SSTI Digest

On Tuesday, exactly one year before the U.S. goes to the polls to choose its next president, the Brookings Institution launched a national competitiveness initiative titled Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation. The central premise of the Blueprint is that the “health, vitality, and prosperity” of the major cities and metropolitan areas in the U.S. will be the drivers of the country’s ability to compete globally and meet future economic, social, and environmental challenges. During the next 12 months, Brookings will release a series of reports geared towards the next presidential administration and Congress to address various competitive and economic issues.  

In an effort to streamline economic development strategies and market the state as a globally competitive place to pursue new business ventures, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano recently announced the creation of a new model for economic development last month.   A year-long study on the overall economic health of the state resulted in the creation of the Arizona Economic Resource Organization (AERO) and a newly expanded Arizona Global Network (AGN). AERO will serve as an umbrella organization for all economic development activity in the state to coordinate and leverage assets, set workforce strategies, and provide policy leadership and branding.   

The federal government made obligations of $25 billion in R&D to colleges and universities in fiscal year 2005 ­- a 4.8 percent increase from the FY 2004 total of $23.8 billion, according to new National Science Foundation (NSF) data. In its report, Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2005, NSF details all categories of direct federal science and engineering support to institutions of higher education in the U.S.   Delving deeper into the data, SSTI has prepared a table showing the state rankings for total federal academic R&D obligations and percent change over the five-year period from 2001-2005. During this time, federal R&D obligations grew by 29 percent but some states experienced much larger changes. North Dakota showed the largest increase in federal R&D obligations at 106.7 percent, followed by Nevada (91.6 percent), Idaho (81.4 percent), Hawaii (68.6 percent) and Louisiana (61.4 percent).

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is seeking someone to serve as manager of cluster and commercialization support programs. This position is primarily responsible for managing MTI's programs supporting the development of vibrant technology-intensive clusters and its activities supporting awardee commercialization and capital access.

Sally Bilancia was selected to replace Sally Bates as the development director in the City of Bangor, Maine. Jeff Coney was named Northwestern University's first director of economic development. Dr. Paul Kedrosky has joined the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a senior fellow. Peter Longo was appointed president and executive director of Connecticut Innovations. Longo previously served as the organization's deputy director and acting executive director.

Sally Bilancia was selected to replace Sally Bates as the development director in the City of Bangor, Maine.

Jeff Coney was named Northwestern University's first director of economic development.

Dr. Paul Kedrosky has joined the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a senior fellow.

Peter Longo was appointed president and executive director of Connecticut Innovations. Longo previously served as the organization's deputy director and acting executive director.

Hamid Ghandehari and Marc Porter, two prominent scientists in the field of nanotechnology, recently were hired by the University of Utah as part of the state's new Utah Science Technology and Research initiative. Ghandehari comes from the University of Maryland, while Porter comes from Arizona State University.

Carlos Romero, a University of New Mexico employee who previously oversaw the university's governmental affairs office, is now its associate vice president for research administration.

Frank Sabatine has been appointed to the newly created position of associate vice president of economic development and community engagement at Ball State University.