SSTI Digest

As competition for leadership in stem cell research heats up across the nation, legal battles and the introduction of new legislation are becoming commonplace among many states. Following is a round-up of recent news on stem cell research legalities and legislation in several states.

One of the latest examples of the important role a foundation can play in tech-based economic development strategies comes from a recent $15 million donation to Tulsa University. The Chapman Trust, established after the deaths of Oklahoma oilman James Chapman and his wife Leta Chapman, made the donation to perpetually endow nine new junior faculty positions at the university.

University President Steadman Upham announced the creation of the nine Wellspring Professorships in his Spring 2006 letter to the campus, saying the positions were all related closely to "the goals of the strategic plans of the collegiate deans." All nine tenure-track positions also mirror the globalization, entrepreneurship and diversity issues raised by many in the tech-based economic development community and popular business press of late:

The notion that, since a 2003 ruling, small businesses that are majority-owned by venture capital (VC) funds are being unfairly excluded from participating in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is inaccurate, according to a recent study from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Controversy has risen over the last several years over whether SBIR awards can be made to small businesses whose majority owners are venture capital firms. To receive an SBIR award, firms must meet ownership criteria, and in 2002, the Small Business Administration (SBA) clarified that majority owners of firms that receive awards must be individuals rather than corporations. Subsequently, in 2003, an SBA administrative law judge issued a decision stating that VC firms could not be considered "individuals" for the purpose of satisfying the ownership criteria for the program.

$10M Donation Funds Johns Hopkins Biomed Facility, Research Park The Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University received a commitment of $10 million from the John G. Rangos Sr. Family Charitable Foundation. The institute - intended to provide space for interdisciplinary biological and medical research - will be housed in the first building constructed in the new life sciences park in East Baltimore, an $800 million urban redevelopment project. Groundbreaking for the building was held April 17 in the 80-acre park managed by East Baltimore Development Inc.

Regional migration patterns between 2000 and 2004 revealed a continuing net average annual in-migration in the South and the West and a net average annual out-migration in the Midwest and the Northeast, according to the Census Bureau’s latest report. Domestic Net Migration in the United States: 2000 to 2004 details recent patterns of population redistribution throughout the U.S. and provides migration data from 1990-2000 to show a historical perspective in migration patterns.

On a state level ­ and consistent with regional data ­ states in the South and the West experienced the highest net in-migration (Table 2 of the report). Florida had the largest in-migration of 190,894, followed by Arizona (66,344) Nevada (50,803), Georgia (41,298), North Carolina (39,137) and Texas (36,566).

Carolina Cruz is the first director of the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, a $20 million research facility developed jointly by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Louisiana Economic Development Authority.

Past SSTI conference sponsor ANGLE Technology Group named Mark DeSantis to serve as managing director of consulting and management and Lisa Smith to become vice president of marketing.

Lenzie Harcum, former program director at the University of North Carolina SBTDC, is now assistant vice president of biosciences at the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

Carolina Cruz is the first director of the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, a $20 million research facility developed jointly by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Louisiana Economic Development Authority.

Past SSTI conference sponsor ANGLE Technology Group named Mark DeSantis to serve as managing director of consulting and management and Lisa Smith to become vice president of marketing.

Lenzie Harcum, former program director at the University of North Carolina SBTDC, is now assistant vice president of biosciences at the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

After seven months on the job, Connecticut Innovations President and CEO Chandler Howard is leaving to pursue an opportunity to establish a community bank in New Haven.

Over the past six years, SSTI has dedicated a portion of the Digest to coverage on the legislative priorities of governors across the nation through the Tech Talkin' Govs series. As they say, talk is cheap. So this year, we are extending that coverage to track how the Governors' proposals fared in the respective legislative sessions. In the coming months, as many sessions come to an end, SSTI will take a look back on the governors' state-of-the-state, budget, and inaugural addresses and report the good, the bad and the ugly of the 2006 legislative decisions.

Georgia

It could be frustration at the lack of action by the federal government, displeasure with the direction of national policy or a sense of urgency and need, but states are increasingly taking matters into their own hands when it comes to many major issues. Examples abound, including states taking the lead on dealing with global warming, energy policy, health care, food quality assurance, stem cell research, broadband coverage and even foreign trade. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire may have summed up this emerging Neo/post-federalism movement late last month when she said, "Washington is its own small nation in this new world economy."