SSTI Digest

Jan Lesher was named director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, replacing outgoing Gilbert Jimenez.

Dick Munson is stepping down as executive director of the Northeast Midwest Institute to help start Recycled Energy Development, LLC.

Sherrie Preische resigned as executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology to accept a position in the private sector.

Connecticut Innovations appointed Dr. David Reed to the position of executive in residence.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has appointed Renée Winsky as its new executive director.

This is the fourth installment of SSTI’s look at the Inaugural, Budget and State of the State Addresses delivered in the past week. Earlier installments, published Jan. 29, Jan. 15 and Jan. 8, are available through: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2007/headlines07.htm   Selected excerpts of the most recent batch of speeches are provided below:   Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, Budget Address, Feb. 7, 2007 “I am also bringing vitality to our state’s job picture and economy throughout my budget ... in expanding the state’s job creation tax credit to entice more new development, in increasing support for small business innovation research, in assisting the CT Center for Advanced Technology with subsidies to develop a fuel cell cluster.”   Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, Budget Address, Jan. 30, 2007 “It's time for Iowa to become the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. ... To meet the energy challenge I am proposing the creation of a $100 million Iowa Power Fund, with a down payment of $25 million this year. This priority is of such critical importance, I am asking you to authorize a…

Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2008-09 with an additional $300 million to recapitalize the state’s Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). The program provides loans and grants to commercialization projects with ties to state universities, and to create research centers in key technology areas. The funding would represent a significant expansion of the program, which received $200 million when it was established in 2005 and no new funding in 2006.   Another program, the Texas Enterprise Fund, would receive $182 million to continue its activities. The Enterprise Fund was the predecessor of the ETF and was created in 2003 to attract larger employers to the state. High-tech employers, such as SEMATECH, Samsung, and Texas Instruments have been a particular focus of the program. The program was initially viewed as the state’s leading initiative to create new high-tech jobs. However, the perception may be changing. In 2003 and 2005, the fund received $300 million, the amount proposed for the ETF this year. The increase in funds for ETF, which focuses on smaller, early-stage deals, may represent a shift in priorities for…

Over the past 27 years, the Bayh-Dole Act has been frequently cited as critical for university tech transfer in the U.S. The Act allows universities to assume ownership over the intellectual property (IP) produced on campuses, whenever that property derives from research funded in whole or in part by the federal government. The possibility of financial returns from licensing agreements or on the sale of IP gives institutions an important incentive to engage in applied research and move their discoveries to market.   This approach is now gaining favor across Europe, where university ownership of patents has been much less common. Instead, patents are more often owned in whole or in part by the individual researchers and collaborators who develop the technology. Many academic and government studies have found that European universities trail their U.S counterparts both in the patenting of research and in the successful commercialization of that research. Conventional wisdom holds that without a Bayh-Dole-like incentive to produce technologies for the market, European universities persistently underachieve in technology transfer and in their impact…

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced it will provide $65 million in new grants under the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative. Launched in February 2006, the WIRED initiative focuses on the role of talent development in driving regional economic competitiveness, job growth and new opportunities. The goal of WIRED, as described by DOL's Employment and Training Administration, is to expand employment and advancement opportunities for U.S. workers and catalyze the creation of high-skill and high-wage opportunities in regional economies. Regions across the country are provided with ongoing technical assistance, in addition to grant funding, to help achieve these goals. Grants will be funded at $5 million over three years. Only governors may apply on behalf of regions within their states or across state lines. Governors must submit applications on behalf of a specific, defined multi-county region and a regional team of public and private partners. Applications are due April 13, 2007. For more information, visit the Grants.gov listing for WIRED at http://www.grants.gov/search/…

Looking for that perfect professional development opportunity for you or your staff. If so, the SSTI Web calendar of events should prove useful in your search. By visiting www.ssti.org/calendar.htm, you can view more than 170 technology-based economic development events. Events include: EntrepreneurshipWeek USA, Feb. 24 - March 3, 2007, sponsored by The Kauffman Foundation, The New York Times and Inc. magazine, will take place across the U.S. More information is available at: http://www.entrepreneurshipweekusa.com/ The FLC's 33rd annual national meeting, May 15-18, 2007, Making the Connection will be held at the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex in Arlington, Texas. More information is available at: http://www.federallabs.org/meeting/ SSTI's 11th Annual Conference, Oct. 18-19, 2007, will be held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore. More information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/conference07.htm If you have an upcoming tech-based economic development event of interest to a statewide, regional or national audience, please let us know by contacting Robin Brunotts at 614.901.1690.…

Earlier this month Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell announced a broad state strategy to improve the state’s energy independence, support alternative energy business, and reduce the state’s environmental impact. The key element of the new state plan is an $850 million Energy Independence Fund, designed to reduce energy costs for consumers and shift the state’s usage toward clean and renewable sources. Gov. Rendell hopes the plan will save Pennsylvania consumers $10 billion over the next 10 years by lowering energy costs and reducing consumption.   The governor’s Energy Independence Fund will support the development and adoption of clean energy technologies across the state and in consumer households. Activities supported by the fund include: $106 million – Venture capital, grants and loans for the expansion of energy companies $56 million – Energy Independence Greenhouse $50 million – Energy Independence Capital $500 million – Clean energy projects and development or equipment costs for specific energy economic development projects $244 million – Household appliance rebates and PA Sunshine Grants Clean energy entrepreneurs and…

Energy giant BP has announced that the University of California at Berkeley, in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will receive a total of $500 million to host a research center dedicated to developing biofuel technologies. The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) will conduct both basic and applied biological research relevant to energy. BP and the university plan to launch research programs this summer.   UC Berkeley was one of five universities around the world invited to apply when BP announced last July that that the company would dedicate $500 million over the next 10 years to a biofuels research facility. Other applicants included UC San Diego, UIUC, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, and Imperial College London. To improve the bid from the California universities, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 includes $40 million in lease revenue to support the research center if either of the two California institutions won. The state also plans to contribute $70 million to build a headquarters for the institute, which…