State of the State Address, Jan. 22, 2013
“What about innovation? While the hospitality industry is fortunate to have Hawaii to rely upon, while the US Military derives clear advantages from our location, and while construction is rebounding, we must look to diversify our economy in order to grow our economic base.

“To this end, I will be proposing the HI Growth Initiative, a state investment program focused on building an innovation ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial high growth businesses and creates high wage jobs for our people. We intend to provide $20 million of state investment capital that will focus on the critical building blocks of research commercialization, entrepreneur mentoring and the mobilization of startup investment capital.

“This comprehensive investment program represents a commitment to reinvigorate state efforts to fuel an innovation economy. The HI Growth Initiative will engage with the private sector to startup and grow creative and innovative companies. This initiative will help keep our established industries competitive and create new areas of opportunities to allow our young people to pursue their dreams here in Hawaii.”

Indiana
Gov. Mike Pence, State of the State Address, Jan. 22, 2013
“Our budget creates a partnership with Indiana's life sciences industry and our universities, to spur research and produce high-paying jobs.”

(See related story in the Digest)

Michigan
Gov. Rick Snyder, State of the State Address, Jan. 16, 2013
“In March, I plan on doing an Economic Development Summit to focus in on talent. Again, skilled trades, the needs for university graduates in engineering. Also, on how we can work better together on regions. In April, we are going to do a state-wide Education Summit, where we can take the outcome of understanding where future employment needs are, future career opportunities. Take that in April and have a great discussion about how we can have a better job on supplying the talent. Those jobs are out there those employers need and getting a system that is designed to create careers for our educational system, even better than we have today.”