SSTI Digest

Although the national venture capital investment continues to expand, many parts of the country still lack access to reliable sources of business capital. Even in states that rank in the top tier for venture investment, there are often insufficient capital resources to support businesses at every stage of development. In order to support entrepreneurs and to attract more attention from the industry, an increasing number of cities, regional organizations, community and technical colleges, and other groups are creating their own capital programs. These programs frequently focus on providing funding at the pre-seed and start-up stages of business development when it is difficult to attract funding.   Northeast Ohio

While many universities offer business plan competitions and programs in entrepreneurship and commercialization, fewer opportunities are available to learn about the capital side of the equation. Last week, however, two major conferences invited students to learn more about venture capital (VC) investment and emerging trends in the venture industry.   The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's student-run Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference hosted a day of discussions about developments in the venture capital field. More than 900 industry leaders, alumni, faculty and students met for the 14th annual conference to discuss changes in legislation and the regulatory environment for venture investors and the expanding global-orientation of investment.  

Each year, the National Science Foundation releases updated information for their Federal Funds for Research and Development series. SSTI has prepared a table illustrating the amount of federal R&D obligations provided to industry in each state from 2000 to 2004, the most recent years for which statistics are available. Additionally, the relative ranking of each state is displayed for every year in this period.   For the entire U.S., federal R&D obligations to industry were $27.6 billion in 2000 before steadily increasing to $39.1 billion in 2004. This represents a 41.6 percent increase over the five-year period. In 2004, the states receiving the most federal R&D funding for industry were California ($7.87 billion), Texas ($3.30 billion), Virginia ($3.25 billion), Maryland ($2.38 billion) and Missouri ($2.37 billion). In 2004, 13 states had amounts higher than $1 billion, whereas 10 states received less than $50 million.  

Tom Ballard was named director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Partnerships Directorate, formerly known as Technology Transfer and Economic Development. Ballard had been serving as the organization's interim director since August 2007. The Howard County Economic Development Authority appointed Larry Collins as a new technology manager and as executive director of the new Howard Technology Council. The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest hired Diane Durance as its new executive director, succeeding Art DeMonte, now a full-time business consultant. Durance formerly was president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone. William "Chip" Farmer was named interim director of the Greater Richmond Technology Council. Farmer replaces Robert Stolle, who left in December 2007 to join Core Consulting, a business and information technology consulting firm.

Tom Ballard was named director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Partnerships Directorate, formerly known as Technology Transfer and Economic Development. Ballard had been serving as the organization's interim director since August 2007.

The Howard County Economic Development Authority appointed Larry Collins as a new technology manager and as executive director of the new Howard Technology Council.

The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest hired Diane Durance as its new executive director, succeeding Art DeMonte, now a full-time business consultant. Durance formerly was president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone.

William "Chip" Farmer was named interim director of the Greater Richmond Technology Council. Farmer replaces Robert Stolle, who left in December 2007 to join Core Consulting, a business and information technology consulting firm.

The Indiana Business Incubator Society announced its plans to become a formal organization.

The Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA) this week promoted John Noel to become ITDA's permanent president. Noel had been serving as interim president over the past 15 months.

Lisa Porter was named the first director of the new Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Porter, NASA's associate administrator of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said she will leave the agency in February.

Karen Sievewright is the new director of research and analysis at the Toronto Region Research Alliance. Sievewright replaces George Tolomiczenko, who left to become the executive director of research and scientific liaison at the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada.