SSTI Digest

Tom Walker is departing i2E to join TechColumbus as CEO. Walker, a founding member of i2E, has served the private nonprofit for 14 years. Walker replaces Tim Haynes, who has been serving as interim CEO. Mark Herzog will step down as executive director of the Virginia Biotechnology Association on June 1. Herzog will serve as senior vice president for corporate and government affairs at Health Diagnostic Laboratory, a Richmond-based company that conducts clinical tests. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant named Brent Christensen executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. For the past 10 years, he has served as president and CEO of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce in Florida. James Grunke has been named the president and CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership. Grunke has been the interim director for the past six months. Steve VanNurden has been named president and CEO of Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, beginning in late May. VanNurden currently is chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures.

The third installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Utah. The first and second installments are available in the Jan. 11 and Jan. 18 editions of the Digest. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, State of the State Address, Jan. 19, 2012 "Following up on the recent "Imagine Delaware' forum sponsored by the News Journal, we are finding new ways to support entrepreneurs. Over the last months, we studied best practices at entrepreneurial support centers around the country... Working with Representatives Lavelle and Bryon Short and groups like First State Innovation, we will apply what we have learned to further support emerging start-ups and growing companies in Delaware." Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, State of the State Address, Jan. 23, 2012 "Not only is it important to emphasize brick and mortar, we must also build an infrastructure for technology to meet the demands of the 21st century. This is the intellectual and social infrastructure that we must have to provide opportunities and experience for our people to become an advanced workforce that can compete in the global marketplace. "We…

With less than three months until the start of the 2012 legislative session for many states, governors and state economic development groups are working to define areas of investment seen as key to their state's competitiveness. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a job creation and growth agenda that prioritizes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to produce more graduates for a competitive workforce. Meanwhile, leaders in Mississippi and Virginia issued reports that identify industry sectors most likely to grow their states' economies.FloridaGov. Scott offered lawmakers a preview of his upcoming legislative proposals through his 2012 Job Creation and Economic Growth Agenda. Prioritizing STEM education is among his seven major goals for the legislative session. The governor wants to increase the number of graduates in the state with STEM degrees, which right now account for less than 20 percent of the state university system's graduates. Gov. Scott maintains that these graduates are needed to meet future workforce demands and ensure the state's global competitiveness. Although no specific action items are outlined, the governor will…

In what is considered typical for an odd-numbered year, only 34 questions have been certified in nine statewide ballots this election year. Some of those measures include redirecting funds to support higher education, revenue enhancements for states, and repealing legislation that limits collective bargaining for public employees. Ballot Initiatives ColoradoVoters in Colorado will decide on a measure to increase the state income and sales tax to 5 percent and 3 percent, up from 4.63 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Reports estimate the measure would generate about $3 billion to help fund education. The measure is Proposistion 103. LouisianaAmendment 1 would re-direct Tobacco Settlement Proceeds to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) scholarship program once the balance in the state's Millennium Trust Fund reaches $1.38 billion. The scholarship program is available for state residents who attend public colleges or universities. OhioIssue 2 is a veto referendum on legislation passed earlier this year that limits collective bargaining for public employees in the state. If upheld, SB 5 only would permit public…

Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Wyoming recently unveiled spending plans for the upcoming year or biennium. Funding for many tech-based investments would be maintained or increased under the governors' proposals. New proposals range from additional funds for energy research at the University of Wyoming to new funding mechanisms for colleges and universities in Mississippi. Funding for S&T efforts in Arkansas would remain level. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe unveiled a $4.6 billion spending plan for the upcoming year that includes $17.4 million for the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, the state's lead tech-based economic development organization. This includes $7.9 million in ARRA funds for a project within the Office of Health Information Technology. Authorized funding for the Authority was $9.4 million last year, which incorporated $206,190 in ARRA funds. The governor recommends level funding of $1.9 million for the Seed Capital Investment program, which provides up to $500,000 to support initial capitalization or expansion of tech-based companies and $257,182 in state funds for the Manufacturing Extension Network, the same as last year. The…

