SSTI Digest

The technology agenda for President Obama includes both advancing biomedical research and improving the efficiency of medical treatment. Coupling this federal strategy with the initiatives of many states to stimulate health and biotechnology-related research may result in a boon of federal R&D spending from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the states. Similar to a recent article examining the concentration and funding levels of DOE-related research (see the January 7, 2009 issue of the Digest), SSTI has prepared a table displaying the amount of HHS obligations for each state from 2001 to 2005, the most recent years available. The table also tracks the percentage of each state's total federal R&D obligations that originated from the HHS. This statistic shows the critical importance of health and medicine related-research for some states, or for states with large amounts of federal R&D coming in, the degree of diversification in the state's R&D portfolio. For the U.S. as a whole, HHS R&D obligations increased every year, rising from $21.25 billion in 2001 to $28.45 billion in 2005. Over this five-year period, the HHS share of…

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Daniel O'Connell, resigned for personal reasons and was replaced by Greg Bialecki, an undersecretary who has been responsible for business development SRI International announced that Stephen Ciesinski has been appointed Vice President of Strategic Business Development. John Fremstad has left his post at the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission to join the BE&K Building Group. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced the appointment of Christian Johansson, a Harvard University-educated entrepreneur who most recently ran a Baltimore-based business and government alliance, as the secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development. Johansson, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would replace David Edgerley. The South Dakota Wind Energy Association, a group geared toward supporting the development of wind energy in South Dakota, has been established. Suzy Ticknor joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the director of the Industrial Partnership Program. Previously she was vice president of the Council on Competitiveness.

DATELINE: RICHMOND, Va. The following information was released by the office of the governor of Virginia: Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced appointments to the following boards and commissions: * denotes reappointment Medical Advisory Board for the Department of Motor Vehicles Juan A. Astruc Jr., M.D.* of Glen Allen, partner at the Retina Institute of Virginia; Parker C. Dooley, M.D. of Accomack County, medical director of Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc.; Anil Kumar, M.D.* of Glen Allen, assistant professor for MCV-VCU Health Systems; Thomas Pellegrino, M.D.* of Norfolk, associate dean for education at Eastern Virginia Medical School; John Sheppard, M.D.* of Cape Charles, president of Virginia Eye Consultants. State Lottery Board Susan Smith Feaster* of Loudoun County, chairman of the board and CEO of the World Leadership Institute. Special Advisory Commission on Mandated Health Insurance Benefits Joyal M. Mulheron…

PatFerrier@coloradoan.com Doug Johnson of UniverCity Connections believes a bill providing tax credits to angel investors putting their money into start-up companies will create hundreds of new jobs in Colorado and help stimulate the lagging state economy. Sponsored by Democrat John Kefalas of Fort Collins, the bill is expected to cost about $1.5 million, a price that if not reconciled will likely kill it as the state grapples with a possible $1 billion shortfall through next year. "I completely understand that unless we can come up with a non-general-fund way to pay for this, it will be difficult to get out of the finance committee," Kefalas said. "I don't want to further strain the budget for next year, but this is a very good economic development tool that will ultimately increase revenue because it will help businesses move along and create jobs. My job now is to figure out how to pay for it." The proposal, which would grant 30 percent state tax credits to investors providing seed money for startups in biosciences, information technology, aerospace…

Superclusters can be explosive. Colorado State University this week announced that its researchers have more than doubled the number of inventions, a phenomenal effort in two years. University officials attribute the success to the supercluster concept, which unites researchers with those in the private sector who can take their ideas and run, such as business experts, patent attorneys, marketers, etc. While the superclusters don't create new research, they foster it by speeding the transfer of technology from research to implementation. The number of inventions attributed to CSU researchers rose from 42 in 2006 to 91 in 2008; CSU is expecting 100 this year. Another report last week found that CSU has created 13 bioscience companies from 2002 to 2007, which is key to a growing employment sector. The report, by a coalition of advocacy groups, says Colorado ranks 11th in the country for bioscience venture capital investments. Two of three CSU superclusters are related to bioscience: infectious dis-eases and cancer research. The third supercluster is focused on renewable energy. These new…

A party-line vote may be all the President can get as the House of Representatives is poised to vote on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 (ARRA). That vote would be enough, though, to advance the $825 billion plan into the Senate, which is considering its own version of the bill this week. While some changes are being proposed to the House version of the bill to accommodate interests of some Republicans, those measures directly affecting economic development goals of local and state TBED practitioners appear secure. There has been considerable debate as to how fast ARRA funds can move through the federal, state and local bureaucracies before it is transformed into real projects and programs, but most agree the funding has to be approved by Congress before the clock even starts ticking on how quickly the economy feels its impact. ARRA is enormous but here are some of the TBED-supporting measures included in the 647-page legislation as passed by the House Appropriations Committee (the full text is available at: http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_hr1_text.pdf). Department of Agriculture Rural Community Facilities…

