SSTI Digest

A complete description of this opportunity is available at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) has a full time opportunity for a Manager Request for Help Program. EMTEC is a non-profit, collaborative R&D organization located in Dayton, Ohio helping accelerate technologies to market and specializing in advanced technologies. The primary responsibilities of this position include providing technical assistance to EMTEC members, developing member value, and other EMTEC program support. Requirements include an undergraduate degree in Engineering or Materials Science; a minimum of five years experience in industrial product development and manufacturing with strong preference to experience in instruments, controls, and electronics and/or advanced energy industrial products experience; technical sales support experience is a plus.

Funding for higher education initiatives fell victim to Ohio's budget woes as legislators worked to fill a projected $3.2 billion deficit. The enacted budget signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Ted Strickland cuts spending by $2.5 billion and leverages $5 billion in federal stimulus funds, according to the governor's office.

Earlier this year, Gov. Strickland asked lawmakers to continue for a third year the tuition freeze at all public universities. Funding for this request was not included in the final budget, and as a result, universities and colleges are allowed to raise tuition by 3.5 percent each of the next two years. Two schools, Ohio State University and Cuyahoga Community College, announced they would maintain level tuition for the upcoming year despite the cuts.

Rebecca Bagley, who left her position as deputy secretary for the Technology Investment Office within the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, was appointed president-elect of NorTech. Bagley will succeed Dorothy Baunach, the founding staff director of NorTech, as president and chief executive officer. Baunach will become president emeritus, serving as an adviser until December 2010. John Sider has been appointed to succeed Bagley. Prior to his appointment, Sider served as the director of venture investment for DCED.

Steve Crawford is leaving Brookings to take a new job as vice president for policy and research at CFED -- the Corporation for Enterprise Development in Washington, DC.

The lazy days of summer may be the most challenging time to keep students and teachers motivated and engaged in academics. Fortunately, several programs across the country have risen to the challenge. And, with the Obama Administration's pledge to make math and science education a national priority, now may be an opportune time for collaboration among federal and state agencies, private foundations, and industry to reverse the U.S. decline in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Can you afford to miss out on valuable publicity for your organization's outstanding accomplishments, particularly as legislators look for places to cut spending?

SSTI's Excellence in TBED Award can help you build recognition for your organization and gain support to continue your critical tech-based economic development efforts.

Every group working toward building a tech-based economy has a story tell, and we want to hear yours. There is still time to apply for the most prestigious recognition in the TBED field. Simply submit a five-page narrative describing your organization's most successful efforts by the June 16 deadline.

Your application will be evaluated by a committee of distinguished policymakers and practitioners serving as judges. Winners will be recognized during a highly-anticipated ceremony at SSTI's annual conference Oct. 22-23 in Overland Park, KS.

More information about the awards is available at: www.sstiawards.org.

The role of a technology incubator or accelerator for supporting nascent firms generally is regarded with the utmost importance by the tech-based economic development community. Tech incubators provide essential resources for startup companies to develop and commercialize new technologies, leading to the creation of high-quality jobs.

With estimates suggesting there could be as many as 5,000 incubators of all shapes and sizes worldwide, finding the latest and best practices for tech business incubation could be a challenge. Fortunately, award programs, such as the currently open SSTI's 3rd Annual Excellence in TBED Award, can help call attention to some of the most successful approaches.

The most recent annual report of Ohio's Third Frontier initiative announced $3.52 billion in non-state resources has been provided for affiliated projects and companies - a nine to one ratio of state dollars leveraged. Since the Third Frontier's creation in 2002, $893 million in state funds have been awarded, with $403 million of that amount expended to date.

The Third Frontier Initiative is a statewide effort administered by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) and is comprised of a diverse set of programs focused in areas such as research faculty recruitment, commercialization assistance, direct research funding, internship assistance, entrepreneurial development, and regional seed fund growth, among others.

SSTI is hosting an informal phone call on Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 PM EDT to answer your questions about the 2009 Excellence in TBED Awards.

Who should join the call? 

Anyone considering submitting an application for the 2009 awards cycle or anyone who wants to learn more about the program will find the call useful.

What should I expect? SSTI will present a brief overview of the program, including its mission and philosophy, followed by ample Q&A time to answer any questions regarding the application process, the entry guidelines and the evaluation criteria. We will also share some helpful hints provided by past judges.

In honor of Earth Day, SSTI has prepared a special edition of the SSTI Weekly Digest focused almost exclusively on green issues, ranging from a round-up of recent developments to encourage the creation and growth of alternative energy companies to a profile of Toledo's solar success story. Enjoy the news, and pass this issue along to others you think would be interested-but do it electronically, please.

Last week, the Board of Trustees at the University of Toledo approved the creation of a School of Solar and Advanced Renewable Energy. The School will integrate faculty from multiple science, engineering, and business disciplines to offer its own degrees and perform collaborative research, often with industrial partners associated with the region's established solar energy and photovoltaics cluster.

Building a cluster of academic and industrial research can happen without policy interventions; however, Toledo's situation is different. The region's leadership in advanced renewable energy is the result of deliberate choices and continual injections of funding by a host of public and private partners. So how did Toledo do it?

The Ohio Department of Development invites bids for two Requests for Proposals (RFP) to provide evaluation services and other forms of technical assistance for the state's fiscal years 2010 and 2011.  Proposals for either opportunity are due by May 29. Specifically, Development is seeking contractors for the following:

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

The Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) has posted a job opening for vice president, service development and delivery, to plan, organize and initiate activities aimed at achieving IMEC's objectives in service/product delivery to MEP small manufacturers, OEM/large manufacturing, and non-manufacturing markets.  Other duties include consulting services development and leadership, value stream management, service/product development and improvement, and corporate planning and coordination. The candidate must have 10 or more years of experience in the leadership of a business or organization comparable to IMEC.