SSTI Digest

With new governors often come changes in the leadership of state economic development organizations. Arkansas, Colorado and Maryland recently announced their new development officers:

David Edgerley is the new secretary of the Maryland Department of Economic Development. Donald Elliman, Jr. is the new director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development. Maria Haley has been appointed director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development.

This is the second installment of SSTI’s look at the Inaugural, Budget and State of the State Addresses delivered in the past week. With a heavy emphasis on alternative energy, TBED priorities continue to receive significant time in the speeches delivered by the nation’s governors at the start of the 2007 legislative season. Selected excerpts of new initiatives are provided below: Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2007

Last Tuesday's elections resulted in the selection of 11 new governors across the country, and could lead to important changes for TBED communities in many states. Six races resulted in a change of party affiliation in the top state position, including races in Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. All six governorships changed from Republican to Democratic administrations. This is the first time in 12 years that a majority of governors have been Democrats.   Incumbents won gubernatorial races in 25 states, and 14 governors did not face re-election this year.   But what changes are in store for the states with new leadership? Several of the governors-elect made economic development and TBED a part of their platforms throughout their candidacy. Here is a sampling of policies and programs announced by some of the governors-elect on their official websites as collected by SSTI:   Arkansas

Last Tuesday's election included four ballot initiatives pertaining to the issuance of bonds for capital improvement projects at higher education institutions as well as a highly watched amendment to the state constitution in Michigan to ban public institutions from utilizing affirmative action practices. All five measures passed.

Joey Dean was named vice president of economic development for the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce and as executive director of the Metro Little Rock Alliance. Dean succeeds Jay Chesshir, the chamber's newly named president and CEO, in both positions.

Last month, voters in Arkansas narrowly rejected a major bond proposal targeting technology and capital upgrades in higher education and actively supported by Gov. Mike Huckabee, leaving many to wonder what went wrong.

Although the bonds package lost by only by a small margin -- unofficial results indicate 50.26 percent to 49.74 percent -- Gov. Huckabee said he would not raise the issue again with voters during his months left in office, according to the Associated Press.

Perhaps what might be most surprising and educational for Digest readers considering their own higher ed and tech-based economic development bond initiatives is the proposal failed in each of the counties that are home to a college or university, according to unofficial results reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Following the 1998 Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement, states across the country set out to dedicate significant amounts of funding from their share of the settlement to support research and other TBED programs.

The Board of Directors of the EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative invites applications for the position of President/Chief Executive Officer. The EAST model, a result of a collaboration between business and education, is intended to provide K-16 students with access to resources not available in the traditional educational setting. The board seeks a proven leader whose vision and passion for education and technology is demonstrated by a successful track record of innovation, strong management and fiscal integrity. Someone with 10 years of executive management experience is desired. A full description is available through the SSTI Job Corner, http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

The source of eadership on specific state tech-based economic development activities greatly influences the design and effectiveness of the effort. It remains to be seen then how the recently launched Arkansas Nanotechnology Alliance evolves locally as its direction originates from the nation's capital.

During a recent visit to the Arkansas Research & Technology Park, U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) announced ANA's formation. Pryor will chair the statewide consortium, bringing together "universities, federal agencies, and private sector partners to develop, launch and nurture nanotechnology initiatives."

He said that, in building an Arkansas nanotechnology community, some of the possibilities include:

The perennial or biennial efforts to secure funding from state legislatures to support tech-based economic development (TBED) programs can create significant limitations on the design and execution of programs targeting research or early-stage, seed capital investments. Fixed endowments such as the one created by Wyoming and the Permanent Big Sky Economic Development Fund proposed in Montana (see both stories above) are ideal, but getting the initial payment approved by a legislature can be difficult.

Arkansas Biotech Research Threatened With 20% Cut In order to meet the higher priority needs of the state, the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission should reduce its medical research funding by 20 percent, according to an independent report from the RAND Corp. Although the report praised the Arkansas Biosciences Institute for its success in attracting nearly $3 for every dollar of tobacco settlement money spent, it recommends that the commission reallocate 20 percent of its funding to programs aimed at reducing obesity, physical inactivity and cancer.

The Fayetteville Economic Development Council named Steven Rust as its new executive director, beginning Aug. 15.