SSTI Digest

John Griffin has been named acting director of the Ohio Department of Development's Technology Division.

Gov. Jodi Rell nominated Joan McDonald to succeed James Abromaitis as Connecticut's commissioner of economic and community development. McDonald had been a senior vice president with the New York City Economic Development Corp.

Catalyst Connection has named Petra Mitchell as its new president.

Thom Ruhe is leaving JumpStart Inc., a venture organization in Cleveland, to become director of online initiatives at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

John Schaerer is the new director of technology development and transfer for Chattanooga's Enterprise Center.

President Bush nominated William "Woody" Sutton to replace Albert Frink Jr. as the country's manufacturing czar.

Karl Tueller announced he will step down as executive director of the Idaho Department of Commerce Office of Science and Technology, effective July 1. Tueller also serves as a deputy director for the agency.

Nicole Witherbee has joined the Maine Center of Economic Policy as a federal budget analyst and communications coordinator.

Funding for energy and TBED initiatives were highlighted in the fiscal year 2007-09 biennial budget at the close of the legislative session in Minnesota late last month. Winning nearly unanimous approval from the legislature was Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Next Generation Initiative announced during his State-of-the-State Address (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest).  

Oklahoma is one step closer to positioning itself as a leader in sustainable energy production, with the creation of a $40 million Bioenergy Center. The legislature passed SB 510 at the close of the 2007 session last month, establishing the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center announced by Gov. Brad Henry during his State-of-the-State Address earlier this year (see the Feb. 19, 2007 issue of the Digest).   The Bioenergy Center is a joint collaboration between the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the Noble Foundation. The institution will coordinate the state’s resources and research programs in the fields of biofuels and bioenergy development and production utilizing a $10 million annual appropriation over the next four years. Research efforts will focus on sustainable economic production of cellulosic ethanol and developing critical steps in production of biodiesel and ethanol from non-cellulosic sources.

Over the last few months, several research parks across the country have announced formal openings, expansions, first tenants and new developments – all with the same general goal in mind. While many of these parks are merely real estate developments, research parks often are constructed around universities and laboratories and are designed to house tenants that will utilize the resources and create new jobs and spin-offs.   As the number of research parks continues to increase, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate, S. 1373, on May 11 by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and cosponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The “Building A Stronger America Act,” if passed in its current form, would authorize $7.5 million in federal grant funding for feasibility studies and up to $50 million in loan guarantees for science and research park construction and expansion.  

[Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from the June 1 issue of the SBIR Gateway Insider Newsletter, with permission from the author, Rick Shindell at Zyn Systems. The entire issue is worthy reading and is available, along with archived issues, through the SBIR Gateway that Shindell maintains as a free, public resource for all things SBIR. The SBIR Gateway is http://www.zyn.com/sbir/.]   As many of you know, the NIST SBIR program was severely impacted by the loss/reduction of funding for the NIST ATP program (considered extramural research by which NIST SBIR obtains its 2.5 percent funding).