As governors across the nation seek to fill record deficits, many new and longstanding TBED initiatives are facing challenging cuts or elimination. At the same time, governors are shoring up support for critical, targeted investments in the economy that they say are needed now more than ever. Using the platform of the state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses, several governors have announced new or increased investments in workforce innovation, bioscience, and alternative energy (see the Jan. 7, 14, and 21 issues of the Digest). Summarized below are executive recommendations from budget proposals in Georgia, Idaho and Vermont outlining new plans and proposed cuts to ongoing TBED efforts. GeorgiaGov. Sonny Perdue unveiled his fiscal year 2010 budget earlier this month alongside a $1.2 billion bond proposal focusing on infrastructure projects to boost the state's economy. The governor is seeking to fill a projected $1.2 billion deficit in the current fiscal year. Within the Board of Regents, the Research Consortium would be reduced by $9.2 million in FY10. This includes elimination of funding for the Traditional Industries Program ($3.1 million…

The fourth installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses from governors in Hawai'i and Texas. Hawai'i Gov. Linda Lingle, State of the State Address, Jan. 26, 2009 "Last year we entered into a unique partnership with the federal Department of Energy called the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative or HCEI. It established the goal of a 70 percent clean energy economy by 2030. "HCEI experts from government, national labs, our military, utilities, universities and the private sector have recommended specific actions to achieve the 70 percent clean energy goal through indigenous renewable  resources and energy conservation. "My administration and legislators will introduce several bills based on these HCEI recommendations. . When adopted, these proposals will form the basis for Hawai'i's transformation to one of the world's first economies based primarily on clean energy." Texas Gov. Rick Perry, State of the State Address, Jan. 27, 2009 "We should start by replenishing the Emerging Technology Fund . and the Enterprise Fund, to…

In support of the state's goal to attract and grow biotechnology companies, Gov. Martin O'Malley's executive budget recommends increasing by $400,000 the state's investment in stem cell research, while maintaining current funding for biotechnology tax credits and slightly increasing the appropriation for the Nanotech Biotechnology Initiative Fund. Announced last summer, Maryland's Bio 2020 Initiative is the state's plan to invest up to $1.3 billion over the next 10 years in Maryland's biotechnology industry (see the June 18, 2008 issue of the Digest). Gov. O'Malley recommends $18.4 million in FY10 for the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, which is administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). Although lawmakers approved $19 million for the fund in FY09, budget documents reflect $18 million in total funds were available. The program has funded a total 82 projects at Maryland research universities and private sector corporations since 2006. TEDCO would also receive $3.7 million ($600,000 less than last year) for technology development, transfer and commercialization through its University Development Transfer Fund and the Maryland Technology…

In the 2007 fiscal year, funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) generated about $2.21 in new business activity for every $1 invested, according to a report from Families USA. The group, which advocates for increased healthcare spending in the U.S., argues that NIH investment can be a powerful driver of economic growth. Just in 2007, NIH funding generated 350,000 new jobs, more than $18 billion in new wages and $50 billion in business activity. Another report, however, finds that despite the good done by NIH investment, the political influence of federal legislators has a strong impact on the awards process and skews the geographic distribution of NIH awards. This interference by key political figures exacerbates the inequality in funding levels and limits the benefits from NIH funding in states with less legislative influence.  The Families USA study, titled "In Your Own Backyard", argues that the recent plateau in NIH funding is detrimental to economic development in the states. To make their argument, they examine NIH grants in 2007 to each state and the business activity generated by those grants based on data from the Bureau of Economic…

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell named George Cornelius, the immediate past president and CEO of Arkema Inc., as secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Mark Crowell, head of economic development and technology transfer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been appointed vice president for business and technology development at the Scripps Research Institute. Robert De Wit, a former Pfizer Inc. executive, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the business incubator of Western Michigan University's Parkview Campus. Michael Dockter has been hired as the new associate vice chancellor for research and technology transfer and chief research officer at Arkansas State University. David Edgerly, who for the last two years has headed Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development, will resign from his post. Jim Fram, the president and chief executive of the Bartlesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Bartlesville Development Corporation, is resigning. He will leave Feb. 2 to become the senior vice president of economic development for the Tulsa Metro Chamber. Nate…

The complete description of this opportunity and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) Research Division is seeking a Senior Economist to manage a team providing research and analysis on the Virginia and U.S. economy, VEDPs target industries, ways to increase Virginia's competitive stature, and conducting marketing research in support of our mission to generate new capital investment and job creation opportunities. The successful applicant must have a comprehensive knowledge of economic principles, data sources and research techniques; demonstrated experience in planning, developing and writing economic research studies, reports and business proposals including the ability to analyze available data to draw supportable conclusions. Experience in collaboratively leading economic research project teams to successful outcomes is required.