SSTI Digest

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission is seeking a highly talented and experienced individual for the position of Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for the West Virginia Regional Technology Park located in South Charleston. The selected individual will have the opportunity to help refine and implement the vision for this property and its role in technology development, economic development, education, research and innovation in West Virginia and the surrounding region.

Budgets recently approved in West Virginia and Wyoming will dedicate new funds for TBED initiatives in the coming year. TechConnect West Virginia is slated to receive $250,000 for its efforts to develop immediate and long-term strategies to capitalize on the state's technology strengths. In Wyoming, lawmakers allocated a portion of Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds for construction of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate teaching laboratory and for graduate stipends and fellowships to support students studying energy, natural resources and computational sciences at the University of Wyoming (UW).

Often credited with contributing significant revenue to states' economies, research parks also house facilities for workforce training and provide resources for tech-based industries, which is especially important as the nation's employment begins to pick up steam. In West Virginia, officials are building a $15 million advanced technology-training center at the state-owned research and technology park, and in Utah, officials recently broke ground on a building that will house engineers and analysts working on the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program.

TechConnect WV, a nonprofit advancing technology-based economic development, is seeking an executive director and solicits interest from individuals and entities able to provide services on a contractual basis.

Having the tools and resources to develop innovative concepts and products and move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace is an essential component for building tech-based economies. Research parks, a place where innovative ideas are borne, partnerships between university and industry are created, and companies grow and create new jobs, provide a foundation for the kind of economic growth necessary to compete in a global economy. Over the past few months, development plans and groundbreaking announcements from research parks across the nation have been made.

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer.

Chris Atkinson is the new director of West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFEE).

The second installment of SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs’ series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Colorado, Virginia and West Virginia. Our first installment was in the Jan 13 Digest.

The Piedmont Triad Research Park laid off Bill Dean, director of the park, and Nancy Johnson, marketing director. Park officials said that the park's project manager and executive assistant also were laid off.

TechConnect West Virginia (TechConnectWV) released a new plan on Monday to build a larger and more robust technology economy. The report, West Virginia Blueprint for Technology-Based Economic Development, proposes a four-part, general strategy for TBED and targets several key industries for development.

The sixth installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state addresses from governors in Tennessee and West Virginia.

Witnessing the success experienced by its neighbor, West Virginia is creating a university R&D matching endowment program similar to Kentucky’s. The legislature approved $50 million for Gov. Joe Manchin’s “Bucks for Brains” initiative to be allocated from lottery surplus funds (see the Jan. 16, 2008 issue of the Digest). The West Virginia Research Trust Fund will receive $50 million to match research endowments at the state’s two research universities, West Virginia University (WVU) and Marshall University. Another $30 million will fund the “Training Bucks” program establishing two community-college affiliated training centers throughout the state.
 
Lawmakers appropriated more than $200 million in budget surplus funds during a special legislative session that adjourned Sunday, including $10 million for economic development loans and $7.1 million for expansion of allied health programs recommended by the governor.
 
Not all of Gov. Manchin’s proposals survived the legislative process. The effort to transform the Promise Scholarship into a loan forgiveness program for students who remain employed in the state was tabled. Instead, the governor is directing the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission to form a committee to evaluate the program over the next year and recommend alternative methods for retaining college graduates.
 
The fiscal year 2009 approved budget for the West Virginia Development Office within the Department of Commerce includes $235,783 for the West Virginia High Tech Consortium Foundation - the same level recommended by the governor - $200,000 for the National Youth Science Complex, and $176,783 for the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex.
 
Additional Commerce appropriations include $1.9 million for Partnership Grants, $519,800 for the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced/Flexible Manufacturing Technology Outreach and Programs for Environmental and Advanced Technologies, and $144,000 for the West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership – the same funding level as FY08.
 
The Division of Energy was allotted $730,000 each for WVU and Southern West Virginia Community and Technology College for the Mine Training and Energy Technologies Academy, a career training program in advanced processes of mining and energy technology fields.