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. The West Virginia Education Research and Technology Park is slated to receive $12 million in federal stimulus funds from Gov. Joe Manchin's office, which will be used for renovations and operations, reports The Charleston Gazette. The state Higher Education Policy Commission will take over the research park in December with plans to build a $15 million advanced technology training center. Earlier this year, Battelle Memorial Institute won a $400,000 contract to provide recommendations on how to best develop the new park. Plans are underway to develop 32 acres near the University of Minnesota into a science…

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the selection of 10 regional economic development and job creation efforts through a new pilot program, Innovative Economies, that supports small business participation in regional economic clusters. SBA's funding is designed to expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations. The awardees were selected from among 173 applicants. Awards went to organizations in: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. Read the full release

Lawmakers called into special session on Friday approved a $75 million incentive package for a Texas-based energy company to build five biofuel facilities in the state expected to generate 1,000 new jobs through a total $500 million investment. The package approved by lawmakers also includes $4 million for a workforce training fund through the state's institutions of higher education and up to $2 million for biomass research at Alcorn State University and Mississippi State University. The state assistance package totals $81 million, which includes $51 million in new bonds and $30 million available from a previous state-level authorization. Texas-based KiOR, Inc. will receive $75 million to build five commercial-scale renewable crude oil production facilities in the state, three of which will be built over the next five years. Another $4 million is allocated to the Mississippi Development Authority Workforce Training Fund and $2 million is available for research on biomass usage in the production of renewable crude oil at the previously mentioned universities. The company plans to utilize Mississippi's abundant supply of woody biomass to produce commercial…

Subra Suresh, dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next director of the National Science Foundation. Eric Cromwell, president and CEO, and Dan Schmisseur, vice president of operations and strategy, have resigned from the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation. Rick Duke, a principal research associate with the Enterprise Innovation/Economic Development Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected as the new director of the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at The University of Southern Mississippi. The Montana Clean Technology Alliance is being formed to foster a community of interest to support companies that want to grow Clean Technology jobs in Montana.

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer. Martha Connolly, director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute Maryland Industrial Partnership program (MIPS) at the University of Maryland, was given the President's Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee's fifth annual Bioscience Awards ceremony. In 2007, the MIPS program received an SSTI Excellence in TBED Award in the Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries Category. Stephen Cross has been selected as Georgia Tech's executive vice president for research. Cross has served as vice president and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 2003. Tony Jeff has been selected as the Mississippi Technology Alliance's new president and CEO. Jeff previously served as vice president and chief operating officer and director of MTA's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell tapped State Rep. Samuel Nixon to become Virginia's CIO. Nixon, who will take over April 5, becomes the third person to serve as state CIO in the past nine months, following George Coulter and Lem Stewart. OCTANe and the Orange County Venture Group…

Chris Atkinson is the new director of West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFEE). Patrick Scheuermann will take over as director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, replacing Gene Goldman. Goldman, who has served at Stennis since November 2008, will assume the position of deputy director at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Woodrow Whitlow, director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, has been named associate administrator for Mission Support at NASA headquarters. Ray Lugo, the deputy director at Glenn, has been named acting director.

Calling for shared sacrifice among all state agencies, Gov. Haley Barbour outlined his FY11 budget recommendations reducing most agencies by 12 percent below the FY10 appropriation, excluding the Mississippi Development Authority, which would be cut only 5 percent because of its role in job creation. Tech-based economic development programs funded by the Authority are zeroed out in the governor’s proposal, however. Gov. Barbour recommends $22.6 million in state funds for the Mississippi Development Authority in FY11, $1.2 million less than the FY10 appropriation, which included federal recovery funds. No funding is recommended for the Mississippi Technology Alliance (MTA) or the Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions, which received a combined $1.4 million last year. MTA is a nonprofit organization that assists emerging companies across the state through access to capital and entrepreneurial support, and the Enterprise for Geospatial Solutions works with industry and university research programs to support geospatial business development and research. Gov. Barbour also announced a merger plan that would cut the state’s publicly funded universities…