SSTI Digest

David Winwood is the new director of North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus.

Wanted: all managers in private-sector research and development (R&D) facilities. The Southern Growth Policies Board is conducting a nationwide survey to gain insight into drivers and policies of industrial R&D. The survey attempts to illuminate university-company relationships. If you are a manager and can spare 10 minutes of your time for the online survey, visit the survey at http://www.southern.org/survey.shtml. Questions may be directed to Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council, at sdoron@southern.org.

Community colleges can play an important part in shaping the workforce in the science and technology (S&T) sector. For example, with the growth in biotech, there is an increasing need for technicians in the biotech field and workers are finding that they can prepare for these jobs rather quickly in community colleges. Technicians in biotech manufacturing facilities generally have two-year specialized training or an associate degree from a technical or community college, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. With overall employment expected to increase, particularly in biotech, the field is attracting more displaced workers. North Carolina community colleges are embracing this new role as they prepare for the development of six new biotech centers to be hosted within the state’s community colleges. Earlier this month, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges accepted recommendations to distribute $4.4 million in grant awards to the centers. According to the North Carolina Community College System, all of the centers will help develop expertise, curricula and specialized…

James Roberson, president of the Research Triangle Foundation for the past 16 years, is retiring at the end of May.

A new plan to grow North Carolina's biotech industry to 48,000 jobs by 2013 and 125,000 by 2023 was released earlier this month by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a state-supported nonprofit organization. If implemented, the 108-page plan would cost up to $650 million over five years. That figure does not include the "to be determined" cost for 15 of the plan's 54 recommendations. The 54 action steps span a variety of objectives: Enhance the ability of universities to conduct innovative research and transform new ideas into commercial opportunity; Encourage universities to support and reward faculty entrepreneurial activities; Support the attraction, retention and expansion of biotech companies, with an emphasis on biomanufacturing companies; Boost workforce training programs to prepare workers for jobs in research and biomanufacturing; Strengthen K-12 math and science education to help motivate and prepare future biotech workers; Spread the economic and societal benefits of biotechnology to all areas of the state; and, Address the societal and ethical issues of…

Robert Geolas, director of the Centennial Campus at North Carolina State, is resigning to become director of the new International Center for Automotive Research at the Clemson University.

Despite a sluggish national economy, North Carolina held its own over the last three years, according to a measure of 25 broad indicators of innovation, technology and economic growth released earlier this week. In all, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index 2003 considers more than 50 performance measures across five general categories, highlighting the state’s strengths and weaknesses. North Carolina’s performance on each measure is compared to that of the U.S. as a whole and that of six selected states — Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The 76-page index, sponsored biennially by the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology (BST), argues that the state’s technology-intensive economy, fueled by high and increasing levels of inputs, is strong at its core. On a scale from 1-7, with 1 being best, North Carolina averages a 4.5 ranking across all measures. The state's highest average rank, 3.35, occurs in the area of economic structure, the index shows. Economic structure is defined as the intensity of the state's technology activity, the…

Dr. Catherine Renault is the new program manager for the Center for Technology Applications at RTI International, Inc.

Carol Ann Dykes is the new president of the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers.

Coupling manufacturing's sharp employment drop with the perennial struggles of a rural economy and the current economic downturn can cause massive struggles for many of the country's sparsely populated areas. The closure or significant downsizing of one manufacturing plant can be terminal for a small, rural town. To revise that prognosis, North Carolina's Rural Economic Development Center launched the Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship in late October, along with several other new initiatives. The institute will work with the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community College System and more than 30 economic and community development organizations statewide to put into place a 10-step business development strategy, including a $1.1 million initiative to help displaced manufacturing workers start their own businesses. The institute also will offer a range of grant and loan programs, education and training opportunities, and research and advocacy initiatives. The first initiative to take effect will be the New Opportunities for Workers (NOW) program to provide dislocated workers…

At a time when North Carolina is experiencing record-setting layoffs, the dot-com bubble has burst, and traditional industries are undergoing critical changes, North Carolina needs a cohesive, bipartisan economic development strategy that embraces the dynamics underlying the new economy, according to a new report issued by the Institute for Emerging Issues. Jump Starting Innovation: 10 Principles to Guide North Carolina’s New Economy, is being sent to 5,000 policy makers, business leaders and university officials around the state and the nation. The report aims to help these leaders develop new ways of thinking about innovation, technology and creativity and the role they play in the state’s economy. Developed out of the 2003 Emerging Issues Forum, key points of the report include: State government needs the capacity for ongoing, independent assessments of alternative economic development strategies. Private sector leaders, especially those from the new economy, must shoulder greater responsibility for helping set strategic priorities for the state. Universities can further…

The President wants $87 billion for the war in Iraq. Congress is looking at a month-long continuing resolution for the budget since final approval on most appropriation bills is at least that far in the future. Meanwhile, the persistence of the recession, the restructuring of U.S. manufacturing due in part to globalization, and the continued hemorrhaging of tax revenues has led several governors, state legislatures and community leaders to begin rethinking their economic development strategies. The past few months have seen a spate of state and local news on summits, plans and new groups for reorganizing, revamping, recreating or re-energizing public-private economic development efforts.  Below are examples of some of the approaches. E.D. Getting Higher Priority from North Carolina Legislature The North Carolina legislature has established a bi-partisan Joint Select Committee on Economic Growth and Development to reinvigorate the state's economic development activities. According to The Raleigh News & Observer, the 20-member committee will consider proposals such as an…